Google shares are plunging today

[indyank]

Google shares are plunging today

[businessinsider.com...]

[TypicalSurfer]

Google is in between the proverbial rock and hard place, they have to grow in order to survive, being a monopoly means nothing (think greyhound bus) to the market, the only thing that matters is sequential revenue growth, that means new markets, new products, new anything that makes money. With CPC declining the only short term fix is to max out revenue per query, squeeze more out of those serps.

They are also running big burn rates in other areas, handing out tablets and laptops at cost, building out fiber networks, etc. in an attempt to gain a foothold into the future. The only thing allowing that burn rate is ad revenue. I expect them over the medium term to further amplify their ad layer, SERPs at this stage of their game are nearly irrelevant to them, a bit of window dressing maybe but not the foundational product it once was. It is a monetization game now, the query must be monetized at all costs. I believe they take their traffic/market share for granted now and maybe they are right. Maybe not, time will tell.

[helleborine]

The reality is, if it weren't for AdSense, I'd be considerably poorer.

Sure, it would be best if Google had some competition. But for some reason, the competition never materialized.

[Jez123]

But for some reason, the competition never materialized.

Google crushed it, probably. Or bought it. I expect that when theere are no more ad network pretenders google will screw their generosity down a click or three.

It was a major blow to other ad companies when google refused to let webmasters have their ads on the same page as google's

[helleborine]

For what it's worth, their stock is inching back up, which is not totally unexpected.

[blend27]

it's been yin-yang around 680 for the past 2 days, Mean while my money maker ecom site is completely almost removed from SERP after being an authority site for the past 9 years.

3 hits from GOOG today. 3. over a 1000 from Bing.

[diberry]

It's interesting to me that people keep saying nothing pays like Adsense. Really? Have you guys tried other networks? Adsense can be the best option for small sites, especially since most networks won't take new sites. But once you're big enough to get invites from some of the established ad networks, I find they pay better in my niches than Adsense. Maybe this isn't true in every niche, but other webmasters I've talked to report the same thing. Adsense is good, but there's better out there, if you can get them to take you.

[Digmen1]

The problem with all the big banner sites is that want you to have a big monthly budget.

[viral]

@dibery I use other networks in particular adconian and tribal fusion. Both are pretty good but they can be picky. Especially tribal fusion they really only deal with high traffic sites and they stipulate how many ads you can run etc. Both these networks have earned better for me than adsense, and they can guarantee me a particular rpm/cpm no matter what click through rate. The cpm guarantees were special deals when a big advertiser wants lots of exposure. However adsense tends to be more stable and can serve more ads. Which can be a problem when you start talking hundreds of millions of impressions a month.

Networks like adbrite and chikita quite frankly suck. I know people who say they can get good rpm from these networks but they have never worked for me.

Having said that, the best money comes from having your own product to sell. A marketing friend told me I should sell some of my own stuff. At first I wasn't sure what to sell I had big traffic but no real specific product in my niche. After some consultation with people who do this sort of stuff all the time I worked out a product I could make myself (it is kind of subscription based) and it works real well.

You need to be careful though Google seems to be cracking down on clickbank and affiliate type sites. However if you put it through DFP Google seems to be ok with it (For now). having said that once you work out a product you can also setup an affiliate program and next thing you know you got someone else selling your stuff, which is nice!

[Whitey]

Another couple of reporting quarters will tell if the trend has been stalled, reversed or set in.

There's only so much SERP space left to monetize, then Google has to look at growth markets where it can continue to earn from ad revenue or other revenue streams. I'm sure it knew that growth would stall many years ago and they had it clearly written into their strategy.

One thing they probably underestimated is that if you squeeze a lemon til it's dry, there ain't no means to supply the drink. There's not too many folks i know making a fortune out of Adwords - even some of the biggest spenders. Ultimately, someone down the supply chain gets squeezed - and at that level, folks cannot pay. So i sense resistance.

Ultimately, Google is dependent on the free flow of useful content via it's services to put it's revenue model on, and i really don't think that will last forever, with all of the variations occuring at the distribution level. The focus is becoming too vast - bigger than China - i say.

Technology can move fast also - just ask Global icons that aren't around anymore and state of the art inventions that no longer occupy a place on earth anymore - just inside 10 years even. But Google has a lot of reserves left - but i don't give it forever in it's existing guise.

[ohno]

I will never forget the way they treated us with google checkout. Get us on board and then screw us with the old switcharoo! Good luck with relying on google to keep their word.

Arhh & the rates switched to pretty much what Pay Pal charge! Then later down the line they changed the country code that you must send over with a cart, did they tell anyone? Did they F***! The first we know about it is when a customer calls to say they tried to pay via Checkout. We think the developer dropped a bollock so check Google's developer info, nope, our code is 100% what they say. We then change the country code to what we ***think*** it should be & it all works fine again! THAT is how much this compnay care about people. Lets not mention they also dropped the Google Chatback badge without even telling anyone (server 500 error), that took a Google employee on Google Groups over a WEEK to find out & relay to users.

[webdevfv]

Google are a nightmare to work with. We had Product Listings Ads running recently and were doing well. Not fantastically well but CTRs were good and conversions were good and CPC was better than plain text ads.

Then we got cut off. Kept getting a message about US advertisers etc even though we are in UK and only advertise to UK. Another instance of google not knowing what it's doing or couldn't care less attitude.

Just had to set it all up again from Merchant Center to 'export' file to see if that works. No impressions. I'm thinking what's going on here so I get in touch and am told that everything seems to be set up ok, just the CPC bid is too low - set it to £1.50-£2.00 per click.

Excuse me, that's about 7 times the level we were paying until a few weeks ago. Are you kidding Google?

Unless I'm wrong and there is an issue and it's not the bid amount, then I'm finished with PLAs before they've even started to get going. I'll leave that to ebay and amazon, they seem to have colonised the rest of google's homepage.

So, are other small independent businesses experiencing the same issue and cutting expenditure completely in what google was hoping to be a goldmine. If so, how long before google searchers tire of the same ebay/amazon results page?

[viral]

@webdevfv it is laughable that Google would be that ignorant. it will be funny when it "IS ONLY" ebay and amazon that are able to advertise. Watch the CPC drop to nothing.

[webdevfv]

They are so unbelievably arrogant. From their hallowed halls and whizzing about on their scooters they know nothing of the real world.

They just say up your bids as if that's just what you do. These kids have no idea that we are using this tool to create jobs and business. If we just keep upping our bids continuously someone has to pay.

But the merry-go-round has stopped, the prolonged recession has woken people up - even in the internet world, businesses now want payback, we don't want to be buying customers forever, we want to be selling to customers and making profit.

If google adopts these tactics then it only leaves us with the one option, to go elsewhere and stop spending on PLAs.

[Jez123]

I really hope someone from google reads these threads. Maybe Larry does - maybe thet's why he doesn't look well!

[ohno]

But the merry-go-round has stopped, the prolonged recession has woken people up - even in the internet world, businesses now want payback, we don't want to be buying customers forever, we want to be selling to customers and making profit.

Exactly. Google is like a giant pyramid scheme, it can't go on forever......

[Naj0rt]

I say yes on both counts

You know once I calmed down and put myself in the shoes of a google employee I realised how wrong I was to call for anybody to be fired. I had absolutely no right to do so and would like to ask all Google employees of any kind to please accept my unreserved apologies.

[edited by: Naj0rt at 12:42 pm (utc) on Oct 24, 2012]

[TypicalSurfer]

Google is like a giant pyramid scheme

Google functions like a global internet taxing authority, much like a government in many ways. Petty bureaucrats making rules, issuing penalties, punishment for non-compliance and taking a cut of transactions. Of course there are also the crony deals and payoffs inherent in such an arrangement.

At some point the ruled will have to decide if consent is in their best interest.

The only way to get their attention is to boycott adwords, cut off their money. I think Larry would be very attentive if there were to be the occasional reminder that his policies may not be to the liking of the ruled.

[Jez123]

I think Larry would be very attentive if there were to be the occasional reminder that his policies may not be to the liking of the ruled.

I am thinking about killing my adwords campaign and switching to facebook. If we were all in a postion to do that it would send a strong signal.

[Gibble]

Really? Facebook? Does anyone honestly think they'll behave better than google? That sites makes arbitrary changes ALL the time

[TypicalSurfer]

Obviously a boycott could just be a one day thing, just enough to let them know that they need to respect the market.

[Jez123]

Really? Facebook? Does anyone honestly think they'll behave better than google? That sites makes arbitrary changes ALL the time

Probably not but they may be a bit more grateful for the revenue.

[webdevfv]

I haven't worked out how to make facebook work yet - had to pull ads from there as money was just going down the drain. I'm sure there are possibilities but I need to find these out before I invest.

The thing is, as Whitey says above there is only so much space to monetize so they think we are going to pay any rate they request. Well, it's ok if it still returns a profit, but if there is no profit then what's the point?

I'm not angry, just pragmatic. If it don't make money, I'm off. Too many are still in for the vanity - ooh look at my CTRs and Likes and all that. I want to see the bottom line in the accounts.

[Jez123]

ooh look at my CTRs and Likes and all that. I want to see the bottom line in the accounts.

Totally agree. You can buy likes for pence if you want them that badly.

I do like the idea of the focus that you can get with FB. Target your ideal customers in one group, seemingly. Like you I need to look into it more. To be honest, it can't be worse than adwords is for me anyway. I think the punters are fed up with ads and don't click them anymore. I did way better in the organic searches befor google introduced Penguin - and then I was just another spammer in their eyes.

[diberry]

Obviously a boycott could just be a one day thing, just enough to let them know that they need to respect the market.

This is an awesome idea.

I ran a Facebook campaign recently, and the results were worthless. Absolutely a waste of money - my free promotional efforts fared much better. I haven't tried it personally, but my guess is that StumbleUpon's paid placement would give you better ROI. Adwords certainly does.

[ohno]

I think the punters are fed up with ads and don't click them anymore.

Yep, I know I certainly don't. Some websites have so many ads on them these days that the page takes an age to load because of all the DNS lookups-instant click away for me...........

[Jez123]

I saw a quite opular site with 6 instances of google ads on it today. How the hell did they escape Panda and everything else?

[Digmen1]

Yes I have been saying the that click bid rates are far too high for any ROI (unless you are selling very expensive products)
Not only that but they did not show my ads when they could have!
A boycott would be great, but they are so hard to organise.
But if there was another quarter with falling Adwords revenue, it may prompt Google into doing something!
But what would they do ?

[Leosghost]

Yes I have been saying the that click bid rates are far too high for any ROI (unless you are selling very expensive products)

Investors were unhappy because click bid rates were reported as falling in the QR3 figures..what you are "always saying"..doesn't fit the facts..

Over $5.oo is not "very expensive products" :)

[seoskunk]

The click rates fell because people search information on mobile phones more and more and advertising is hard to show on the small screen. Google are well placed in the mobile market with Android and partnership with Apple but it may take a while to figure out advertising on mobile phones. I'll be hanging onto my Google shares though as I think they will make money from mobile internet first.

Its actually surprising how many adwords campaigns are driven by CEO's and there has been a lot of ego bidding on keywords in the past. Now reality is setting in ROI will become a key factor and I expect click bids to continue to fall. Especially as many hands on CEO's will have seen there sites damaged by rather draconian algo's panda and penguin whilst entrenched brand names are unscathed.

[Whitey]

unless you are selling very expensive products

or niche and high margin product. But that's not where Google makes it's money i suspect.