Forum Moderators: martinibuster
For this day (17 May), does it mean that they will pay for April 1-30 earnings, or for May (1-18) also?
Is there an easy way to see if the URL is still advertising in AdWords?
FarmBoy
Does the notice from Google only disable the AdSense accounts of those doing arbitrage/MFA or does it remove the sites fromt he search results?
AdSense and Google Search are separate departments, so the shutting down of AdSense accounts doesn't automatically remove the sites from search results.
Still, who's to say that Google won't (either now or in the future) use information about disabled accounts as a "quality factor" in search rankings?
if the former, it seems we will be left with thousands of "blank" sites; all those urls no longer serving ads but still high in the search results. At least until the owners dump them or replace the ad content with something else.
I don't think too many arbitrageurs will be replacing their non-content with content of intrinsic value. Most of them probably don't have the skills, and the ones who do aren't looking to do the hard work that it takes to build a legitimate site into a successful business. More likely, they'll look for other ways to leverage the kinds of skills that allowed them to profit from click arbitrage.
I have always firmly believed despite what the MFA/Arbi crowd has stated that they do not convert well
Just a peek over the fence here, towards the Adwords forum: [webmasterworld.com...]
netmeg:
I (and more importantly my clients) need sites that convert. Content network sites haven't historically converted all that well for us in various sectors. And particularly arbitrage sites haven't converted.
jkwilson78:
All of that [MFA] traffic is 100% worthless if it doesn't convert so things can and probably will go in the other direction...crappy traffic will drop and all those thousands of cheap clicks (which add up to many thousands of dollars) will not be wasted and profitability will improve.
RhinoFish:
Since we pay for all clicks, those that are junk water down our performance. Minimizing volume is part of maximizing roi.
To me, these statements support the assumption that MFA/Arb traffic does not convert well for advertisers. Which does not come as a surprise, because visitors who just click an ad to escape the site they are viewing are less likely to be pre-qualified for a conversion. I'd call their behaviour "ESCAPE Mode" rather than "Shopping Mode".
bookmark a couple, and watch whats new every couple of days, it is kind of fun to watch though. MFA I mean, MFA. Take a Screen shot, would be cool to see Before/After Shots later on.
Just a peek over the fence here
I've been trying to understand what arbitrage really was. I was looking at a site that explained how to do the MFA/arb thing.. What stuck out was the following quote
Since my premise here is going after targeted PPC traffic, I am not concerned about the issue of duplicated content, since I am not primarily concerned with getting the page indexed.
In other words he is basically admitting to ripping off content.. He's not concerned about the dupe issue but it seems that a lot of webmasters find themselves in supplemental hell. I wonder how much of that was caused by content rip-offs and the search engines penalizing the wrong site.?
Arbitrage made such as statement possible since he was using PPC to drive traffic to his sites. However, the collateral damage is that he might be squeezing legitimate sites and the original content creators out of the serps.
cg
but am concerned that some of the other content rich sites - that are intrinsically MFA may also be targetted. Speaking for myself - these sites convert well. A person arrives at the site looking for blue widgets. He reads the site content about blue widgets. Then wants a blue widget and sees my add. I have blue widgets for sale - job done. That click has cost me significantly less than a search traffic click, the person who clicks the add is actually getting what he wants. All are happy.
Somewhere back in this current AdSense thread there was a post by someone who seemed happy at a communication from Google as it offered him hope to stay alive after June 1.
If Google shares the same opinion as the quote above, we might see a lot of MFA's suddenly introducing a small bit of content onto their "ads only" pages in an attempt to stay with AdSense.
If Google encourages that directly or indirectly, the rest of us should expect a lot of our original content to be "borrowed" by the MFA sites.
FarmBoy
which makes me remember that EV1 just added another 3 or 4 IP Range blocks to their arsenal with in last 3-4 weeks, and fresh ideas are just purring from there already as we speak.
I had original content written by professional freelance writers in the US and the major downfall of my site was that my pages were primarily single page fact sheets and I was using Adwords to drive traffic while I waited to get organic rankings. My articles were on average between 350 - 450 words. I should have taken the time to provide better navigation on my website to other articles but I did not because I got greedy. Ad placement was another thing – I was compliant as per the AdSense team independent review but putting ads in strategic parts of the Heat Map got better click through rates.
Is this a good thing for the Internet and AdSense? – yes I think in the long run it is. I would caution those that feel they have a “Real” Website or “Legitimate” Website that when the rules change and you find yourself on the wrong side of the fence you may sing another tune.
Sometimes the lines are not as clear as you think:
[adsense.blogspot.com...]
[adsense.blogspot.com...]
[media.webmasterradio.fm...]
(go to 39:30 into the interview)
Google is trying to clean up the junk on the Internet the only way they can. They are using a big net to stamp out a lot of publishers on the spectrum. I applaud them for it and even though I am banned I think they are doing the right thing. What I take from this entire experience is a lot of knowledge about AdWords and AdSense and a healthy appreciation for those that create sites that build real community. All of the profits that I had made each month went back into creating new original content so at the end of the day it was one big learning experience. The overall plan was to create a site not unlike About.com – getting ranked with good “long tail” articles.
As I said above I am willing to share for those that care to learn what not to do – for those that throw stones – it is bad karma – nobody wants to play with the bully on the playground.
Thanks
P.S. When you are out you are out – so don’t get kicked out.
