Conflicting Messages

Is Google Promoting the MFA Model?

[frakilk]

Just received an email (as an Adsense publisher) from Google telling me about the benefits of Adwords. The email tells me that Adwords can drive visitors to my website and subsequently increase my Adsense earnings. It peeved me. Anyone else receive this?

[jatar_k]

just because you do AdWords and have AdSense on your site doesn't make it MFA.

Not in G's eyes anyway or they would just ban everyone with an account with each

[frakilk]

Yes I agree Jakar. What is possible though is that an Adsense publisher may get this mail, read what they perceive to be an ok from Google for MFA type activity and inadvertently get their account banned. It doesn't say for instance that Adsense-only landing pages are frowned upon.

[jimbeetle]

It doesn't say for instance that Adsense-only landing pages are frowned upon.

Not until you see the poor quality score and $10 per click minimum.

[martinibuster]

what they perceive to be an ok from Google for MFA type activity

As Jatar_K already pointed out: Sending visitors to your website via PPC is not MFA-type activity.

[contentadsblog]

Adwords can drive visitors to my website and subsequently increase my Adsense earnings

Increase in earnings = MFA Type website

isn't it?

[netmeg]

Not necessarily. My main site first went up in 1999, well before AdSense. I put AdSense on it for the first time in 2005. This year I used a geotargeted AdWords campaign to drive traffic to it, because I wanted to make sure it was easily visible in every city in my state. Sure, I wanted to increase my earnings (and did) but I also wanted to promulgate awareness of my site. Its primary purpose is not to earn money (it actually only earns two months out of the year). I wouldn't call it MFA.

[jimbeetle]

Not necessarily. My main site first went up in 1998, well before AdSense. I put AdSense on it for the first time in 2004. Each year I use limited AdWords campaigns to drive traffic to it, because I want to to promulgate awareness of certain sections of the site. Sure, I wanted to increase my earnings (and did). Its primary purpose is to earn money (mostly affiliate programs). I wouldn't call it MFA.

Same, but different. I know many folks who have somewhat similar variations.

Sorry, meg, I just couldn't see typing a new post when you said much of what I was going to :-).

[netmeg]

I call shenanigans! That's duplicate content, you scraper!

ork ork

[jimbeetle]

You should feel flattered, I only scrape high quality content ;-)

[sailorjwd]

"subsequently increase my Adsense earnings "

That means don't put adsense on the landing page. It is google speak.

[Lipik]

But at which point will they call it "arbitrage"?

[frakilk]

Let me point out that "subsequently increase my Adsense earnings" wasn't a direct quote from the email just my wording of it in my first post.

[skweb]

There is nothing wrong with using advertising to driving traffic to your website. The problem is with those websites that have nothing but AdSense on the landing page and scraped content at the bottom of the page. That is MFA.

[netmeg]

That means don't put adsense on the landing page. It is google speak.

Some of us only have the one page.

In theory, if you're engaging in real MFA arbitrage, the Quality Score is supposed to kick in and jack your minimum bids way up out of whack, and if it's egregious enough, you get asked to leave AdWords. Enough people complain about $10 bids in the AdWords forum so that I think this is really happening, but there's still so much MFA arbitrage out there to make me think that it's also fairly easily gotten around.

I never had any problem maintaining 3 to 5 cent bids in my AdWords campaign for my site (except for two cities with funny names that for some reason wanted 40 cent bids)

Yesterday the AdWords Blog published a new entry about AdWords Quality Scores, and for the first time got a little bit more specific about the types of sites that probably will not do well with AdWords. If you have one of these sites, and have been wondering why you can't get AdWords to work for you - this may be why. Having AdSense on it probably doesn't help either.

Read about it here:

[adwords.blogspot.com ]