The Lowest Of All The Misleading MFAs

Have you seen this before - Would you bother to report it

[Scurramunga]

A prosperous new year to you all.

I have been encountering more and more MFA's similar to the following. See the title and description below:

ONLINE WIDGETS
Create a stunning widget
Easy to use. Get 50% off Now.
www-fakewidget.info

The m MFA implies an offering of a [non existent] service/product combination and a 50% discount too boot. The url is one of those misleading types with "www-" as part of the domain name. example: 'http://www.www-widget.info'

The visitor is led to the all too familiar BS Advert filled directory. And surprise surprise, none of the ads mention anything about a 50% discount.

This is by no means the first time that I have seen this type of false claim, so my question is: Given the negative experiences many of us have experienced when it comes to reprting MFAs to google, would you bother to report a breach of TOS as serious as this?

[edited by: Scurramunga at 10:21 pm (utc) on Jan. 2, 2008]

[Jon_King]

I think you may under estimate the power of the report. Report it.

[potentialgeek]

Not sure I would report them, because I'm not convinced Google will do anything. But I'll just keep asking for the Adsense Fraud Filter. The publishers need this new filter. It'll make an honest woman out of so many advertisers.

p/g

[IanCP]

I'd certainly report it even if I wasn't hopeful of anything happening.

You just never know.

[Jon_King]

>>because I'm not convinced Google will do anything

So you think the G spam report is just a smoke screen? A 'Good' click is Google's primary concern. The few bucks they may make from these guys is insignificant compared to advertising spends for real quality clicks. Report it.

[edited by: Jon_King at 10:34 pm (utc) on Jan. 2, 2008]

[Scurramunga]

Thank you for your responses.

I was of the same mindset as Potentialgeek when I posted this thread, as I have complained on previous occassions to google regarding MFAs and scams without any success.

[farmboy]

Last month I decided that I have the basics of AdSense covered and it's no longer prudent/productive to spend much time tweaking, testing, etc.

Now I'm considering whether to just empty my filter and trust in Google's nerds?

FarmBoy

[europeforvisitors]

Scurramunga, you've already taken the time to tell us, so why not spare a couple of minutes to tell Google? Maybe it'll help, and maybe it won't, but it's unlikely to do any harm.

[zett]

I would not report them. Honestly, why bother teaching Google on how to run their business? They have shown so often that THEY seem to know how to run their business, that I think they really want/need this kind of advertisers.

Based on your comment, I looked at my sites for MFAs, and yup, there they are again, apparently back from the holidays with zillions of fresh domains, all leading to the same crap. Confirms (for me) that Google have no clue about how to run their Adsense business.

[farmboy]

...would you bother to report a breach of TOS as serious as this?

If you did decide to report it, would you report it to the AdSense people or the AdWords people? A number of people here seem to think those two groups don't communicate well with each other and/or have different goals in mind.

Confirms (for me) that Google have no clue about how to run their Adsense business.

It's either that or just the opposite - the opposite being that Google does know what they are doing and just clearing out the filter and letting Google run things has more upside than downside. Once again in my January message from AdSense, they mention that I might be filtering ads that could perform well.

Who knows?

FarmBoy

[dbcoders]

I have also complained about certain sites, actually several sites that look almost identical and they are still advertising. Some of these are created bye a big time hosting company and some claim to be working with the "big boys". If it keeps up, their search results won't be trusted , a positive for Yahoo.

[Scurramunga]

If you did decide to report it, would you report it to the AdSense people or the AdWords people?

I would report it to Adwords as it is an Adwords TOS issue from Google's point of view.

[IanCP]

I've personally reached the very ultimate cynical stage where I say:

Oh yeah, as if... Nothing happens, nothing changes.

[ADDED]
Since the Google IPO it's been a total down hill run. Google is run by bean counters with very short term objectives.

[edited by: IanCP at 9:36 am (utc) on Jan. 4, 2008]

[MikeNoLastName]

I have a generic template and generally repoort it both via the "Ads by Google" feedback form (which I assume goes to Adwords) and through the Adsense help form. Then I competitive filter them. I figure if they are simply showing the same ads I am, flsely advertising and obviously making more than me, then they are competing. Problem is most of them are gone by the time Adsense or even sometimes the competitive ad filter can pick them up.

[europeforvisitors]

Since the Google IPO it's been a total down hill run. Google is run by bean counters with very short term objectives.

I'm sure you're right. Why do those beancounters keep coming up with products like Google Scholar that obviously were designed to please moneygrubbing analysts on Wall Street? :-)

[farmboy]

Add this one to the conspiracy theory hopper.

Over the past 30 days I haven't added any new sites to my filter. This is despite observing a few advertisers who deserve to be banned, flogged and infested with lice and fleas. But I haven't bothered ... out of apathy mostly.

The result is my EPC is up about 2.5 times and seems to be holding.

FarmBoy