Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Is anyone else having this problem? The topic really isn't even related to my site very much.
The only way to stop them is to fill up the filter. Unfortunately, at this point, my filter is full and $$$ is dropping like a rock.
FarmBoy
I figure sooner or later they'll register enough domains to fill every ad slot I have.
And November was The Best Month I've Had in a L-O-N-G time.
Would this happen to be one of those infamous diet or weight loss ads?
Yes! And I don't even have any pages about losing weight on any of my sites.
Sometimes all four ad spots in a series will be filled with the exact same ad but with different URLs. I used to get really targeted ads on many of these pages. :(
The interesting part of this whole thing is that (based on my experience) they're not simply adding a huge pile of new urls at a time. I'm seeing three/four/five new ones a day and that's it, and the new ones only appear around/between 1500 to 1800 Pacific time. Once I add them in to the filter, they disappear until the next batch appears.
Maybe it's just the way that the ads appear, but it seems to be too predictable to be anything but a scheduled appearance.
Must be a lot of money in it somewhere if they're blanketing sites like this.
I'm making the same per click I was last year, so I suspect they are paying market rates for each click. I think I'm only losing money because my click through rate is down because theses same ads just show over and over and over again and bump out the unique ads more related to the topics on my pages.
Though I'm also seeing ads for places all over the country on my local PC. Something akin to seeing a Detroit plumber ad showing for someone who using a Las Vegas ISP. I'm not sure if that issue is Adsense geo-targeting gone wild or people not setting up their Adwords accounts correctly.
[edited by: Jane_Doe at 9:46 pm (utc) on Dec. 1, 2008]
EVERYONE NEEDS TO COMPLAIN - preferably to AdWords, because that's where they're coming from. In fact, if you go enter this same item in the AdWords forum, at least the AWA will see it and report back to his people.
Must be a lot of money in it somewhere if they're blanketing sites like this.
How are they getting their ads to appear on pages that aren't contextually related?
FarmBoy
FarmBoy, I'm not sure how AdWords works having never used it but I suspect they're throwing nearly every word in the dictionary in as a keyword.
Sometimes all four ad spots in a series will be filled with the exact same ad but with different URLs. I used to get really targeted ads on many of these pages. :(
Is Google AdSense/AdWords going to turn into the "1 Rule to a ____" ad network? Pahleeeeze!
The reply basically said I didn't 'understand' the way that either Adwords or Adsense worked and referred me to a number of the Help pages. And then on top of that, they recommended I empty my filter.
I was, ummmm, 'irked' with the response.
Now all of you people who are tired of seeing these ads, go over there and make it known. Be polite - AWA doesn't have the ability to just make them disappear, but he *will* add the issue to his reports to the internal powers that be, so that it gets seen. It's probably the best shot we have of actually getting something done.
[webmasterworld.com...]
Super annoying. Makes it appear my site is in on a scam, ripping people off and perhaps damaging their health in the bargain.
I agree. Letting these ads run isn't exactly fitting in with the whole "don't be evil" mantra.
The economy is in bad shape right now and the people who can least afford these miracle weight loss products are unfortunately the ones most likely to spend money on them.
It's probably the best shot we have of actually getting something done.
Is AWA higher up the totem pole than ASA?
FarmBoy
In fact I've written nothing new since 2001. - TRUE
That's how obsessed I am with AdSense.
BUT AdSense has been exceptionally kind to me to the tune of seven figures since day one. Well day one +5.
Back "on topic". I rarely notice AdSense on other sites I visit.
Today I was doing some research on Electronics / Radios and lo and behold I see a stoopid AdSense ad for mortgages!
Could be an unintended glitch, could be someone gaming the system!
FWIW
Is AWA higher up the totem pole than ASA?
No idea, nor will we ever know. But I see this as more of an AdWords problem than an AdSense problem (and in fact one of the responses I did get from AdSense was pretty much to that effect) and my experiences with AWA have been pretty positive. I trust him to put the information in front of the people who need to see it, whether or not anything ever gets done.
very high placement bidding?
On one of the new ads they are showing a brand name weight loss program in the URL on the Adsense ad, but using the preview tool I can see that the page just goes to a fake blog like the other ads. That has to violate some kind of Adwords policy.
Yesterday I blocked all of their ads I could find and this morning my earnings and click through were back to normal. However there were some new ads already popping up and I can envision my ad filter filling up before too long.
I think it is amazing that a company like Google let's this happen. It's no wonder that the CTR and EPC have been decreasing that much.
How are they getting their ads to appear on pages that aren't contextually related?
If you use the preview tool you'll see some of the URL's have keywords attached and those kw's probably relate to your site. To me it looks like they're targeting as many low cost kw's as possible. Then when they get smacked for having a low CTR, no problem, start up again with a new domain name - same add - same kw's.
Only a matter of time before Google whacks them? That's so extreme that other advertisers will be complaining.
I advertise in the weight loss/diet niches, and it's getting crazy.
Not only do they create new sites constantly, they also copy ad text from other advertisers. So you end up looking like a part of that spam ring.
One site I was promoting, was getting around 6,000 clicks per day before they moved into the niche. Now, it gets 150 clicks a day or so, and I had to increase the CPC by 50% just to continue getting any kind of traffic at all.
I hope Google does something about it, but I also hope they don't just ban all sites that have similar ads. The same goes for publishers.
I also saw them on many completely unrelated sites, so they seem to be trying to get any kind of traffic they can.
On one of the new ads they are showing a brand name weight loss program in the URL on the Adsense ad, but using the preview tool I can see that the page just goes to a fake blog like the other ads. That has to violate some kind of Adwords policy.
With specifics like that I'd complain directly to AdWords and AdSense.
On one of the new ads they are showing a brand name weight loss program in the URL on the Adsense ad
Yep. They copy ad text from other advertisers.
Normally, I'm all for competition and trying to outsell each other instead of complaining. But these guys simply brake every ethical barrier there is. And the only way to compete would be to do the same.
What makes it worse, they use different ips for hosts and different registrars for domains. So it's impossible to prove they are the same people.
It's your regular hard core black hat SEO applied to PPC.
I'm surprised Google hasn't made this type of probelm disapear after the California election day "Vote yes on prop 8" set of ads that appeared in virtually EVERY adsense slot on ALL california based websites. It's not supposed to be possible to hog the net like that, especially since politics isn't the topic of most sites, but Google does let it happen still.
Hey Google, it's your money too, I can find other ways to get that money back so just keep playing games and I'll slowly fade you off my site.
