Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I'm targeting this city ...
What are you doing to target the city? Do you mean you have a page or site devoted to Cumming?
I did a search for "Cumming Georgia" using Google and only two ads came up - and that's on the Search network. And both were some type of automated travel/hotel sites.
It doesn't look like there but very few ads for Cumming. I think that's typical unless the city has some sort of unique attraction or is a large city.
FarmBoy
I happen to be a little familiar with Cumming Georgia - I don't perceive that this town is big enough for that much interent demand.
What are you selling - or optimizing for?
I'm targeting this city (Cumming in title) and always public service ads appear ... really strange.
[on topic]
The city name doesn't show up as a search suggestion while typing into the search box either. I've seen a few words--that Google obviously has filtered--not show up as search suggestions.
[/on topic]
[edited by: incrediBILL at 4:38 am (utc) on Jan. 26, 2010]
[edit reason] keeping it on topic [/edit]
That's also why Google search suggestions doesn't show anything for CUMMING, GA either.
Try the search suggestions on Bing or Yahoo, they appropriately bring up CUMMING, GA and other related topics, nothing adult.
It's obviously an idiotic bug on Google's behalf because they can't seem to sort out adult from non-adult topics which their competitors handle with ease.
Maybe write to AdSense support and ask them why they can't separate a city name from it's adult counterpart, as there competitors seem to be able to easily do, and see how they respond, if they respond.
Just don't hold your breath until you turn blue and expire while waiting for it to be fixed.
Yes, I'm a bit cynical about it because Google has lot's of little bugs like this and they never seem to get resolved.
That's also why Google search suggestions doesn't show anything for CUMMING, GA either.
Interesting. I've searched the term twice now and got one ad one time and two ads the next time.
But when using the keyword tool it seems to show there is a decent CPC associated with the term and even higher CPC for associated terms.
By the way, thanks for cleaning up this thread.
FarmBoy
It's obviously an idiotic bug on Google's behalf because they can't seem to sort out adult from non-adult topics which their competitors handle with ease.
It's not really an idiotic bug, but rather an idiotic town name. It's easier for Google to hide ads then take the risk of seeing when using the phrase "cumming" would be safe, because 99% of the time it is not.
not really an idiotic bug, but rather an idiotic town name.
Let's not forget the historical perspective. The city of Cumming was probably named several centuries ago. When did it become common for that word to have the "adult meaning" in the U.S. or at least in that area of the U.S.?
In my lifetime, I've witness the meaning of the word "gay" changing drastically.
Just because modern culture develops a new meaning of a word doesn't mean a town of that name has an idiotic name. Some day the word "Indianapolis", for example, may have a very different meaning.
Think how the name "Lewinsky" has changed since the time of our 42nd President.
I agree with Incredibill that Google should have a means of dealing with this because it's going to continue to happen over time as cultural norms change.
...when using the phrase "cumming" would be safe, because 99% of the time it is not.
For people who live there, work there, do business there, know someone who lives there, etc., 99% of the time it is "safe."
I've traveled to and done business in the Cumming area several times in the past. If I still traveled as much, I would be likely to use Google to search for lodging in the area.
FarmBoy
It's not really an idiotic bug, but rather an idiotic town name
Completely disagree - please do a search on "s#*$!horpe problem" and understand that programmers (and censors) are not necessarily as smart as they might think.
Edit: and the folks at Webmasterworld are no exception! Make that "sc-unthorpe problem".
...
So do PSA's want to be associated with "adult" words...
In the context of this thread, maybe that should be "associated with words that are adult words some of the time...?"
- why would Goog show any adverts?
Because there are legitmate business reasons for ads for Cumming - motels, homes for sale, plumbers, accountants, etc.
Besides, do the people wanting their PSA's displayed for free get to pick and choose where their ads will appear?
FarmBoy
So do PSA's want to be associated with "adult" words...
I run a directory, not so surprisingly I too have a page about Cumming, GA.
I just checked and it's full of ads, no PSA's whatsoever.
I'm thinking either
a) your content is too thin or,
b) you've over done the SEO and cumming shows up too many times per page and triggers adult content filters
hint: too much SEO can often be bad SEO
More importantly, when you search in Google itself for cumming plus my primary niche keyword I show up as the #1 result and there's a lot of appropriate ads showing on Google.
However, the suggestion search is definitely busted on Cumming and needs to be fixed.
I think what may partially contribute to the lack of ads is the size of the city and a lack of advertisers. For instance, Cumming is ranked 119th according to population [georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu]. Centerville is the next highest. I did searches for both and while I didn't see PSAs for Centerville sites, I did notice a lack of specific Centerville ads. I did find a single site displaying a single ad for Cumming. It was within a small banner ad unit, 468x60. This ad unit displayed one ad for a Cumming related advertiser and one ad for Atlanta.
So maybe/possibly/ reducing the size of the ad unit may help in getting rid of the PSAs. Worth a try.
I don't think it has anything to do with overdoing the SEO.
I'll dispute this one because I've done it myself.
Only one or two occurrences of words like nude and erotic per page, for example, and you still get AdSense. Get about 10 occurrences, more in the SEO keyword stuffing zone, and you get PSA's.
Likewise, if the page had Cumming in it too many times it probably flips the adult content trigger.
This ad unit displayed one ad for a Cumming related advertiser and one ad for Atlanta.
Another fallacy that the ads have to be directly about Cumming itself.
Ads can be from surrounding service providers that pick all of the regional cities they service.
On the page I reported about the ad units were 100% full for cumming.
I've just been targeting local businesses in cities, nothing special about Cumming.
My former ISP had an office in a city about 200 miles from me. I used to get "local" ads from that city. I didn't know if plumbers in that city really thought I would call them to come over and fix a leaky faucet or if Google just didn't have a good way of knowing where I was located.
I switched ISP's and now I get ads from a city that's 100 miles away in another direction.
My point is this whole geography things seems to have Google a bit stumped.
FarmBoy
