The reality is, most advertisers won't want ad management services from Google for obvious conflict of interest reasons. If the advertiser isn't wise enough to exclude Google from the SEM consideration set, IMO they're not an advertiser worth serving.
-Shorebreak
This is how rumors get started
-Shorebreak
I can tell you all that this is not a rumor, and even more, Google has been doing it for about a year now (as far as I know) here in South America and also in Spain. It didnīt bother me at all. In fact one of my clients today, was a direct Google Adwords client before he came to me. The reason why he quit from google directly managing his campaign, itīs because the guy Google had working for him didnīt put much effort to do a good job managing campaigns.
- This is a US client
- Google NY had a meeting and is talking about creating and managing the whole campaign
I do see your point that there is a conflict of interest issue but I am sure the client with not too much experience in the field will be more inclined to working with Google since they are the source afterall. My counter arguement was obviously in line with alot of comments here -
- We have more experience. Google might have all information at their disposal and decent knowledge on keywords, text ads etc, but that's all. What about the key factors like landing page and conversion funnel optimization? There is a lot more to an SEM campaign than bidding on keywords and creating ads.
Once again, thank you all!
If you're a Google client having trouble- "flick" turn up the quality score from behind the scenes.
Little guys with low "quality" lose out again and the other SEM can't do the same.
I have also read a couple of stories about Google setting up Adwords campaigns for their customers and not doing a good job because they put the max bids too high and used too many general keyword terms. That way Google gets more money for clicks.
It is important to get someone with experience on the advertiser side used to focusing on ROI goals and running campaigns that make money for the advertiser as opposed to having the company you are buying your advertising from run your campaigns. In that kind of situation the person handling the account is likely to be encouraged and may be incentivized to get you to spend more.
Seriously.
Google directly translates to "conflict of interest".Seriously.
why? they just offer SEM services like anyone else. if their services were more expensive than those offered by independent SEM companies, customers would definitely not choose them, right?
so where is the conflict of interest?
not really IMO.
thinking that companies should not use their own assets is naive.
why do you all think that google belongs to humans and not to google inc.? google inc. created google.com and and they take advantage of it.
thinking that they should not use it just plain stupid.
Let's expand on this train of thought to ask why someone would WANT Google to manage their campaigns. Would they not possibly advise you to act in ways that would possibly act in their best interest rather than your own?
Has Google not shown they continually make decisions that have resulted in more and more cost to their advertisers simply because there are very few viable alternatives?
Hey, I have an idea. I'll have one of the local used car salesmen advise me on which car's a good buy. I'm sure he won't recommend an expensive one from his own lot- after all, I hired him. Right?
i asked: why would they not offer their service?
not: why would anyone want to use them?
please, do not change my words.
i am not a google defender. i do really not feel comfortable when there is no diversification possibility.
however, when i read posts saying
"bad google trying to use their own tools!"
"ugly google trying to kill companies using tools belonging to google to make money!"
"greedy google trying to use their own assets!"
i really start to feel 14-year old people read and post at WebmasterWorld.
just go, build your own advertising system and stop whining.
The real question is, are they offering their SEM clients access to tools and information that their competitors can't match? That would be non-competitive behavior.
We can all see that Google is doing this because they think it will increase their revenue stream.The real question is, are they offering their SEM clients access to tools and information that their competitors can't match? That would be non-competitive behavior.
They absolutely are. As mentioned above Google will not only be able to see the quality score in its full glory but could also adjust it if needed.
"Wow, unless Google manages my campaigns my quality score is always low..."
