Do a search on "car sign", then do a search for "new york"
Your search for new york will bring up ads for "New York Vehicle Signs" even though you may have been really looking for information about New York in general. Google assumes that just because your searches were consecutive, somehow they know what you are looking for better than you do.
It's outrageous that Google forces us to jump through hoops with all of the ridiculous quality score junk, and then they serve up silly results like that that have nothing to do with your search.
So where's all my traffic for the term "new york" that I'm bidding on? And what if I'm bidding on "car signs" and my quality score tanks due to the fact that the searcher has given up in the term and decided to search something else and my ad comes up? $10/click - wham bam thank you maam! (Love, Google)
[edited by: Kobayashi at 5:43 am (utc) on Oct. 30, 2007]
Could they be testing it on you? :)
There is an article on it that talks about adverts now being based on 3 factors...
1. Viewers IP
2. Page content
3. Your browser history...
On the Adsense help site people are complaining about getting adult adverts, when its actually a factor of their history rather than their page content.
If you share the computer disable it, other people searching for other stuff will make it learn a mix of stuff that you don't want. Disable it at work too, especially if you work for a sign company.
Here's another one:
query #1 - "california redwoods"
query #2 - "used cars"
I received 3 ads for "Los Angeles Used Cars", along with some decently geo-targeted (East Coast) ads.
All I'm saying is that whoever is bidding on "Los Angeles Used Cars" is going to have a disappointing CTR, because there is no real correlation between my research on california redwoods and my research on used cars.
It is a predictable effect and has nothing to do with the Google Toolbar.
Another example for the mix: search 'car' then 'light'. Now 'light' again. Notice first 'light' search includes vehicle / car lights; second does not. Tested with google.co.uk. Additional bonus example: 'insurance' then 'car'.
It works particularly well when a given word can have multiple meanings (or advert clusters?); it takes context from your previous search term.
the human mind just ain't that simple, trying to anticipate what someone wants now based on what they said they wanted before is fruitless... 21 years of marriage speaking here.
This is like when you put a banner on your site and less than 1% of visitors actually click on it, even when you believe there is a connection between the content and what that banner offers.
If Google is doing this on regular base, they should exclude those impressions from CTR and quality score, just like they exclude partner search networks.
Check out Google's new "behavioral targeting" system:
Do a search on "car sign", then do a search for "new york"Your search for new york will bring up ads for "New York Vehicle Signs" even though you may have been really looking for information about New York in general.
I see it exactly how you described it.
Expanded broad match + behavioral targeting = lower ROI for us and more $$$ for google.
There are many instances where subsequent queries are related especially if they are within a certain timeframe.
I agree. But there's also many unrelated queries that occur within that same timeframe. And there's no way for a machine or person to know which is the case without asking the searcher. If you want to allow people to drill down, add a feature that lets them choose to do so.
I think this will have to go way too far before all the people now writing reasearch papers on it and those salivating over demographic data and analysis get a decade or so to completely screw this up. "Precise targeting" is now sold by spyware and adware companies galore, everyone wants to own my desktop - consumers will eventually demand that parties stop listening and observing and recording every move they make. But, for now, it's buzz, good, buzz, social, buzz, target, buzz, demographic cartesian cross-section, buzz...
The superiority of asking people to tell you what they're looking for is plainly evident before us - the search engine wars and their billions in profits are proof. They're all thinking they can do better if they observe us and make guesses about what we want... anyone who has ever been an employee knows the difference between your boss asking what you may want and need to get your job done better -and- one who partially observes some aspects of what you're doing and then makes all kinds of nutty conclusions about what you need and want...
BM indeed.
If Google uses your ad for a search that is not in your Keywords because of their BM - Where will it show up in your stats?
Just check the Average CPC and Quality Score columns.
I sure miss the good old days of linear bidding. That way, the market could just figure it all out.
Yahoo embraced behavioral targeting. Google has resisted it in the past based on privacy policy, but officially left open the door to start using it.
p/g
Edit - I also tried "penguins" and then a major car brand and make. Got some ads in lower positions for hockey stuff. That is totally crazy. Surely they tell that the two searches have zer relationship and thus should not pull up ads for each other.
