Why isn't Ask.com shut down for PPC arbitrage?

Are they now the biggest MFA of them all? :)

[bcc1234]

I search on Google for some keywords which I target with AdWrods, and see AdWords ads leading to Ask.com.

Once landing on Ask, I see my original search with my own Adwords ad (among others) displayed on that page, and pretty much nothing else above the fold. Ask's search results follow below.

So what they have now is the biggest MFA site out there.

Why isn't Google shutting them down?

[avalon37]

Ask is beyond pathetic at this point. Seriously we were doing some advertising with them because they were BEGGING us. And then they started bidding on our trademarked company name on Googlge. That's unbelievable (and desperate).

[MadeWillis]

Nothing new here. Click fraud and more click fraud is what you will get with ASK, IMHO.

Is anyone here actually running ads specifically on ASK? I mean, I know they are a G partner so your ads will display there, but are you paying ASK directly?

[MadeWillis]

I search on Google for some keywords which I target with AdWrods, and see AdWords ads leading to Ask.com.

That reminds me....someone actually said (in the newest bing thread) Bing.com was doing the same thing.

So other engines are buying their traffic from Google. Maybe it will actually start to convert for us!

[edited by: MadeWillis at 4:28 pm (utc) on June 2, 2009]

[shorebreak]

MSN and Ask collectively spend, IMO, US$50M+/year on AdWords. SE marketshare would be even more titled towards Google if other SE's weren't spending so much on AdWords.

[pavlovapete]

Maybe Google give them ad space to lessen their competitive share?