Competitor now has 2 sites 2 campaigns 2 adwords listings

[joethejoe]

Is it still against google rules to double dip? Is there any point in complaining to google? i.e. do they do anything?

[idolw]

they probably used someone else's credit card. like their wife's or dad's

[joethejoe]

Oh, that's funny, idolw. But I'm talking about real business.

[arieng]

I think idolw was being complete serious. A different credit card, a different domain, and Google would have no idea at first blush that they weren't two separate entities.

I'd definitely complain. Google may or may not do anything about it, but its worth bringing it to light.

[joethejoe]

Thanks, arleng. Where exactly does one complain? Can it be done anonymously? (paranoid? yes)

[arieng]

I think this is the correct form:

[adwords.google.com...]

It does require an email address.

[joethejoe]

thx. I submitted the info. We shall see how seriously google takes their policy.

[idolw]

Oh, that's funny, idolw. But I'm talking about real business.

Setting up a company in my country is $100. I think it is way cheaper in the UK.
If you are really sure that you will not canibalize existing adwords campaigns with a new site being advertised, why would you not do that?
2 different companies running 2 different websites on the same keywords. Perfectly OK.
And what's the $100 for your real business? 4 hours of your Adwords budget? :)

[netmeg]

Bear in mind that according to some info currently circulating as a result of a Google panel at a recent conference, complaining about a competitor may *also* shine a spotlight on you, and others. In fact, Google may well take a look at the entire niche. I always kind of suspected this (it makes sense) but apparently it was confirmed.

[bwnbwn]

joethejoe I see this quite often when google starts sending out free 100.00 cards to start up a campaign. I just started getting them again the other day so you may start to see more of this soon.

BTW how do you know it's the same company doing the double dip?

[joethejoe]

netmeg, not worried about shining a light on me. lol

bwnbwn, The site(s) in question are a large player in the niche. Multi millions in sales. I know they are the same entity because the address is the same and the shopping cart is the same provider and they are using the same images in some cases. And of course the products are the same.
What they did was buy a very good descriptive domain name and are trying a somewhat different marketing approach on the same keywords.

[Hyponeros]

In my case, my competitor owns 2 companies who are advertising on the same keywords and one of the company has many affiliates who again bid the same keywords. So I end up bidding against 3-4 ads of the same company and I can't do anything against it!

[BlackHatters]

This happens all the time in the UK for the terms 'airport parking'

There are 3 companies who own the airport carparks in the UK for the major airports and they just set up seperate domains for each of the airport so they can control the space in the SERP's and ensure they they get the sale.

Basically its a monopoly on 'airport parking' terms in the UK and they even have their own gentlemens agreements about which position they will appear for different terms to ensure profitability for the 3 companies and ensure no other competitors can enter the space.

Been like this for years and Google has never done enything about it becuase of the way they have the companies set up in the background.