I have already done a WHOIS lookup and the competitor's domain name was registered in Hong Kong on 28 April 2003. (Our Thai translation service is located in Bangkok.) I paused the campaign only two weeks ago, so I wonder how many clickthrus in May I have paid for have ended up benefiting my competitor! Can I get "compensation" from Google i.e. my clickthrus partially refunded, at least?
Anyone else heard of this happening or had some experience to offer any good advice?
TJ
In any case, this sounds like a matter for Google to sort out. Am I understanding that someone hacked your Adwords account and changed the URL? Or is someone running an ad that appears to go to your site but really goes to theirs?
Maybe someone did hack into my AdWords account, but the URL entered and displayed is definitely my company's one. When you do a search for my sponsored keyphrase, my ad appears displaying my company's URL. Yet when it's clicked, it goes to a competitor's website. WTF?
What if there is some sort of spyware/keylogger on my computer? How safe is other data on my computer? What about other accounts for various services I have elsewhere on the net? So many scenarios are going through my mind right now and I'm quite paranoid. I don't know what to do, at least not until Google replies, whenever that will be.
Is it worth noting that the url displayed in adwords can be anything you like - it doesn't have to be your own site - try searching for Ebay for example.
Are you sure it's your own ads that have changed? If so, can you not just log into adwords and check the destination url?
What has happenned is that your competitor has set up his own AdWords campaign displaying your url however the actual url is his own. It is highly unlikely that you have been charged for these clicks however if you haven't got an answer from AdWords yet call them. The cost of the call is nothing compard to the lost business.
There have been a few threads on Gator and Google lately. Gator Eating up Google Adwords Money [webmasterworld.com] sounds suspiciously like your situation.
This Google search [google.com] returns more WW threads on Gator and Google.
Jim
[edited by: thaiguy at 3:08 pm (utc) on June 10, 2003]
Is that the competitor you're talking about?
TJ
[edited by: trillianjedi at 3:12 pm (utc) on June 10, 2003]
Strange thing is, if you type the original 3 word domain into the URL bar, you don't get redirected.
I didn't spot the redirect on click through from the AdWord.
TJ
I do. I even checked the reponse headers which show a 302 to the t-l site. You must have missed off the www. - this doesn't redirect.
Hey that's a quick solution for the moment thaiguy
- change all your adwords to the url without the www. and your clicks will reach your site, until you can figure out exactly what's gone on here.
[edited by: Receptional_Andy at 3:03 pm (utc) on June 10, 2003]
Specific information is totally unneccessary. The point here is to discuss an issue, not to discuss somebody's issue. There's a big difference because the former benefits many people while the latter applies to just one situation at hand.
thaiguy-
Tropical Island answered your question. Now, all you have to do is contact adwords support and they will boot that person's ad. Relax. But first edit your last post.
[edited by: martinibuster at 3:13 pm (utc) on June 10, 2003]
I wanted to see this for myself. This is definitely worthy of a detailed discussion. In this instance, the exact details were necessary, but appreciate it's against the TOS and I apologise for encouraging that - I should have sticki-mailed.
Receptional_Andy,
I do type in the www, I don't get redirected.
No 302 in the header. Strange?
TJ
This is definitely worthy of a detailed discussion.
I would respectfully have to disagree. The reason for this is that you now have a specific search query, and a bunch of strangers clicking on an ad and costing someone money.
You don't know who thaiguy is and what his/her motivation may be. I'm not accusing thaiguy of anything, but when you start posting searches like this, you open yourself and these forums to all kinds of manipulations.
I say again: PLEASE EDIT YOUR POST AND REMOVE THE SPECIFICS.
Thaiguy - your adword is using an incorrect url - it's pointing at
www-yourdomain.com
- notice the hyphen after the www!
Looks like your competitor has registered www-yourdomain in order to catch type-ins or for more shady reasons, and it's working very well for them in this instance.
Go into adwords and put the dot after www and I think your problem will be resolved...
[edited by: Receptional_Andy at 3:16 pm (utc) on June 10, 2003]
When talking about an issue, it is best to keep the specifics out because the discussion will benefit the many, and will be as timely today as it may two years from now.
[edited by: martinibuster at 3:16 pm (utc) on June 10, 2003]
It's entirely my fault.
Very interesting problem though. I'm intrigued as to why some get the 302, but I definitely do not.
TJ
I have to shamefully admit that I did not consider the click-through cost issue......
I do apologise.
TG - I just hope you are who you say you are (I suspect so) - and hope this hasn't cost you too much money!
Looks like Receptional_Andy has nailed it anyway - good spot Andy.
TJ
Thanks for your effort, Andy, although I can't see where I have a hyphen in between the www and the first word of my domain name.
As for "response headers" "302s" etc where should I go for advice about this for a newbie? Thanks to everyone so far for your input.
I am 99.9999% sure this is your problem. Make sure your are checking the "Destination URL (maximum 1024 characters)" section, and NOT the display url, which has been entered correctly.
You don't need to concern yourself with 302s etc. because it is now clear that this is happening on your competitors server, and so your are not able to change it.
If you are using IE, right click on your own ad and choose 'copy shortcut' (or check the status bar). Paste this into a text area and you can clearly see that Google are redirecting to a a url with a hyphen after the www.
[edited by: Receptional_Andy at 3:33 pm (utc) on June 10, 2003]
I can't see where I have a hyphen in between the www and the first word of my domain name
Right-click on the link at the top of your AdWord and click "properties" in the pop-up menu.
TJ
And guess what?
You were 100% correct. There was a hyphen where there shouldn't have been. So a big THANK YOU and to everyone else who also contributed.
As Andy said, don't worry about the 302 redirect - it was not on your server.
Once again Andy, well spotted!
I guess the question remains, did your competitor deliberately buy this domain on spotting your mistake or did they buy it for mis-type-ins?
TJ
