Automatic clicks from a UK PPC

Where's the search term in this string?

[Michael Anthony]

Just started trialling a new PPC service (which I won't mention the name of in case this is innocent) and most of the hits come from this query...

"http://rd.zoomseeker.com/rd.php?aid=507x505x550x509x505x&send=1&url=508x551x551x556x93x82x8
2x554x554x554x81x504x509x558x42x507x555x81x44x555x81x552x50
2x82x559x44x558x509x556x551x559x82x500x505x550x500x558x509x
551x505x81x42x559x556x560x17x44x503x509x44x502x15x554x554x5
54x81x556x505x558x559x555x550x42x503x506x552x550x500x509x55
0x507x81x44x555x81x552x502x72x90x506x84x72x90x506x73x42x559
x15x84x95x95x98x73x552x84x15x99x83x84x99x73x552x90x15x84x90
x92x98x83x92x98x73x556x507x15x95x73x556x559x15x84x83x73x504
x500x15x90x73x553x551x15x84x83x98x97x96x99x90x96x96x96x73x5
53x552x15x84x95x92x83x95x97x92x95x84x96x73x553x44x15x97x83x
91x83x83x92x98x98x83x&keywords=558x505x506x509x550x42x550x4
4x505x87x508x555x504x505x87x504x555x558x551x507x42x507x**05
x"

Which returns my site! (but I've changed one digit to ** to avoid contravening the TOS) It appears to me that there is no real human on the end of this query, but I bet that the PPC service will be charging for the click.

Anyone familiar with this - strikes me it's just automated clicks to spend my ad budget?

[edited by: engine at 5:35 pm (utc) on Oct. 8, 2003]
[edit reason] scrollism [/edit]

[simon_c]

This is from a search partner of this PPC provider, in the same way that MSN is a search partner of Overture. The url string is encoded but is effectively a redirect sending the user to another redirect through the PPC provider.

The only difference between this and an MSN referrer string is that this one is encoded. To spot whether it's dodgy you'd need to look at times of clicks, click patterns and other stuff.

I'd suggest it's more important to measure the overall returns from the PPC provider to decide whether to continue with that spend. In my experience they are very good.

[Michael Anthony]

Thanks simon_c, but this still gives me a problem - if it's all gibberish like this, how can I establish which search term the click came from?

[simon_c]

Thats the tricky bit :)

Either decode the referrer string or use some sort of tracking system which does this for you. This may be as simple as using tracking urls on your listings.

eg
www.whatever.co.uk/?cam=mir&key=car+insurance

Then wherever it comes from you know from your logs which activity and which keyword listing was clicked.

Go a step further and combine this info with tracking the user through to sales and collating the original bid price and you've got true cost per sale analysis.

[Michael Anthony]

Hmmmm - that may be a lot of work. I have 7 tracking URL's, use 6 different forms of PPC advertising and have around 350 keywords. That would mean publishing 2,450 tracking URL's!

My experience to date with Mirago is that they are delivering far more clicks than actual orders relative to Google Adsense, Espotting, and Overture, so I may just wait until my "test spend" is exhausted and make a decision.

Do u (or anyone else) have any experience with Webfinder? I've just signed up with them too.

[simon_c]

We use Webfinder when it's appropriate. As with all PPC, it's about bidding at a level which provides profitable returns, not neccessarily bidding to achieve a position.

Ideally each provider and each keyword for each provider should be measured independantly and appropriate strategies applied to each to achieve the best returns.

(You may want to chop the long url in half to stop the page being so wide)

[Michael Anthony]

Yep - you're right there. I spent a fortune when I started PPC before I realised that "make me top" and similar invitations were aimed at the naive advertisers who think that position is all. I'm now comfortably bidding less for more specific terms.

Had I found Webmaster World before embarking on my PPC campaigns, it would have saved me a fortune.

I agree that the long URL has made this thread a bit wide, but I couldn't see a user edit key for me to change it.

I'll keep u posted on my results from the PPC campaigns, but right now Mirago looks like getting canned. As Webfinder took two weeks to assess my spreadsheet submission, my account only went live today, so it's a little early to draw any conclusions.