| LED Digest 2270: How AdWords Arbitrage Works |
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Interesting video demonstrating how spam listings are dominating some targeted niches on Google. A question about form spam. More on ways to motivate clients, and the search for a definition of search continues. ================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. October 19, 2006 Issue no. 2270 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== AdWords Arbitrage - How it Works ==-- ~ Rae Deisler "Why doesn't Google follow-up on their TOS which are clearly published?" --== Junk Mail from Contact Forms ==-- ~ Mark Frank "I am getting advertisements from my own sites now." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Motivating Clients ==-- ~ Dina Beach Lynch "Try to remember that your clients are responsible for the ultimate outcome not you." --== Another Bubble? Google & YouTube ==-- ~ Angela Booth "Like blogs and podcasts, it's available. Use it." --== Usability and Search ==-- ~ Brett Atkin "What is the primary goal of SEO?" ~ Nathan Holley "SEO is about marketing on the Web." ~ Al Toman "Marketing works." ~ Shari Thurow "I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, sometimes." ========== NEW =================================== From: R. Deisler Subject: AdWords Arbitrage - How it Works (Video) This was forwarded to me today. Please do take 5 minutes of your day to view this video. It demonstrates quite vividly how AdWords and AdSense spam is eroding search results, PPC advertising, and Google's reputation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuXilEu2EfI The suggestion in this video is to contact Google about this. I've done exactly that. Here's their canned response (part of it): ------------------------ Dear Rae, Thank you for your email regarding the video on YouTube that supposedly exposes invalid activity. While I cannot comment directly on the quality and accuracy of the video, I can assure you that the security of Google AdWords advertisers is a top priority for Google. We certainly do not overlook or encourage unethical behavior. In fact, we dedicate a number of resources to click protection strategies that the general public might not be aware of. How google detects invalid clicks Most people who watch the video don't realize that our proprietary technology aims to remove clicks and impressions from unethical users and automated sources before they ever reach your account. In other words, people may try to click on your ads repeatedly. But we won't register the clicks. The following is a few examples of how our system works: - Real-time systems filter out activity fitting a profile of invalid behavior (such as excessively repetitive clicks) - Clicks or impressions from known sources of invalid activity are automatically discarded Various unique and innovative methods are applied in combination in each stage of the filtering process, thereby maximizing proactive detection of invalid activity. Our engineers are also constantly improving our monitoring technology, enhancing filters, and examining a growing set of signals. In addition to our automated click protection techniques, we have a team that uses specialized tools and techniques to examine individual instances of invalid clicks. When our system detects potential invalid clicks, a member of this team examines the affected account to glean important data about its source. One of the goals of our team is to make invalid activity very difficult and unrewarding for unethical users, thereby decreasing their rate of success. Additionally, if we find that invalid clicks have been charged in the past two months, we'll credit advertisers' accounts. How google handles invalid clicks Google actively implements the techniques described above in order to combat invalid click activity. Google automatically filters clicks that we determine invalid from your reports. In addition, we apply the following policies for the protection of AdWords advertisers: - If our experts find that invalid clicks have escaped automatic detection, you'll receive a credit for those clicks. This credit will appear on the 'Billing Summary' page of the 'My Account' section in your AdWords account, labeled 'Adjustment - Click Quality.' - Any advertiser or publisher participating in invalid click activity or any related offense is subject to legal prosecution. We will also take the appropriate action on the related account and ensure that these individuals are not allowed further participation in the Google Network. Sincerely, Kevin The Google AdWords Team ---------------------- That's all fine, but why doesn't Google take the easy (and obvious) route? Why doesn't Google cancel the illegal AdWords accounts and blacklist the spam pages? Why doesn't Google follow-up on their TOS which are clearly published? Do I hear, "Self-Interest" anyone....? Here's a link to their contact page. Use it after viewing the video: https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/request.py Wishing all legitimate publishers well on LED Digest, Rae Deisler -------- new post - new topic --------- From: Mark Frank Subject: Junk Mail from Contact Forms I thought we had solved this problem... Like many of us, I used to get over 200 emails every day because my contact information was on my websites. Using a "contact us" form didn't help because the email address was still encoded in the HTML and the robots could still find it. One day I came across a CGI script that let me take the email address out of the HTML form and put it into the CGI script where no one could ever see it. So I installed the script, changed my email address, and junk mail dropped to zero. Clients could still contact me and all was right with the world. But something new has been added... I am getting advertisements from my own sites now. It appears that someone has come up with a piece of software that automatically fills out my contact us forms online and submits them. Now I get emails coming through my CGI script that are full of ads. It started with one site, now it has moved to two. I am not looking to start another post about the evils of junk mail, but does anyone have any ideas on how we might deal with this emerging problem? Mark Frank, Author Start Your Own Home-Based Website Design Business http://www.websitedesignbiz.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Dina Beach Lynch Subject: On Motivating Clients > This brings up a good question - how DO you get clients > to do things that are good for them? ... If you've have any > success in this, please provide concrete suggestions or > real-life stories. Look at it as official sanction to brag. - Beth Earle, LED Digest 2269 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1252/55/ Beth, your question is excellent and highlights an ongoing problem for all service providers. My response comes from my experience both as a workplace mediator and as a business owner who works with reluctant mediators to do more marketing. People act in their own self interest. Not a new statement, I know, but clearly understanding the implications of it will enable you to really move your clients along. You need to identify, via questioning, what the outcome means to your client on a professional and, more importantly, personal level. Then tie whatever task you need completed to those goals. For example, a higher ranking may mean more sales which may mean being able to pay for a child's education. Sometimes it's a fear instead of a desire that can be the trouble. Uncover the fear (even if it's fear of success) again through questioning and find ways to counteract it. The solution may be as simply as providing more guidance to complete the task. One more thought. Try to remember that your clients are responsible for the ultimate outcome not you. You can lead a horse to water.... Best, Dina Beach Lynch, Mediator, Business Mensch ADRPracticebuilder.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Angela Booth Subject: Bubble > As we all lament the glut of worthless information we see in > the search results, the growth of "splogs," and the endless barrage > of advertising, won't we see the same thing happening in the > video arena? ... What can "GoogTube" offer us that will add value? - Ronni Rhodes, LED Digest 2269 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1252/55/ Hi Ronni Playing devil's advocate -- I'm not fonder of splogs than anyone else -- I think user-content is wonderful. I don't care how bad most of it it is, just the fact that people put stuff online is amazing to me. It gives many creatives (singers, song-writers, artists, photographers, writers) opportunities that they've never had before. Re "worthless information": who's to say what's worthless? I've seen some fun stuff on YouTube. Somewhere in the mass of stuff is the next Steven Spielberg. :-) Re "what can GoogTube offer us" - that's up to us. It's a way of putting videos online, Free. A great marketing opportunity for all businesses. I'm putting some tutorials online next year. Like blogs and podcasts, it's available. Use it. All best wishes Angela Booth Freelance Copywriter and Ghostwriter http://www.angelabooth.com/ The Creativity Factory blog: http://angelabooth.com/wp/ -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Brett Atkin Subject: Usability and Search My question still wasn't answered: What is the primary goal of SEO? References keep getting made to "information retrieval systems". Isn't that was Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc... are? Libraries, museums, music stores, book stores, web sites, etc.. are information retrieval systems. Usability is about how to make those information retrieval systems more efficient, more friendly, easier to find the desired information, etc... Isn't SEO about getting information INTO those information retrieval systems? Yes, SE spider "usability" is involved in SEO, but that is not what most people think of when they think of usability. ------------------- "There are many elements to search engine optimization, but SEO guideline #1 is our old friend, "speak the user's language." Or, more precisely, when you write, use keywords that match users' search queries." http://www.useit.com/alertbox/search-keywords.html (Jakob Nielson) ------------------- Isn't the point of getting one's information into those information retrieval systems to create publicity, sales, pass on knowledge, just be found, etc...? SEO is entirely about cause and effect. Why do I want to get a page listed at the top of the SERP's? What do I have to do on that page to get it listed at the top of SERP's? What do I want to have happen when that page is visited? Seth Godin gives a great explanation of the desired actions when a person visits a web page. "Vocabulary: "Landing page" http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/04/vocabulary_land.html Why do I need to take anything up with Bruce Clay? I agree with him. Drag his name into this? "This" is a discussion about SEO. He is a leading authority on SEO. I quoted something he has posted in the public domain and gave him the necessary citation for the reference. What does archiving have to do with SEO? I wasn't reading your mind, I was reading the content on your web site. Maybe that is why everyone is wrong about your marketing strategies. Shari, I always read your articles on ClickZ. I always valued what you said. You are an authority on the SEO field. But you just lost me as a supporter. You didn't answer my original question. You got defensive and condescending in your reply. You were condescending in the message I replied to. You ridiculed me for not know what your marketing strategies are when all I did was ask questions about content on your web site. Your response was the information isn't accurate and you're in the process of changing it. How am I or anybody else who visits your site supposed to know that? This is Brett Atkin (no "s") getting off my pedestal er soapbox now... Brett Atkin -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Nathan Holley Subject: Usability and Search I really must apologize, first, for posting so much these last few days. I'm finding myself engrossed by the LED Digest. It's a fantastic resource, and I'd like to thank everyone for the spirt of sharing here and the depth of knowledge. On to the matter at hand... > In short? I think Mr. Atkin should just grow up and > admit that he doesn't know what he is talking about. - Shari Thurow, LED Digest 2268 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1242/55/ Yikes! You had me until the last paragraph, Shari. And I actually appreciated your reply to my earlier post, too, even though you called me "ignorant." It was easy to look past that comment and focus on the information in your post. But here you've lost me. Brett Atkin seems to be simply presenting your own site copy to you as proof that SEO is about marketing. Honestly, I find it hard to understand how you can refute such evidences on your own site (but I do understand a re-design is forthcoming). Basically, I still feel strongly that SEO is not about information retrieval as you define it, which is fundamentally an academic one. SEO is about marketing on the Web. Info retrieval is about finding information. Let's get over it. I'll keep a low profile for awhile and let others jump in. Thanks LEDers! Nathan Holley -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Al Toman Subject: Usability and Search It doesn't take a nuclear scientist to look up search, engine, and optimization, SEO, in the dictionary: search - transitive verb: to look into or over carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something engine - noun something used to effect a purpose optimization - noun an act, process, or methodology of making something ... as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible; specifically : the mathematical procedures ... involved in this source: merriam-webster-online SEO is (and has been all this while) clearly and definitively defined. SEO, as defined; it is the job of the SEO to create a mathematical procedure (algorithm) to effect the purpose of looking over (web pages) thoroughly in an effort to discover something (information). I fully understand that SEO, as defined and probably coined by Mr. Bruce Clay, is a BUZZ term. That's what marketing is all about, buzz. SEO, as a buzz, has been very successful. Simply regard all the millions of us who have been buzzed. However, it isn't and has very little to do with SEO. SEO requires a strong background in mathematics and science, particularly, the science of language, globally. Both Larry and Scarey are VERY CAPABLE of SEO. However, this is their choices: 1) Build a SE that is O'd and pocket a few million "atta-boys" or 2) Build a business called Google, the marketing machine, and pocket $14 billion each. The choice is obviously clear. Mr. Page, several months ago, truthfully and honestly assessed the Google SE a rank of 3, 30% efficient. This is accurate. This reflects the choosing of #2 and not #1. The current SEO community has elected to work with a 30% efficient SE and it is extremely costly for us all as a global community. No matter if white hat or black hat, with respect to SEO, no more than 30% can be achieved. Respectfully, if you hire a SEO, you should receive a 60% discount right off the top, if not more. Marketing works. There is plenty of work for copywriters, sales personnel, advertisers, web designers, and the like. These all play the buzz. However, the buzz of SEO does not work consistently. SEO are not working with an Optimized Search Engine. Not a single universal SE exists, today. Personally, I'm here at LED Digest to either learn marketing or to acquire the services of marketers because I know very little about marketing and frankly, have no interest in performing marketing myself. I don't do the buzz well. I'm definitely not here to throw money at some buzzed SEO. I can buzz SEO all day long on my own at a cost of nothing but time and in so doing, prove every white hat SEO theory as wrong as they can prove it right. Heck, I only have to achieve 30% to max out the capabilities of the SE. We'll see where these SEO will buzz off to next. It will be interesting. In the mean time, does anyone have an O'd SE? I can use one. Kind Regards, Al Toman studio9 web design http://studio9.ws -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Shari Thurow Subject: Usability and Search Hi all- This is in response to the discussion thread regarding search and usability, and specifically the responses to my post in LED #2268. Let me begin by saying that I am somewhat dumbfounded how words and phrases are easily misinterpreted, especially by people who (I believe) should know better. Yes, I am a student of library and information sciences. However, I do not only work in libraries or library-type sites. In fact, I have never worked on a library site. I think that some LEDers got it in their thick heads that because that is the department I am in, then I must be some sort of librarian. I have a great deal of respect for librarians and their skills in organizing information, but my skills fall more in the information sciences arena. Information retrieval studies, human and computer interfaces (HCI), and usability don't necessarily have their own departments. Quite often, these types of classes reside in a library science department. A quick search on Google (or your search engine of choice) could easily reveal the curricula at any major university. I don't want to debate this ad nauseum. You all know how to search. I know I am somewhat unique in that I not only study information retrieval as a graduate student (not because I have to but because I want to). I practice search optimization and have done so since 1995. It's one of my great passions, understanding how people search for information and how to create an interface (translation: Web site) that meets the needs of the target audience, Web site owner, and the information retrieval system (translation: prospects, business owner, search engine). I have said this many, many, many times. Grad school is not for everyone. It just happens to be my choice, and one that has made me understand the info retrieval industry in ways I could have never imagined. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, sometimes. SEOs like to use my chosen pursuit of education as "proof" that I am an academic and don't know how to implement. Um, big mistake. How do you think I can pay tuition and other goodies? I do work for a living. And academics don't think I am very objective because I am in the corporate arena. Well boo hoo to both groups. I can and am doing both. They benefit each other. I choose to listen to experts in info retrieval who have a deeper knowledge of search than anecdotal evidence. It has saved me loads of time and expense by knowing who to listen to and whose research to read. I rarely listen to (or respect) people who don't use their real names when they post. Usually, my interpretation is that these people feel threatened because I know more than they know. Not my problem. They are just as capable of taking a class, talking to info retrieval professionals, etc. as I am. For the record, I have always specialized in search-friendly Web design. In academic terms, that is in a Library and Information Sciences department with a specialty in human / computer interfaces for information retrieval systems. And that is a mouthful. Usability is a huge portion of that type of curriculum. I don't like it when people put words into my mouth. If you have a question, ask me. Don't assume. Don't ask me what my marketing plans are because it is none of anyone's business. You want to write a book? Fine, go for it and power to you for that journey. Truthfully, I was asked to write my first book. The publisher approached me. Okay, end of rant. I just ask that if you have a question, ask me. If I choose to answer (I do most of the time), then I will. Don't listen to someone's misinterpretation of what I say and write. Sincerely, Shari Thurow, Webmaster/Marketing Director Grantastic Designs, Inc. http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/tips.html ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?" - James Barrie, The Little White Bird, 1902 (Often paraphrased as: Always be a little kinder than necessary.) |
