Google Slaps Affiliate Marketers (Again)
ADOTAS — It has been a tough few weeks for many affiliate marketers. The Google “slap” is currently in Round Four, forcing many online pay per click advertisers to reboot their pay per click campaigns in the hope of getting in the good graces of the Silicon Valley giant. Google has put thousands of online Web sites that rely upon their pay per click platform out of business. In the Internet Marketing community, this is known as the Google “slap.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about Google lately. On the one hand, they do so many things right that you can’t help but applaud them. Many in the pay per click industry believe that Google is quickly going down in history as the most arrogant company that has ever existed. Every company has the right to turn away business that goes against its fundamental criteria and core values. What makes the Google “slap” so different in this regard is that Google never explains its reasoning or rationale to anyone. Instead advertisers are left wondering what they did to receive the wrath of the Silicon Valley giant. In these instances what makes the SLAP so painful is that all of your keyword’s bids have been raised to $5 or $10 a click, making it impossible for you to cost-effectively drive traffic. This naturally makes the point that everybody has a price and even Google will compromise their core values if the price per click is high enough.
The purpose of this article is not to beat up on Google. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. Sometimes brilliant people and companies do incredibly stupid things. Certain buzzwords have become prominent in this new pay per click era. These terms like “visitor experience” create an entirely new era in advertising procedures and ethics. In the good old days of yesteryear, you would pay an advertising company for placement and as long as your advertisement was not in violation of their terms of service, the deal was consummated and nothing changed from that point forward. These days you can be running a campaign very profitably and effectively using Google Adwords only to encounter that Google now has a problem with your campaign. When was the last time an advertising company decided they knew more about your business than you did?
The issue that search engine marketers have is that they are forced to read their digital tea leaves wondering “what changed” and why Google now is penalizing them. Google is a pretty smart company. What myself and industry experts alike cannot understand is why Google does not step forward and clearly communicate exactly what it is that they need and want. Like I said, sometimes brilliant companies and individuals sometimes do some really stupid things. Regardless how Google’s Public Relations Department spins it, they are coming across as more and more of a digital bully.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately there is a lot going on in the pay per click industry. Venture Capitalist Carl Icahn has made a deal with Yahoo ending his proxy battle to deliver control of Yahoo to Microsoft. Yahoo had rejected Microsoft’s $31 a share bid in spite of the fact that their stock is currently trading in the $21 range. The Management and Board of Directors at Yahoo is preparing for their annual shareholders meeting on August 1st and today, the Internet pioneer is releasing its second-quarter earnings. What CEO Jerry Yang will have to explain to shareholders is that if Microsoft took the company over at $31 a share the market capitalization of Yahoo would be $12 billion higher than it is right now. Jerry, you got some ‘splainin’ to do.
With the stakes that high I’m betting that Yahoo and their management team are put out to pasture. If by some miracle the top brass at Yahoo can talk their way out of this dilemma they belong in politics not pay per click marketing. When I crunch the numbers the only criteria that shareholders are going to care about is “you ran away from Bill Gates $10 a share higher than where we are today!”
Twelve billion is a lot of moolah even in the pay per click arena. My advice to Yahoo management, polish up those resumes. A great site is jobs.yahoo.com.
We are all watching this drama unfold but few are anticipating what the future will hold if Google gets control of Yahoo. With the Google “slap” in full swing this is something you better factor into your future online marketing efforts. Google currently has a market share of 56% of the search engine marketing marketplace. Should Google be successful in taking over the Yahoo search market, they would control more than 75% of the pay per click search engine marketing marketplace. While Google is absolutely brilliant in some regards, I welcome any competitor that will offer an alternative to “the slap.” A Microsoft-Yahoo merger certainly positions itself as the underdog — a sort of a kinder, gentler pay per click search engine. It is a horrifying prospect to think of Google exporting their “slap” tactics to more of the pay per click marketplace.
Pay per click marketing is the lifeblood of many online businesses. During this past week Webmasters, marketers, business owners and advertisers have been logging in to their Google Adwords accounts to find that all of their bids have been inflated from pennies to $10 a click. These “players” are literally out of business and left clueless as to what Google wants or expects from them. I’ve seen sites that have incredible organic search engine rankings maintain their positioning in Google over this period. In other words, Google will send them regular traffic but not paid traffic.
One other major issue with “the slap” is that Webmasters are beginning to theorize that once you’ve been slapped you cannot fix it. You might as well trash your domain and start from ground zero. Google remains conveniently silent in this regard. The reality facing online marketers is that using Google Adwords is not for the timid or faint of heart. With what has been taking place it is a necessity that you master the adwords platform including their Google Webmaster Guidelines and the Landing Page & Site Quality Guidelines. Otherwise the chances are that you are setting yourself up for failure before you begin.
Currently keywords on Yahoo cost roughly 20% to 25% less than Google. Online advertisers are concerned about the inflationary pressures on keyword costs should a merger between Yahoo and Google result. More terrifying is the concern that a merger between Google and Yahoo will result in the infamous SLAP and silent treatment being exported to Yahoo’s loyal customers.
The demand for quality traffic generation has never been greater.
In 1997, there were 200 million pages on the World Wide Web. Today there are over 25 billion pages online with over one-half million new pages coming online every day. Marketers want to use a stable and consistent pay per click platform that allows them to quickly and cost effectively drive traffic to their websites and measure how their message resonates in the marketplace. In many regards, Google and its arbitrary and mysterious policies have set themselves up as a major obstacle in this regard. Rumors abound in the forums and blogosphere that Google is even evaluating how effectively the server, in which your website is on, operates. If your server is not to Google’s liking……slap, slap, slap!
Unless Google talks we are all left deciphering our digital tea leaves. For that reason I contend that a Yahoo-Microsoft merger will increase competition and better serve the interests of the pay per click marketplace.
While Google has been penalizing sites and lowering their quality scores it is evident that they have not been paying much attention to the results that their own search engine delivers. When I visit Google and do a search for the keyword “search engine,” they rank themselves #70.
Like I said, it has been a tough few weeks for those of us who try to decipher our digital tea leaves.
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Reader Comments.
Good article on the arrogance of Google. Our medical news and info site was a successful Google publisher until we were banned due to “invalid clicks” without reason or appeal. We will never use Google again. They owe us $400 after stopping payment on the check they sent us, for no reason.
Sorry - not clear to me what this “slap” was.
Google raised PPC bid prices?
Or, killed a bunch of ads or stopped some advertisers from using some keywords or,
WHAT? What did Google DO?
Great rant, just don’t get what triggered it.
Wisdek-Google in Israel half-way trains their staff. They also refused to pay you a salary/carfare while training. They said, “We did not hire you.”
If looking for a job avoid Google in Israel. They are cheap, not worth it and arrogant.
I’ve commenting since last year about Google’s ideas and it’s bigger market share. I hope that Microsoft deal with Yahoo soon as possible, so the market will have two big players and we’ll collect the result.
Wow…I cannot believe that. I know that Google instituted certain policies and procedures regarding display and destination urls.. but now this..
I am glad that I am not a full time affiliate marketer.. and I feel bad for those who are.
Thanks for the article
My firm does PPC marketing along with other services. We stopped using Google because of all the Mickey Mouse rules and because it’s 20%-40% more expensive than Yahoo PPC. Google has become incredibly arrogant and has lost complete touch with its PPC customers.
I could not agree with you more. A Google/Yahoo alliance would mean nothing more then monopoly of the search and pay per click market. Google is very arrogant in not communicating with its customers. Simply getting a reply from them in a timely manner is a huge accomplishment.
Google was once highly regarded as an industry leader, but they are getting a reputation as a cyber bully who could care less about what anyone thinks. They know that with the competition they have we have little choice for effective marketing. Until this changes we are all at their mercy and this is completely wrong.
Your assessment of Google’s actions is meek and timid…like the poor stray dog that hides behind a tree because it is afraid of more abuse.
Google is a Digital Nazi and until the marketplace responds by media stories and cash pull outs, the torture will continue.
I know they are trying to “save the world” from evil marketers, but the innocent person trying to make the system work will also continue to suffer unexplained “entrepreneurial wounds” at the unchallenged sword of this search engine bully.
Google is a bigger monster than the ones they are trying to protect us from.
A prime example of Barney Fife gone wild, but more dangerous than you can ever imagine.
They are hostaging domain searches and trying out one page full-screen ads for specific domain searches that are different from the actual domain entered in the title bar.
If you think they are ruthless now, just hold on if they get the whole deck of cards.
Google is guilty of internet extortion, disguised as creative advertising, once called by another name and federally prosecuted.
It’s time the Feds got into this, but then you would have a bigger bully chasing the devil…and we have all experienced the benefits of that process.
Seems like the best way to deal with Google is to call the genius of the marketplace to offer alternatives that are more attractive to mass audiences because the are committed to serving the customer, instead of trying to “regulate” or “extort”
Other than that, I will never get any of my future websites recognized by Google. I just hope it just stops there.
P.S. I will be checking the brake lines on my car regularly and am looking for a dog, perhaps a stray with a good trained nose.
Thanks a million for speaking the truth. This may be good news for Microsoft – I’m sure they are tired of being known as the bullies in the vast world of computers.
You wonder if google is even aware of their image starting to look more and more like Microsofts, especially in the ppc world (adwords). When I visit a SEO/Marketing forum a topic you can almost always find is: “what are the alternates to adsense or adwords”. There never seems to be a viable options but someday I hope a marketer (even microsoft) gets smart and realize there is a vast market out there ready to jump ship only if they provide the right platform. But at best, its seems most ppc or affiliate services use adsense/adwords as their jumping board to promote their site and never live up to the reputation they promote.
Thanks again.
Well, that’s how unfortunate that when i start to get high clicks with a new keyword, the next day it turns out to be $5 from couple cents. This is an unfair trade.
ZZZZZZZ
What is an “online Web site?”
Excellent article on the dilemma that exists concerning the Yahoo/Google/MSN triumvirate of search engines as well as the problems (penalties) that exist facing online marketers on one of them. This piece shows how different the internet search engine landscape could be if there were no competition in search engine options. All the more reason to keep Yahoo and Google separate, although I shudder to think that Microsoft should be involved in taking over Yahoo.
The Google slap, as well as other unpleasant aspects of Adword’s world of marketing, are mainly responsible for keeping me away from using pay-per-click platforms. I have never used Google Adwords and never will for many of the reasons outlined in this article.
This article brings to light several of the reasons that marketers might benefit from when they stop to consider the use of the PPC platform of finding targeted traffic. There’s a place for quality relevant content that many would do well to reconsider when building their online business models.
Great article, well written, I learned a lot. I think the Google love fest is slowing turning and maybe they can start to feel some heat for their behavior.
Great article.
Google is a digital bully.
They shoot first and ask questions later.
Interesting that their company slogan is
“Don’t Be Evil!” LOL!
Anyone with half a brain could have told them
that you get whatever you put your attention on. If you focus on EVIL that is what you become.
Seems like a ridiculous company policy they are implementing and I am sure it will benefit the other ppc engines.
what are you talking about? What is teh google slap? writer should have included a bit more background.
Google is a digital bully. I appreciate you stating so.
I would love to see some marketers organize an international avoid Google day. I would certainly participate.
All it would require is for the word to get out and everyone to agree that until they behave in a more civilized manner we will not utilize their search platform. Until the Google stock price falls they will continue to be the bully.
Come on everyone….let’s boycott the Big Google for one day. Ideally it should be on their anniversary of their founding to really get the message accross.
To John,
“What is an “online Web site?”"
What the spider creates from your ethernet cable while you ZZZZZZZZZZZ.
I can tell that in most cases its a matter of poor usability issiues such as poor contrast, usually a given web designer knowingly or unknowingly design their pages in such a bad way that people can’t easily distinquish between what is ads and what is not, and this is certain to produce invalid clicks and accidential clicks. So is the case with Phil Taylor and his http://honestmed.com/ site, his site is actually a greath example of poor contrast, his way below what i would consider minimum usability.
The good news for some of you may be, that google may very well decide to re-open your account, given that you fix the problems with your website. I would suggest you hire a real web designer, to avoid any such future cases. Some of you may have considered yourself professional, and wouldn’t dream of hireing a web designer to do your own job, well i’ve met a lot of so called web designers, who didn’t know more then some kid from the local school.
I highly suggest each of you to take a look at your own websites, and in a lot of cases i’m sure you will find that it was totally justified that you got banned. And i cant empathise´the importante of this enough, you can’t have “accidential clicks”, google states that they do accept a few of those clicks, but if to many orginate from your account, you risk getting banned. So please fix your layout, before you get into PPC advertising.
But this should also be a reminder, that selling your own ad space may very well be better then using programs such as adsense, i would suggest pay per month which intirely eliminate the potiential outcome of invalid, including accidential clicks.
I’m ‘Slapping’ back and just saying NO to Google. I’ll never run an AdWords campaign again, will never click an AdSense link. I yanked my Analyitics site code and found another Stats provider. I’ve been a Lemming long enough in Googles race to the cliff. I do my searches elsewhere with a Meta-Crawler instead. You should too. This monopolization of the internet is NOT good for any of us.
For too long we’ve been BULLIED by Google.
It’s time to fight back! Instead of turning the other cheek.
Every day we find new ways of EXPLOITING the Bully…Getting Google ads for Free.
-Just “Slap” them back with a taste of their own medicine.
We’ve paid too much on PPC & CPM with little return.
The road is too hard for the little man to make Google rich at his own expense.
Slap them with your own success at their cost. Start with free simple Social networking.
I look forward to the day their match arrive -doodle.com probably 
Google has always been the frenemy of the marketer. In the early days of PPC, I was shocked to hear so many marketers favor Google’s model over Yahoo’s transparent, predictable auction-based bid system. I for one, am not a fan.
Maybe I shouldn’t promote a site here but I had the same problem with google so I came up with this idea and it seems to be be working
So you want to generate some site traffic
Web users are creatures of habit once you have them they are yours until you upset them, If they are looking for a product or page 56% will go to Google type in a search and hit the button.
If your site is well frequented or you pay for ad-words you may make the first page, if not you will have to pay for ad words or be lost in the other pages, how many times do you go to page two or three of the search!.
Well www.showmehowto.org could be the one for you its free and that’s a good start, it has a USP that’s individual in its approach and you can tailor it to suit your needs.
It’s a video sharing platform where members load video’s that can be tutorial, fun or infomercials once they have done that the member has the opportunity to place a banner and link above that video that can promote their website, blog or web shop to the viewer.
The benefit of being able to place your banner is if the viewer has a interest in the video the banner and link you put up become a portal to his or her requirements and not just a advert for your product that is placed on a page that has little relevance to you or your product by a third party.
As long as you have some skills in screen grab or you can use a camcorder I can’t see any drawbacks in using www.showmehowto.org it offers most people and businesses a way to promote their product in a more direct manner weather you’re a multinational company with product that is helped by a visual explanation or your explaining how to use product.
How many times have you heard “I don’t read the instructions” or “I never used that option as I don’t understand the instructions”
www.showmehowto.org is the opportunity for people that know how, to pass that knowledge on to others and monetise that service,
If you can program a video, work a program like excel put a page up on the web you can make money from the banner as the more viewers you get the more valuable the banner space above becomes.
The really frustrating thing is how google simply refuses to help you after you’ve been slapped. By no stretch are we a huge spender (about $100K this year on adwords) but recently we had about 75% of our keywords slapped to $5 or $10. We called google and they refuse to put anybody on the phone who can help us out.
It’s a shame, but we’re pulling our budget and spending it on Y!, MS, Ask, and the like.
Great article
I am one of many thousand that had a legitimate web site google slapped with no explanation. My only regret is my reliance of google to drive traffic. How you can get a top page ranking for keywords yet cannot bid for them astounds me!
I think Google has underestimated their advertisers and in time this will come back to haunt them. They are one of few businesses (outside banking and finance) that by there actions can effectively ruin a business in a day. How an adwords campaign sending thousands of visitors a day to a site can suddenly become irrelevant with no explanation is unbelievable.
They may have broken new ground in what they created search engine wise but they are making new ground in what history will show to be there biggest mistake. PPC still provides there core income yet they make changes with no explanation to those that provide this income?? Ever heard of killing the goose that lays the golden egg??
In my experience for both Google organic and PPC “penalties” there’s equal fault with Google and the “punished”. Probably a good 50% (if not more) of the fault is due to the culprit him/herself. The Google haters above - some claim they were doing everything right. Yet time and time again, my company finds those same people who think they are doing it right did, in fact, do it wrong.
Other times Google seems like a woman or the Chinese - finicky, screaming and hollering that it’s wrong, but never saying what to fix. With the way Google has colluded with China, Google is pretty much like the Chinese. But also like a woman - “I think of a man and take away reason and accountability” (that’s from the movie As Good As It Gets).
Torka, your comments are almost as arrogant as the attitude of Google. You obviously know very little about PPC Marketing. I built websites myself and have for over 10 years. I have also had professionally-designed websites slapped by Google for what seems to be no apparent reason.
Google is, for all intents and purposes, a very arrogant digital bully. Their “do no evil” mantra is a joke.
Google may be good at organizing information, but they are clueless when it comes to understanding people’s searching habits.
Google believes that it know what people want when they are searching, but they have blurred the lines between information seekers and shoppers.
Information seekers want sites loaded with content, thus giving them the information they want, and a “good user experience”.
Shoppers typically don’t want to have to wade through pages of articles telling you about the history of product XYZ or make 6 or 7 clicks through navigation to find what they are looking for. If a person searches for blue widgets, and I am selling blue widgets, I should have the right to offer said person blue widgets, without having to have 40 pages of content surrounding those blue widgets.
As for affiliate marketers, Google believes that it is best for people to buy from the product owner, not from affiliate marketers. They have almost reached a point where they will go over your site with a fine-tooth comb if they see that you’re an affiliate. I have had them bring PPC traffic to one of my sites to a screeching halt for no apparent reason, other than the fact that I was promoting a product as an affiliate, and the product owner was also promoting that same product. Keep in mind that I was promoting it from my very own website, with my own unique content on it. It took them two days to tell me why my traffic had suddenly stopped, even though my quality scores were great and my click through rates were all great too.
Google is driving themselves right out of the PPC business and it’s no wonder that their stock has dropped from $800 to $400 over these past several months. If you’re a Google stock holder, sell it now while it’s still worth something, because they are burying themselves with their own arrogance and lame, ignorant policies.
Hey Harald readers posters like minded marketers one n all … the upside of all this good input is … don’t get angry … get even … These guys are making the Google Slap obsolete even Google is going to love this tool and that’s for sure lol
All my best to you and your breakthrough solution
Phillip Skinner
The primary issue I have with Google is their lack of communication with their paying customers ( advertisers ) who are responsible for 99% of their income. Would it be so difficult for them to give feedback to the advertiser instead of slamming them?
Simply tell the customer what they are doing wrong and tell them how to resolve it. That would be much more professional than simply raising the minimum bid by some ridiculous amount.
As for the organic rankings, I learned a long time ago that if your business is reliant upon any ranking in Google, you might as well be jumping on thin ice with a noose tied around your neck.
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