Site exclusion now available in the Search Network

[Mel66]

Heard at SES, and confirmed by AWA2 on Webmaster World:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/google...ds/3188751.htm

(AWA2 on WMW) Any parked domain site can now be excluded using the site exclusion tool, including sites that are part of the AdSense for Domains search partners network.

Hal Bailey said in the Domaining and Address-Bar Driven Traffic session at SES, "There is not a single site that you cannot exclude from Adwords."

Finally.

Melissa

[Discovery]

Yahoo to that.. ah I mean great news Mel!

Google is forging the way once again! Now it would be interesting if they would provide some aggregate data on which sites are being blocked according to the advertiser's industry (advertisers would have to make sure their accounts are categorized properly).

Since we rarely have the time to figure out exactly which publisher came from where we enter all of them into the exclusion list, plus pubs may get kicked out of YPN and Join Adsense at a later date. Should I assume G is simply using the current exclude list and applying it to their whole network?

Nice Scoop Mel

Discovery

[AdWordsRep]

...There is not a single site that you cannot exclude from Adwords.

I am pretty sure there has been a misunderstanding here, somewhere along the way - either that, or I have missed a recent change. I'd like to look into this a bit, and will report back later on.

AWR

[Mel66]

That's a direct quote from Hal Bailey at SES Chicago, AWR. I wrote it down. He did say it was a recent change.

I'd love it if you could confirm or deny this!

Melissa

[AdWordsRep]

Hal Bailey said in the Domaining and Address-Bar Driven Traffic session at SES, "There is not a single site that you cannot exclude from Adwords."

I am pretty sure there has been a misunderstanding here, somewhere along the way - either that, or I have missed a recent change. I'd like to look into this a bit, and will report back later on.

That's a direct quote from Hal Bailey at SES Chicago, AWR. I wrote it down. He did say it was a recent change.

I'd love it if you could confirm or deny this!

Hi Mel66 and others - OK, I'm back again with some details, and I glad to say I can shed some light on this. I have been able to chat with Hal, and have learned the following:

First, for background, it's important to note that Hal's comment was made at a domain park panel in which he was, quite naturally, speaking on the subject of parked domains.

His intended message was that any parked domain in Google's Search or Content network can be excluded. There may have been some confusion that he was referring to other sites in the search network - however, this was not his intent. Our apologies for any confusion.

So, to clarify - one can exclude any site in our Content network and any parked domain in either the Search or Content network but cannot exclude other sites in the Search network.



As an aside, for more information on parked domains, please see here: http://adwords.google.com/support/bi...50002&topic=82

Excerpting from that page (with italics added by me, to highlight that parked domains sites may be in either the search and content network):

A parked domain site is an undeveloped webpage belonging to a domain name registrar or domain name holder. Our AdSense for domains program places targeted AdWords ads on parked domain sites that are part of the Google Network.
...

Depending on the design of the site, a parked domain site will be classified as either a search site or a content site. That means your ads may show on parked domain sites if your campaign is opted in to the search or content networks.

AWR

[Discovery]

It doesn't make sense to force advertisers to run ads on sites we can clearly identify and know do not convert for us...

Many are starting to view the two ad networks in this way:

Search = Google with their sheltered (from domain exclusion) high value business alliances' websites.
Content = A game where advertisers try to kill bad pubs like an exterminator trying to kill cockroaches in a NY subway with a spoon.

I must be pretty handy with a spoon though, because my content campaigns have been outperforming Search as of late and this is why I would like to have exclusion on the content side. I'de like to slam a few creepy crawlers over there to.

Are there ways to opt out of all "parked domain sites" in one swoop?

Discovery

[Mel66]

Thanks for clarifying, AWR - although it is a bit disappointing to hear that we really can't exclude *any* site from Adwords.

Like Discovery said, it would be best if we could eliminate any site that wasn't converting, no matter which bucket it falls into - search, parked domain, content, whatever.

Nonetheless, this is a step in the right direction and I applaud Adwords for once again being at the forefront of improvements in the PPC space.

Melissa

[AdWordsRep]

It doesn't make sense to force advertisers to run ads on sites we can clearly identify and know do not convert for us...

Like Discovery said, it would be best if we could eliminate any site that wasn't converting, no matter which bucket it falls into - search, parked domain, content, whatever.

Understood, and I will certainly pass that feedback on. Already have, as a matter of fact.

Are there ways to opt out of all "parked domain sites" in one swoop?

Sorry, no. Because parked domain sites are part of the Google Ad Network, it isn't possible to isolate and opt out of all domain park sites all at once. However, as is the case with sites in the content network, advertisers can opt out of individual domain park sites by using the site exclusion tool.

I must be pretty handy with a spoon though, because my content campaigns have been outperforming Search as of late and this is why I would like to have exclusion on the content side. I'de like to slam a few creepy crawlers over there to.

As you might imagine, I'm happy to hear of your success on the content network, Discovery. Perhaps this would be a good reason to not opt out of all "parked domain sites" in one swoop. I've seen more than a few reports on the forums I follow, saying that these sites convert quite well for some advertisers.

Nonetheless, this is a step in the right direction and I applaud Adwords for once again being at the forefront of improvements in the PPC space.

Thanks for that, Mel66 - very much appreciated.


OK, lastly, I just wanted to remind everyone that (per an earlier post in the AWR's Alerts Thread) I'll be away from AdWords starting tomorrow, December 20th - and returning on January 2nd. Family calls, so I won't be reading and posting in this esteemed forum during that time.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Best,
AWR

[Mel66]

Originally Posted by AdWordsRep

Thanks for that, Mel66 - very much appreciated.

You're welcome! You can show your love by sending me a digital photo frame. I didn't get one (or anything else from Google) this year, and we've doubled our spend over last year. <sniff, sniff>

Melissa

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by Mel66

You're welcome! You can show your love by sending me a digital photo frame. I didn't get one (or anything else from Google) this year, and we've doubled our spend over last year. <sniff, sniff>

Melissa

They are nice.

[ApogeeWebLLC]

Originally Posted by AdWordsRep

Because parked domain sites are part of the Google Ad Network, it isn't possible to isolate and opt out of all domain park sites all at once. However, as is the case with sites in the content network, advertisers can opt out of individual domain park sites by using the site exclusion tool.

The site exclusion tool doesn't work for parked domain sites on the Search network. I recently saw an account that had 11% of its search traffic come from parked domains. Digging through the server logs, most of this garbage traffic came from a single domain (that appears to power a ton of these low quality sites):

searchportal.information.com

This account did not have the Content network turned on so I know all of the traffic was from the Search network. BTW, isn't that stunning? That 11% of the SEARCH traffic was from low quality, not a search engine, parked domain sites powered by a single parked domain provider. I tried both that subdomain and the top level domain, information.com, in the site exclusion tool. The garbage traffic kept coming. For some high value, exact match keywords, the garbage parked domain traffic was as high as 72% of the clicks. If that's not abnormal search click activity, I don't know what is.

So far, Google is denying any click fraud and has refused to refund my client. I've been told (after numerous email conversations and phone conversations with Google support reps) that the only way to block parked domains on the Search network is to ask they be blocked and that it's a manual process. I'm scouring log files for all my clients to determine a master list of parked domain sites I don't want my clients exposed to. Right now, the list is:

searchportal.information.com
landing.domainsponsor.com
sedoparking.com

So, AdWordsRep, what's the deal? Why didn't the site exclusion tool work for searchportal.information.com? What is the definitive answer to letting AdWords advertisers buy what they think they're buying on the Search network? It's supposed to be SEARCH engine advertising. Keep the contextual stuff elsewhere.

What's the procedure for blocking domain park sites on the Search network?

Thanks.

-Rich@Apogee (from the AdWords Help groups)

[AdWordsRep]

What's the procedure for blocking domain park sites on the Search network?

I've not been in the thick of things for some weeks, ApogeeWebLLC, due to family medical issues - so please accept my apology for the delayed response.

This is not an area of expertise for me personally, but I'll certainly chat with the folks who are more deeply involved, and see what details I can provide - either by tomorrow or early next week. (To set reasonable expectations, I will be away on Mondays (at least) for the foreseeable future, for the reason mentioned above.)

Essentially, it is possible to exclude most parked domain sites using the site exclusion tool. For technical reasons, however, some sites will currently require the assistance of the AdWords support to exclude, as you have noted.

I do know that work is underway to streamline the exclusion process in the future - and as always I will pass your comments along to the right folks. I already have, in fact.

AWR

[ApogeeWebLLC]

AWR, any update? My question still stands:

What's the procedure for blocking parked domain sites on the Search network?

Thanks.

[AdWordsRep]

AWR, any update?

First, my apology. Due to family health issues I have been at my desk less than usual most weeks since December. One result is that I've been running behind with other core tasks - and have posted less in this forum than I once did.

Anyway, yes, I actually got an answer from the team about this shortly after your intital question, but then failed to post it here. So thanks for the bump, and here's the reply I received:

Currently, it is possible to exclude parked domain sites using the site exclusion tool. However, depending on the domain, the exclusion method will differ. While most parked domains can be excluded by adding the specific domain into the site exclusion tool, there is a fraction of domains in our network that involve a process of excluding the domains at the partner level, rather than the specific domain level, resulting in the exclusion of all domains belonging to that partner due to technical details of the implementation.

For example, the site in question, searchportal.information.com is a site that belongs to such a partner network more commonly found as
domainsponsor.com. Therefore, to exclude this domain, along with other domains that belong to this partner, ' domainsponsor.com' should be entered into the site exclusion tool.

Now, that said, we do realize that identifying which domains belong to these partners can sometimes be difficult for advertisers. For that reason, we are working on initiatives that we hope will simplify the opt-out process for our advertisers in the coming months.

As always, we recommend that advertisers monitor their conversion rates when deciding to exclude sites from their campaigns. We've found that our partners' parked domain pages can convert at rates similar to other partners' search portals and content sites in the Google Network.

Again, my apology for the delay, ApogeeWebLLC.

AWR

[ApogeeWebLLC]

AWR, thanks for the response. That's quite helpful.

[AdWordsRep]

AWR, thanks for the response. That's quite helpful.

Sure thing, ApogeeWebLLC - and again, I do apologize for the long delay in posting a response that was 'lost in my inbox' for quite a period of time. I hate it when that happens.

I did see your blog post about it, BTW (as linked to from AdWords Help) - so I knew that you had seen the response here.

AWR

[Discovery]

Is the whole idea of site exclusion going to dissappear under the illusion that PPA will take care of click fraud/junk clicks?

PPA is opt in on the pubs part and so is CPC site targeting. What is the incentive for publishers to opt in to a program that will force them to perform?

Since these new programs are opt in, are we still going to get the ability to block ANY adsense content partner not using these programs, from running our ads?

Discovery