Issue With Scam Ads In Search Engines

[RandiLu]

I'm in charge of PPC for a small internet business. Lately, my team and I have notice an influx of "Scam Ads" within the search results for our keywords. These ads are for sites like "BriansMoneyBlog.com" or "DianesWeightLostBlog.com", none of which have anything to do with the keywords we bid on. Originally, it was just MSN and Yahoo. Now they're appearing on Google. And as these ads are appearing, we're noticing a decrease in conversions. Is anyone else noticing these ads and are seeing a decrease in conversions possibly caused by them? We typically see an increase in conversions in March, but because of the ads (we think), we're losing them! Any help/suggestions/insight would be greatly appreciated.

[AussieWebmaster]

what terms are you seeing these in?

[RandiLu]

The keywords have to do with "resume". Words like resume templates, resume builder, etc.

[AdWordsRep]

I hate to sound like this, but as realist I've found that even during the best of times there are lots of folks out there in the world who want to scam others.

During trying economic times like these, I think things ramp up a notch.

Based on what I've seen the policy folks here are up-to-speed on the latest twists, but I'll make sure they see this thread to be certain.

Many thanks for the heads up, RandiLu.

AWR

[Marcia]

They're rampant with phony stimulus promises in ads, and people are getting caught up in fraud:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...rc h&aq=f&oq=

There are NO stimulus payments to individuals*, and information on Government grants is FREE.

http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned...=en&q=stimulus

Just three out of the 6 ads running:

#
2009 Stimulus Plan
Services That Could Help You.
What Benefits Do You Qualify For?

#
Obamas Economic Stimulus
Helping Families, Individuals and
Homeowners find stimulus assistance

#
Stimulus Checks -
-- Stimulus Checks --
How Much Will You Get?

It should be as easy to catch them as it is for a forum to have certain words on a profanity filter or flag posts for pre-moderation.

*Recipients of Social Security or SSI will get a one time $250 payment which is automatic - nothing need be done or applied for. That's what the Government has computers for. That's the only exception and the information is FREE.

NOBODY else will get any cash as an individual.

Here's plenty of grant information FREE!

http://www.govbenefits.gov/govbenefi...category= GRA

People can also contact their Congressman about grants or any Gov't issues, either by web or by phone. They all have staff to deal with any constituent issues, problems or questions.

http://www.house.gov/sherman/services/

[RandiLu]

Thanks everyone for the info. I guess I'll just have to ride out the wave of scammers!

[Marcia]

Dell has some solid information - for which they're not charging:

http://content.dell.com/us/en/busine...ckage-smb.aspx

Funds for small business are handled - as usual - by the SBA:

Small Business Administration

[Discovery]

AWR - I can assure you this is far far far worse than a bit of an uptick in scam ads due to the economy. We have watched these same advertisers consume other networks with their scams. Now they are all over Google, not just a little, a TON.

I have posted this numerous times over the past 8 months.
I have sent in detailed accounts to my Google reps.

Both these financial service scams along with, bright smiles and diet supplements have been all over Google. This has driven up costs, and driven out good advertisers offering legitimate services a consumer can count on. Soon consumer opinion of Google's advertisers will change and they will not trust the advertisers as they once did.

Google says they cant police the advertisers services. At what point will they step in to stop outright fraud, deceptive advertising, and financial scams?

Along with that many companies are abusing Google with Multiple client center accounts that are the same company advertising under the same KWs the same services in order to dominate the listings.

Our ad spend on Google has dropped off the charts. How can we compete with scammers who create sensational deceptive headlines while we tell the truth? Or with companies who create multiple client accounts? They dominate listings, get the high CTR, lower CPC and prime placement and we get pushed off the pages and pay higher prices for advertising the truth. Should we resort to lying as well?

AWR I would be glad to provide you with no less than 50 examples of abuse on Google - I will not do so publicly out of respect - and concern over retribution. Although, I would find it hard to believe Google is not aware of these practices. The question is, why have you not put an end to it?

Discovery

[RandiLu]

Wow Discovery, thank you for sharing that post. I really think this is a serious issue and I believe that it's directly affecting the number of our conversions. Customers are going to not trust ANY of the paid ads if these scam ads are allowed to continue showing.
I called MSN and they said that they are making an effort to delete these ads, although they can't stop them from reposting under a different account. It's all very frustrating.

[johninbrooklyn]

I haven't seen this problem much in Search but in AdSense it's ridiculous. Especially these IQ ads (Tiger Woods IQ = 135, David Beckham's IQ = 136, Bears Fans IQ = 75) and then you're encouraged to take an IQ test and get a free ringtone. Of course in fine print they tell you that you'll be charged $20 a month from now on. It's a total rip off. A total scam. And yet all these companies have bazillions of these ads all over the place. Primarily these show up on sports websites but you also see the weight loss blog scams, the yellow teeth scams, the stimulus check scams, and the work at home scams. I fear for our industry that it's being cluttered with all these scam websites that provide no value but take up all the space.