Comments on: AdWords Died, 2008 – Rest In Peace

By: Jeremy Chatfield

Jeremy Chatfield — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:08:42 +0000

@Tim – The first paragraph of this article refers to later investigations and articles.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:03:59 +0000

Very interesting. Have you had a chance to research this further? I would be curious to read a follow-up post.

By: Jens

Jens — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:25:59 +0000

My conversions on Google are quite high. Sorry to see all these people having bad luck.

By: Nina

Nina — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:17:29 +0000

What Rick noted, completely explained what we have experienced. Same amount of clicks, much lower conversions to the point that it’s becoming non-existent at this point. It’s like throwing money away. Adwords use to be excellent, but not anymore. They changes they have made have definitely decreased conversions – and like Rick said, it’s very obvious that it’s less quality visitors – which comes from less relevant search.

What is Google thinking…They’re shooting themselves in the foot. They might experience increased sales short-term, because advertisers will panic and increase their budget (as the CS suggests), but sooner or later everyone will know what is really going on and they’ll stop wasting their money.

By: Jeremy Chatfield

Jeremy Chatfield — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:57:41 +0000

Hi Scott

Use Google Analytics, AdWords Conversion Tracking and the free website optimizer to improve understanding. For example, at the first level we might use AdWords Conversion Tracking to tell us which keywords are resulting in any sales. Spend more on those and less on the rest ;)

Google Analytics can refine the understanding, though it may take a bit of digging and delving – but you may find that some keywords have a really high bounce rate – indicating that the web page doesn’t address searchers needs very well – meaning that a new page might help improve sales response.

I think that I’d be investing effort in measurement and analysis at this point – with a view to improving the web site and optimising bidding.

By: Scott Million

Scott Million — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:33:46 +0000

Yeah, I know. The biggest struggle I have, though, is that I’m not SURE my offer converts…so I send clicks and then I don’t know if it’s my offer, the type of traffic I’m sending, or click fraud…etc.

THAT’S the hurdle I face.

By: Jeremy Chatfield

Jeremy Chatfield — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:56:34 +0000

Andrew Goodman’s book is getting long in the tooth, but is still a good starting point.

I wouldn’t avoid AdWords. Why would you avoid the major route to market? But do exercise caution and don’t hope to pay $0.01 per click on high volume keywords – unless you run a household brand name, that is ;)

By: Scott Million

Scott Million — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:17:44 +0000

Thanks for your comments and the article. I’ve been using article marketing and would like to get into Pay-Per-Click buy am facing some serious information overload.

Do any of you experienced PPC marketers have a book or post to recommend?

Should I “Stay Away From Google?!”

Thanks,

Scott

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:51:05 +0000

We have been using adwords for years and have noticed that on April 1, 2008 our conversions dropped by 50%, while clicks stayed the same. We have top quality scores, comply with all policies, and our ads seem to be appearing in the #1 spot, where they have always been. Our business is extremely consistent through all seasons, and economic times. In short, we can see no reason for the drop in sales, other than a change in the Adwords algorithims, ads being delivered to less qualified searchers, or clicks not getting to our site (there is no problem with the website). This drop in conversions has not improved since then, and that further confirms that this is not merely a lull in sales. The demand for our products is still strong as ever, and this drop off came abruptly on April 1, like turning off a light switch. Has anyone else had a similar experience beginning April 1, 2008?

By: Jeremy Chatfield

Jeremy Chatfield — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:06:21 +0000

At the time, I was reacting to a succession of clients with plummeting impression volumes. It seemed that every account I looked at had a new and significant problem. I still have some accounts with severe traffic problems – some of which have worked fine for a *long* time previously, and all of which suddenly started misbehaving at pretty much the same time.

I do think that this is effectively a *new* AdWords. The behaviour shows some marked differences from pre-March responses. More like “Zombified”, than “Dead”. There’s still some sign of activity…