The problem with Google’s “don’t be evil” approach is that it often seems to bite them. The other problem is that it sets the stage to be black and white – with no grey. Good and bad.
I don’t believe that Google are evil, but they’re undoubtedly guilty of questionable behaviour.
The latest bee in my bonnet lies in their newly updated AdWords ad rotation settings shown below.
The Optimise for conversions is the new option – just added yesterday.
So which is the ideal option? None of them.
Rotate: Show ads more evenly is my favourite example of Google double-speak.
Google is entirely based on numerical data. It’s therefore laughable that Google can only show my ads more evenly. If I have an ad group that receives 10,000 impressions a day and four ads, surely Google can calculate that each should be shown 2,500 times.
And don’t think that this is down to any lack of accuracy with regard to prediction or extrapolation. I’ve seen countless ad groups using this setting with a very regular number of impressions that are heavily weighted. Weighted to clicks and CTR invariably. Is that to my benefit or Google’s?
Optimise for clicks: Show ads expected to provide more clicks.
A simplistic example:
Two companies bid on the same keyword.
Company 1’s ads get a high CTR rate, but show a high bounce rate. People like the ads, click on them, don’t find what they’re looking for, so go back to Google to click the next ad.
Company 2’s ads also have a high CTR, but when people click on their ads, they find what they’re looking for and so remain on the website.
If Google display Company 1’s ads in first position, they’ll most likely get two clicks from the same search.
If Google display Company 2’s ads in first position, they’ll most likely get one.
It’s therefore in Google’s interests to put Company 1’s ads in first position, but this is certainly not in Company 1’s best interests.
Optimise for conversions: Show ads expected to provide more conversions.
At first glance this might seem to be a sound choice. And if you’re tracking only one conversion type, this might be the case. But if you’re tracking multiple conversion types this is rendered meaningless.
If or when Google allow me to choose what conversion type to base this on, I’ll be very interested in this option.
The bottom line here is that none of the options are ideal. Rotate: Show ads more evenly gives you the most control (at least in theory), and is therefore the option to stick with as default, even though Google suggest otherwise.
Google aren’t evil, but they’re very, very naughty.
