The Demise of Google AdWords

Today begins the demise of the Google AdWords system. The AdWords system will no longer be the great advertising tool that it once was. It will take Google roughly 6 months to understand the effects of the recent changes, then they will be forced to make changes to their current system, or AdWords might simply have faded away by then.

Before today my ads have been #1 on Google for my keyword for the past 10 months, which is how long I've been using AdWords. I received roughly 100-150 targeted visitors a day from AdWords and made $2 for every $1 I spent on those ads. With the inception of the new keyword status rules of AdWords my ads have dropped to #10 this morning. All 9 of the sites listed ahead of me in AdWords actually have nothing to do with my keyword. They are eBay, Yahoo Music, Real.com, and some other general Shopping or Auction web sites. Every single one of them has nothing to do with the keyword for which I specialize in. They are listed ahead of me because they have a higher click bid than I do. They are simply willing to pay more for clicks to their site. No one will ever click their ads, yet they will remain on top.

Roughly 10 of my competitors who had AdWords ads listed "under" me in the previous months have dissapeared from the system. They obviously can't, or won't, bid the minimum bid to get their ad to show up for the keyword. Although that sounds great for my business, I'm hardly excited.

Someone from Google obviously thinks that this is a great way to increase how much they make from ads, but I see it the other way. Who cares if eBay, or an eBay affiliate, is willing to pay $1 for every click when no one clicks their ad? AdWords won't make money off the fact that the top 5 spots on the SERP's will be full of unrelated monster companies who have millions to spend on online advertising. The advertisers won't care that no one clicks on their ads because they're getting their name in front of millions of people and pushing their brand.

Soon all the mom and pop web sites will stop using AdWords. Soon people will stop clicking on AdWords ads. Soon Google will post a loss for the first time. Maybe it's time for me to add some funds to my Overture account which I had abandoned.

Start execting to see even more "Great deals on Lost Dogs", "Buy Expensive Car Insurance Here", and "Many types of Cheating Husbands Available" ads now that Google as changed their ways.

If no one is clicking on "their ads" doesn't that mean that they are looking past them and clicking on your ads? Or are you saying that they are not going to lick on any ads?

Similar things were stated about Overture when they went from no minimum bid to 5 cents and again when they went to 10 cents.

I wouldn't worry. Relevancy has to play a part or people will stop using the search engine and find one with relevant results.

We are simply forced to find the terms that the rich guys aren't bidding on and stay away from the high priced ones. We should be doing this keyword research anyway because some of those highly targeted but less often searched terms convert well.

I don't feel that anyone clicks anything past the top 3 ads at a rate which is worth pursuing, no.




Yes, and I think Overture is overpriced and a waste of time.



AdWords was a way to force yourself into the results. I don't really think the common user sees the ads as a reason to use Google.



I can give an example where this just doesn't work. Let's just say that I run a web site for people who have lost their dog. I buy the keyword "lost dogs". I'm not wasting money on "Dogs", I've focused on exactly what my site does, it finds lost dogs. Why in the world would eBay, Yahoo Music, and Real Networks want to buy that as a keyword, and be willing to pay $1 or more per click? Oh, right, there is some obscure band named "The Lost Dogs" and they've simply purchased the keywords of EVERY band that they have in their catalogue. So now the big ogre companies are even buying obscure terms and their ads are showing for things that 99% of the time don't relate. No one searches for "The Lost Dogs", trust me. My point is that the performance of the ad no longer matters, so what will keep them from purchasing every word in the dictionary? Nothing.

eBay and Amazon should start today and purchase every word in the dictionary on AdWords. They'd get their name all over every search ever made and their brands would become even more prominent...all while never paying a cent for their unrelated ads. I'd even be sure to make the ads so ridiculous that people won't click them...just buying the ads to get your name in people's faces.

These things have a way of working themselves out through market forces. The key is to not get into a bidding war. Many ad campaigns have a budget limit. Once this limit is reached, your ads will start gaining rank. I think it depends on what you sell, but I have never been a big fan of adwords. Natural search engine rankings and adsense are were the money is at, at least for me.

wow, this guy was way off huh

You opend three years back thread.