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January 7, 2005
Some Merchants Miss Point of New Google Policy
Posted by Todd Tweedy
I received an email from Shoes.com today about the new Google policy. Here’s the first paragraph:
“I am sure many of you are aware that Google AdWords has incorporated a new affiliate advertising policy, which will allow only one ad per search query for affiliates and parent companies sharing the same url. This means Shoes.com affiliates will now need to send AdWords clicks to their own websites, rather than directly to Shoes.com. The good news is that we have some excellent free tools for affiliates that can help create great landing pages.”
Close but no clogs!
Merchants need to remember that it’s possible for an affiliate ad to be served in place of your if they have a higher ad rank determined by a combination of your ad's maximum cost-per-click (price) and clickthrough rate (performance).
Todd
Adam Viener
1. David Lewis on January 11, 2005 4:28 PM writes...
Todd, I think that Shoes.com is closer to the truth than you and you both are missing an important point.
While your warning is technically correct, it is not likely to happen. One of the reasons that arbitrage works so well is that users click on the merchant's ad (or what appears to be the merchant's ad). This is why for some merchants you will see 8 ads that are nearly identical. Those of us who link to our own sites cannot make it into those listings. Thus, the merchants will be safe in bidding against affiliates who have their own sites.
Trademark bidding works for merchants who want to protect their brands.
Shoes.com assumes that arbitrage is dead. As you and Adam both realize, it is not. It is merely being limited. Shoes.com can create a list of forbidden terms for arbitrage and still allow affiliates to arbitrage on other terms. This is the eBay theory that affiliates will find words that merchants won't.
Permalink to Comment2. david on January 12, 2005 5:55 AM writes...
a good weblog in china is ucblog url is http:/www.ucblog.com/
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