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Traffick - Andrew Goodman

Enlightened search engine analysis in handy blog form. Grab our RSS feed at traffick.com/atom.xml and stay enlightened.

Publisher Ethics: Yahoo, Welcome to the BlagosphereJanuary 6

You can take the Yahoo out of the country...but you can't take the GoTo out of Yahoo?

Our industry seems rather talked out these days, but if you look hard enough, there is actually some discussion of Yahoo's recent terms-and-conditions update for the search marketing program, the crazy one that gives Yahoo the right to go in and "optimize" your search marketing account unilaterally. As benign as it may appear internally, and as infrequently as "bad" incursions may take place, a line has been crossed. Why is the line so obvious to the rest of us, and so invisible to Yahoo? Where does the buck stop, there? What spokesperson is willing to stand up and explain or defend this policy?

As difficult as the Google AdWords environment has proven to be for many advertisers, and as revenue-focused and self-serving as some AdWords features may be, I've always defended Google against unfair criticism by comparing their approach to that of their competitors. When it comes to hard-to-follow features, matching options, traffic segments seen as undesirable by many, and so forth, Google has usually gotten around to adding the crucial element to the advertiser-publisher relationship: the opt-out. Know which boxes to check or uncheck? Understand how to get reporting bre

Subscribe, and Ye Shall Receive!December 31 2008

I can't tell you how many of my favorite blogs aren't on my RSS feed reader. I'm making it a January 1 (one day) resolution to research the 20 or so must-read blogs (the ones I read at least monthly) and actually add them to my feed reader. It's so much easier to keep in touch that way. I don't have 200 feeds on the go like some people (that's too many), but it makes no sense to keep 40 on there and leave another 20 or so favorites in the "sporadic/random" file.

The world leader in keeping me in the loop has to be Mitch Joel. Just when I start to forget about Mitch (which is hard, believe me), he'll post a link from his Six Pixels of Separation blog, on Facebook... and I'll head over and read another highly original post. He's already on my feed reader, but hey, what can I tell you... the multichannel pestering works.

So on that note: you might be one of those Traffick readers that visits here a few times a month, but haven't yet clicked on the ol' RSS button (upper right-hand corner) to actually subscribe to the feed using the feed reader of your choice. It's right there! What are you waiting for!? Thanks for reading. Have a great 2009.

Wasn't It Obvious All Along? Simple Explanations for eBay's DeclineDecember 31 2008

Happy New Year! At least to my friends in the Cook Islands! Welcome to 2009 y'all!

As we close out 2008 here in the Eastern Standard Time zone (GMT-5), a reflection.

Things that once seemed "complicated" in business and finance often respond very well to explanations a child -- or at least any logical adult observer with a Grade 7 reading comprehension level and a dollop of accurate data -- could understand. It's the adult motivations that make people cling to idiotic premises, even as the evidence points to the contrary.

The obvious example is the subprime mortgage mess, and related credit troubles. On an individual level, guess what's going to happen in an economic downturn when you give out 40-year, no-money-down mortgages to people with poor credit history and limited earning power? And lo and behold, it happened! But anyone could have told you that you don't just buy a half-million-dollar asset when your household's gross income is $60k... right? A child could have told you that?

Let's look at what someone might observe about eBay, without any foreknowledge of market data, financial statements, etc. (On that front, though, the picture isn't really pretty. It's 2009 tomorrow, and the stock is back to the same level it traded at in 1999-2002... and down more than 50% from its low in 2007.)

1. Consumers openly say they're no longer into eBay because the auction concept is cumbersome and they just want

I Just Had Another Baby!December 4 2008

Well, it took 18 months to gestate and another few months for final proofs, printing, and machinations to unfold, but the totally-updated, hot-and-fresh Second Edition of Winning Results with Google AdWords is now in the house! And available for purchase on Amazon (I expect it to be in stock there by week's end) and in finer bookstores. "This book is a must-read for all marketers over the holidays!"... so says its author.

Do Dumb Ads Hurt Your Brand?November 28 2008

Searching for a definition for the word "sluice," I naturally turned to my trusty friend, Google.

A not unfamiliar sight appeared in the right rail: one of those irrelevant AdWords ads that just shows up out of the blue because I've typed a word that appears in a dictionary.

Sluice

Sale on Sluice!
Compare Sluice prices.
www.Shopping.com

Sounds yummy. And we know why the ads appear. Either it is pure arbitrage, in that the comparison shopping engine shows ads on their site or expects to otherwise induce enough revenue-generating clicks from each such ad, that it is a net gain on average if they can get those clicks below x cents on AdWords;...

or it is seen as a nice little brand booster -- dirt cheap clicks.

That's less feasible in the States, where Quality Scores are tuned to price those kinds of low quality ads higher, even in empty keyword categories. But in other markets the arbitrage (or cheap branding) game is still playable.

But it makes me wonder. If it's about building the brand, isn't it really doing the opposite?

At trade shows and in professional industry publications, the differentiators among all these comparison shopping tools are explored in detail. One has a better catalog; the other shuns ads; etc.

But all the consumer sees, over a several year period, is all these stupid annoying ads for Donkey, Angst, Holocaust, Sluice, Rhinoceros, and