Comments on: Big Google AdWords Change

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:49:26 +0000

Good points Jennifer. I initially thought the change had to do with the actual display URL within a site but I was incorrect.

I’m not a big fan of mirror sites actually… at least not for SEO purposes. Although, I am a fan of niche sites within a main URL that’s unique to the search engines and the user.

By: Jennifer Lind

Jennifer Lind — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:30:26 +0000

I agree that this is a step in the right direction by Google, mostly to protect their visitors. A couple possible issues of concern: I wonder if this has an affect on tracking urls if you are using an outside service provider, even though you still ultimately land on the company url. I could see how this would be an issue. Another thought is how this negatively impacts companies with mirror sites. They may use one url with lots of keywords to advertise when the url actually redirects to the main company url.

By: Aaron Weiche

Aaron Weiche — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:02:04 +0000

Way to keep investigating. I’m fine with the main URL being what is asked for and displayed. That said, I have noticed adds using a deceptive URL. Without this policy, who is to say I can’t just use someones URL … a trusted brand … just to get clicks on the ad. Thats not good.

And yes Paul, I’m finally back blogging. Now I just need some posts with enough quality to earn a link on your blog roll. Thanks for noticing.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:04:06 +0000

Thanks for the comments to all! It appears I’m a month late to the party. Google has their information here. http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/02/update-to-display-url-policy.html

Looking at that box in the post, it implies that the display and destination URLs have to match exactly, with no exception. To me that means pages within the site as well.

Apparently the exception is the main URL (www.YourCompany.com) has to match and the destination URL can be any page within the site… which seems like a ton of exceptions to me.

Aaron, you have a blog!

By: holly

holly — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:21:06 +0000

I think a lot of people use it to simply make the ad cleaner. If your landing page for the ad is deep in the site, it can make the ad look terribly sloppy or not fit at all. I am not sure I am a big fan of this change, however there are a lot of people who don’t use it to simplify the actual URL and instead put something irrelevant there. I wouldn’t say that is a great practice, but if they are willing to pay for clicks that won’t convert…who really cares?

By: Aaron Weiche

Aaron Weiche — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:29:16 +0000

I agree with Tony, why create user disconnect? Obviously many won’t pay attention to what they clicked to what the URL is, but why chance it. I’d be clicking back out as well.

By: Tony Tellijohn

Tony Tellijohn — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:37:10 +0000

I’m not real sure I ever understood the real reason for doing it that way–why would you not want people to see in the ad what site they were going to land on if they clicked the ad? Personally, I would be a little worried if I landed on a different URL than what I saw in the ad.

Of course, I’m not always your normal surfer, either…