Wow yea thats the last time i use google adwords, competitors clicking away on my ads and i get charged $400, great huh!
I use clickdefense.com myself. In my situation, I thought they were competitors but they were actually ignorant shoppers that searched further and when my page was displayed again on like the fourth page, they'd click again. I had that happen alot. In my Google reports I often see credits credited back to my account automatically so with the combination of both clickdefense and google pro-actively crediting me back, I feel I'm as covered as I can be. You're only other option is Overture and I've never seen them automatically credit me back. All the other PPC's are junk traffic.
I have encountered this a few times in the past. One way not get screwed (which I don't know if it still works) is to lower your budget and that way google will adjust the bill, because they can't go over your budget. Of course, last time I did this was last year, so it's hard to tell if it works... BTW, is clickdefense good?
I've been using their trial and am going to purchase. Their trial is fully functional and includes conversion tracking as well. I've been pretty impressed so far.
I just got hammered myself and have reported the incident to Google. I'll wait to see if I get reimbursed. I put it down to competitors clicking away to burn up my ad budget but perhaps there is a problem with G's tracking and we are getting 'ghost clicks' added to our accounts?
I wanted to try adwords, but i need to get known with this when i invest money. Using adwords can cost a lot of money if done the wrong way. Thanks for hte clickdefense.com link i'm gonna look for it right away.
How do you know who clicked on your ads ? If you do not mind , can you please let me know what did your ad say . If you really think that your Competitors have clicked your ads , Then PLEASE reconsider WRITING Another Advertisement . Example if I write : Title- Search engine submission India content - free search engine submission , free meta tags ... www.farishtaey.com Then it is obvious that If YOU are a SEO , you would click it . You are studying your competition . Try this :-- title - search engine submission info india content - details on search engine submission , guidelines and tips ... www.farishtaey.com Then it may keep my Competition from clicking it . As THEY Already know all this . They will not WASTE their time clicking and reading the website . BUT as a Person looking for SEO services , I will SURELY INVEST my time . A simple change can divert Potential customer . regards
Don't use adwords. The bidding structure is needlessly complicated and the ROI is bad. Also, google has these stupid 'hold' 'disabled'..etc policies which are a pain in the neck. I use overture.which is so much better than adwords.
If you think it's complicated, you might be in the wrong line of work. Like anything, it takes time to figure out exactly what's going to work for you. But most business owners/ web marketers are willing to put in some time and effort in order to make money. My ROI is great and I never get "on hold" or "disabled" ads.
Overture is simpler since you don't have to worry about impressions. With adwords sometimes I would have a ranking of 4 and then overnight it would fall to 9 for no good reason..and poof there go my leads. Simply with overture you get what you pay for. With adwords I have found myself paying more than overture because adwords bids seem to be higher for a lot of terms.
I use both. I don't see it as a one or the other choice. Each has its benefit and if you put a few hours in both can get a really good ROI.
No offense, but that's your fault for not learning the program. Just because something is simple doesn't make it good.
Ok, I've been there, done that. Been burned and screwed by google, luckily when I shut down google, I sent atlease 10 complaints with tons of different responses from google, it almost seemed as if the e-mails were sent to India and sent back to me! lol Heres what happened - I just started up the account, then I got my campaign started. First things first, I place the ad, and to my surprise less than 24 hours later its shutdown by google, saying you can't use those symbols. I republish and fix the ad. Then it shutsdown again after that by google saying, you must mention its an affiliate ad. ok, so I fix that mention what the say. Republish, then less than 24 hours again! Google shutsdown ad, and says, change the grammer of the ad. Ok so I change that, and ops shutdown again! Google says, each time it shuts down I e-mail google with questions toward why its shutdown. This time google admits to their own mistake, they said sorry change grammer back, it was their mistake! Ok I didn't put a number on how many times it's been, but you can count. So I fix it one more time and repulish, in about 24 hours again, my ads shutdown again by google! Their response says I didn't get enough CLICK - THROUGHS! In my mind, I was saying, WHAT THE F#@(*%&@#(% H!@$ U F@#%$@#( M@#%#$^ PIECE OF@#$@#%@. So I try to make my ad more attractive and relevant. shutdown again! this time I didn't ask what happened, I just said dam F%$^$% google! I quit! I don't ever wanna exist on your adwords site ever again! (not my exact words, but u get the picture). Then I find out for each time I republish or reactivate the ad, I'm charged $5 dollars! Well lets see, I was about to pay nearly 30 dollars that month on getting my ad shutdown from google! This ticked me off, so I compained enough for them to not charge the extra crap and I only got charged for the clicks, and the setup fee. That was a relief. Though I never wanted to use adwords ever again! lol Most of googles staff or whatever they call em, didn't even understand my questions, even when I made it incredibly clear! Its as if they send the e-mail to an illitterate, and have them respond with a technical answer! Either that of they have customer service handled by 10 year olds!