Caution: Content Network Ahead (Part 2)
Aug 3, 2007 PPC Basics
Seems that I wasn’t far off when I wrote just yesterday on the dangers of the content network. Robert Andrews of Forbes.com recently published an article called “Web Ad Nets Scrutinized As Brands Bail from Dodgy Sites.” Pretty soon you won’t be able to blame the advertising network responsible for bad placements because the advertiser does have a lot of power to dictate where ads should and should not go.
Is that to say that Google, Yahoo, and MSN get off with a slap on the wrist? Absolutely not. Enrolling in a program such as Adsense is frankly too easy, considering the majority of content placements are on parked domains! I don’t claim to be a genius nor am I a card carrying member of Mensa, but if someone could explain to me how search engines determine that my keywords match the content on an otherwise blank page, I’d appreciate it.
All jokes aside, bad placement on an advertising network can get you in hot water pretty damn fast. Imagine you are selling a service B2B and forget to include campaign or ad group negative keywords to your content bids. The next day, your ad could show up on a controversial ad network page and get clicked on by unqualified prospects that want to use your services. However, since you showed up on that particularly shady site, they’re expecting you are targeting your ad to their particular lifestyle. How embarrassing is that conversation, when you have to explain to them that selling your services to them would be a violation of your acceptable use policy. Lest you be so fortunate to only be embarrassed, they could seek legal counsel for false advertising.
Nobody wants that. If you work in marketing and manage your online advertising spend, save your PR sanity, pay attention to your content network placements.
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