PPC-Advice.com

Google Content Network Growing FAST

It’s amazing what an online behemoth like Google can do in only 6 short months.  After all, it was only 6 months ago that I first reported Content Network placements becoming more and more unstable, a server side switch for Adwords advertisers to turn off parked domain ads, and the mysterious “clicks greater than impressions” reporting.  Google has seriously cleaned up their Content Network act, but history tends to repeat itself.

Just when you thought it was safe to wander back into the content network…

Google Adsense advertisements are everywhere, constantly bombarding internet users to sign up and install Adsense on their content-rich sites.  Problem is, even with their incredibly low payouts, Adsense entrepreneurs are finding it hard to resist clicking their own ads - or even worse, setting up click farms or botnets.

In the past 6 months, Google has enabled more control over content network ads by providing advertisers with many tools to make the job of handling millions of impressions much easier:

• Content Placements now enable you to setup ads based on cost-per-click models, rather than just CPM.
• Content Placement reports let you delve into the metrics for your ads in much greater detail.
• Advertisers can opt out of categories, parked domains, and other questionable traffic sources right through their Adwords interface.

So, is it enough?  Not really.  One could argue that Google is pushing too hard to recruit new webmasters into the fold.  The problem of swollen click numbers is still rampant, given that larger content network campaigns have to be reviewed more often than once a month, just to exclude domains you know for a fact do not convert.

In some managed campaigns, impressions and clicks have climbed almost tenfold in the past 3 months, with many user generated content (UGC) sites also generating a lot of would-be entrepreneurs to generate something more than content… cash.

My advice for advertisers on the content network would be to be more vigilant than ever. Keep track of your clicks, placements, and bids.  Make sure you:

• Visit some of the top 10 sites you spend money on, and make sure those referring page URLs make sense for your business.
• Maintain tight relationships with your Google representatives, you never know when you might need an account credit for low-quality clicks.
• Watch for steep climbs or drops in impressions, clicks, and conversion.  Big changes mean you might have to scrutinize your content placement reports more often.
• Revisit excluded domains in your campaigns, especially if they are high traffic sites.
• Take content placements that are doing well and “bust them out” into separate Placement Targeted campaigns.  Make sure to exclude those sites from content network campaigns once they’re individually targeted.
• Demographics targeting can be your best friend, if you really know your target market.

The Content Network doesn’t have to be scary anymore.  Google’s made some serious progress in filtering out much of the riff-raff that once made the Content Network so intimidating.  It can be a great place to get some (or millions) of cheap clicks.

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