Google Adwords “Management” Scam
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A Google Adwords Management, is basically a way to Outsource the management of your Google Adwords.
You pay a Google Adwords expert, a fee every month, that you agree in advance, to manage your Google Adwords, to get a better Return On Investment.
This is perfectly legitimate and a great way to maximise your return from Google Adwords….
However … more and more companies are appearing, that are using the lack of knowledge about Google Adwords, to scam Business People.
Here is how the scam works
The “management company” contacts a business owner and tell them that for “x” amount per month, the “management company” will get the business owner’s website listed on the number 1 spot in Google, for “x” amount of keywords, that they have identified for them.
This looks fantastic to someone that does not understand the Internet, or how Google Adwords works, so they are happy pay the money.
In a week or so, the business owner gets a list of the keywords, checks them in Google and is delighted to see that they are Number 1 in Google … it might be on the right hand side but it’s still fantastic!??
The (sucker) Punch Line
What the business owner does not know, is that the “management company” did research on their Market before they contacted them, and found key words with very little or no traffic (people using those key words to search in Google), which means that very few people will actually see the adverts.
So there will be very few clicks on the Google Adwords adverts and therefore very few visitors to your website.
With Google Adwords, advertisers only pay for the “clicks”, so it will cost the “management company” very little.
For example, I’ve just finished a report for a client, showing them the the €400 they were paying per month to a company using this same scam, would have cost them a maximum of €130 per month, based on the number of clicks, if they had their own Google account.
That’s at least €3,240 a year profit to the “management company”, for doing nothing.
The Correct Way
If you have a someone managing your Google Adwords account, the correct way to do it is this.
1) You open a Google Adwords Account with Google, in your name of business name/company name.
2) You send whoever is managing your Google Adwords account, your “Customer ID” number.
(it’s on the top right of screen after you log in to Adwords.)
3) They send you a request, which is sent within your Google Adwords Account, to give them access to your account, through their “Client Center”.
You will see it when you log in to your Google Adwords Account.
4) You pay all fees for the “clicks” on your adverts, directly to Google.
5) You pay the people managing your Google Adwords account their agreed fee.
6) You can log In to your Google Adwords Account, 24/7 to check on progress.
7) The whoever is managing your Google Adwords account, should be adjusting bids, writing unique adverts, split testing, checking for extra keywords and working to improve your Google Adwords Quality Score.
If someone is managing your Google Adwords account and didn’t do this, you could be getting scammed.
Eoin
October 3rd, 2009 at 5:56 am
This is true, without a doubt that a good PPC company should be actively managing the campaign, however….most small business owners don’t know what it is they should be doing to make sure that they are getting proper care and attention.
What else do you recommend in order for aperson to rest assured that they’ve hired a legitmate company to work on their behalf?
October 5th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Thanks for your comments
In order for a person to be sure that they’ve hired a legitimate company to work on their behalf, there are two additional things to look out for.
1) Being able to match your Google Adwords “clicks” to the actual traffic recorded by Google Analytics (or other analytics software.)
Are they the same? if not, why not?
2) Is the Focus on the Return on Investment (ROI), for your Adwords Spend, not traffic, click, or impressions?
e.g for every $100 (or €100) spent, are you making at least a $50 profit?
This will vary, depending on your market, and how you do it will need to be figured out, but either way, ROI should be the focus.
If a company is telling you that you spent $1,000 and you can see that you only made $1,900, you know you are getting a reasonable ROI.
But if a company is telling you that you spent $1,000 but you can see that you only made $900, you know something needs to be done.
Eoin