I literally just finished checking ad positioning for a PPC client of mine, on a new campaign we are testing around the topic of “scams.” No, we are not soliciting scams! Instead we realized that in our industry, as unfortunate as it is, there are a ton of scammers out there and therefore a ton of buzz around companies (and therefore search queries) that are frauds, scams, etc. Instead of shying away from this, we wanted to take advantage of the search volume it brings (especially as few people will advertise here). Therefore the ads we are testing highlight our differences from the scammers â Experience, Trusted Business, Money Back Guarantees, Rigorous Screen Processes, etc.
Seems simple enough, right? WRONG. DEAD WRONG.
Instead I found a terrible case of Keyword Insertion Gone Bad, and just had to rant a little! From this first example, on the query “Psychic Scams,” you’ll clearly see my case in point:
3 of the 5 ads are using Keyword Insertion â Promoting “Psychic Scams” for their company. I have a funny feeling this is probably the OPPOSITE of what they were aiming to accomplish. At this point my mind began running â this has to be a mistake, maybe just a coincidence. So, I began thinking of other industries where scams run rampant, hoping NOT to see this again (It makes us PPC marketers look, well, just BAD!). Unfortunately, I found the same sickness occur again and again:
Example 2 – Query: Gold Scams
Example 3 – Query: Car Scams
Example 4 – Query: Dating Site Scams (Are you starting to see my point here?!?)
Example 5 – Query: Psychic Fraud
Example 6 – Query: eBay Scams (Take notice to the similarities in the ad above in example 5)
I think by now you clearly see my point. I see some serious marketing dollars being wasted here!
While I am not frowning upon the use of Keyword Insertion in general, there is an absolute time and place to use it. In fact, smaller, niche ad groups tend to fair well using Keyword Insertion. When used correctly, you can certainly see a lift in your CTR and potentially in your quality score and conversion rate. However, it does require strict management and close monitoring. An article written by RedFlyMarketing (which highlights eBays horrendous use of Keyword Insertion) hits the nail on the head with the ins and outs of using “Keyword Insertion” to your advantage. Additionally, if you are going to use Keyword Insertion, cover your bases and take another step – Be sure that your negative keyword list is built out to avoid any mishaps such as the ones above (Please don’t contribute to making us PPC marketers look bad! )
At about 1:37 the Blendtech CEO Tom Dickson experiences some problems blending a RAKE! Notice someone in the crowd says GET THIS UP ON YouTube TODAY, you gotta get [XYZ's laptop now]â¦this is [not understandable but sounded like great or crazy].”
Everyone strive to NEVER be this GUY in life. NEVER! If you are you will fail.
A blender that is made to chop fruit, onions, ice, and make drinks that give us morning headaches and the CEO is willing to stick a wooden rake in it and it blends 85% of the rake before it jams, thats pretty successful, my blender has a hard time with frozen fruit.
A hater is thinking GET THIS UP ON YouTube! When they should be thinking:
This blender has devoured 85% of a rake BEFORE it jammed, I am never going to stick a rake in my blender, this is an amazing product.
How can I someday build something that is as remarkable
Instead the idea is get this up on YouTube? Really? Are you kidding me?
Well I bet no one is paying you to keynote are they?
I bet you don’t have as much fun at your job as the CEO Tom Dickson â he gets to blend Chuck Norris’s enemies at his jobâ¦I can’t get paid to do that!
Haters will produce videos of one time when this product devoured only 85% of a rake, that is NOT a failure to me, given how the product is used in the real world. It’s not that he recorded it, but it the excitement I hear in this haters voice that he got a YouTube video out of it.
Here’s my advice to everyone, build something that is so great that people pay you to speak about it, that’s remarkable, then you won’t have time to record videos of other great people’s miscues and occasional failures. Your 2 minutes and 44 seconds of fame are overâ¦Tom’s are continuing â he just keynoted at Pubcon a few months ago. Blend that!
People doing great things out there, practice for the haters, so that when someone disrupts you or thrives on your miscues you are prepared. I was pretty prepared here, every time I look at this video I don’t know how I was cool enough under pressure to not trip and stumble over my words – when I got grilled, I am not sure that Jason is hating here so much as he’s trying to ask useful questions, but I felt a twinge of “I’m going to expose you on stage” in the line of questions.
I expose people all the time, but only when they are doing something blatantly wrong or giving bad advice that will hurt someone’s SEO efforts, so I think there are times to expose people – but getting excited at the opportunity to disprove someone just for the sake of discrediting them is whack! Happy Friday!
