FeedGoogle, You SUCK and I WILL Find Another Way!
My natural inclination is to share. I like sharing information, personal stories, problems, news, tools, life, etc. It’s just who I am and I think that’s one reason I love this industry…
That was until I felt the wrath of Google over the past week!
I saw it coming I guess – it happens in the SEO industry…or it used to happen until Google smacked any SEO that shared a secret by patching/fixing/closing the “gap”. And it still happens every once in a while.
What the heck am I referring to? I’m referring to this cycle:
I can understand and see the value of this cycle for certain things that help people fraudulently take advantage of a system – of course that needs to be stopped…it’s killing the stuff that really helps IMPROVE relevancy, users, systems and businesses that simply makes my blood boil.
This month Google changed their auto-tagging function so it would render the “AdWords keywords exposed” tip useless for a short time! We’re talking with Google right now but in the mean time…the stats may not reflect exactly what you expected for a while (since January 15th?). I’ll write a separate post about the details of what I have done, what I’m testing, and where I think the issues is because I simply can’t place my thumb on the right solution although I’m confident we’ll come up with it soon!
Enter Evolution
This is why there is a secret “10%” of SEO knowledge out there…and I’m now convinced that we are probably going to hold back on our ultimate PPC secrets that we planned to expose which will contribute to the idea that there is a secret 10+% of PPC knowledge that is not and will not be exposed.
Evolution changes everything:
I believe this new innovative/creative evolution is what drives the success or failure of a PPC marketer or an SEO.
So…my questions to Google are:
Why won’t you let us easily see every exact query that comes through AdWords?
Wouldn’t it drive advertisers to be more relevant? Better ROI for businesses and therefore increased confidence and budgets for AdWords?
Are you or are you not striving for the most relevant results to a search query?
Why do I think Google Sucks?
Because their behavior with this particular issue is not consistent with their perceived “willingness” to help small business owners make more money and get better ROI with AdWords!
Summary
Google SUCKS and I will find another way to improve the community’s ROI quickly and effectively – this time I’m going to discretely release the solution…probably via RSS messaging and email. 
thank you for all of the info that you can give..great blog..you give till it hurts
hey..i voted for that article for the semmy’s!
i like the black hat carrot..i send you my email addy for the secret and you send me all of your payday loans and viagra offers..done!.lol
I’m sorry to hear this. I really hope they disabled it to level the playing field and make the change automatic for everyone. Lets see if they stick to the “Don’t be evil” motto or if they decide on the “less public knowledge = more money” slogan instead.
@mutt
Thanks for the kind words and your vote! I’m sure we’ll find a way around it – seems like the community always does.
@Costa Rica SEO
I believe they have disabled it for everybody. I think it is “evil” – I wish a rep would stop by and explain their side of the story though…
Ah man that sucks! I started to notice some issues with the filter you posted.
You point is well made… and I don’t understand why this would be an issue for Google! It was helping benefit the user and helping to increase our CTR’s
Man, that really pisses me off!
Well… perhaps we should set up a small, insiders club of PPC professionals and pass the information amongst us via emails.
Screw Google
[...] Yes, we know this all along, and I hate to see the semvironmentSEM guys get discouraged, because they were posting great [...]
Update – we are still waiting for Google’s reply. Our inquiries have been “escalated” to another team – at least that is what they’re telling us.
As soon as we hear back from them, we’ll post all the info we think we know on the subject and hope for the best!
[...] recently discovered that Google had changed it’s auto-tagging feature, rendering their “AdWords search query hack” useless. My favorite response to this so far: Google IS [...]
Another great post, you are really onto something!
Damn, I never even knew about that trick until I saw this post. The great mystery of 2007 for me was what are “other unique queries”. Are they 1-2 Punch searches that give blended ad listings of the last two search queries or are they just the worst kind of broad matched crap that Google doesn’t want you to see? If I’m supposed to be maximizing my impression share at least show me what that lost impression share really is. Is it relevant search queries or crap?
This royally sucks. I’ve been relying on this trick for the better part of a year.
I hate to say it, but if you think this pissed you off, I recently discovered how Google will circumvent your daily budgets to show your ads when the budget runs out of money. This little trick will also let them show your ad on your negative keywords too. To learn more check out my post called The Google Money Grab. Let’s all share ways to boost community ROI!
@Tad – I agree…it is very hard to tell if those other queries are “crap” or “relevant” – it is definitely annoying!
@Don – Thanks for pointing that out. I am a firm believer in using negative keywords as much as possible and using broad match frugally.
I have a hard time wrapping my head around why you honestly believe you are somehow influencing Google’s decisions.
Maybe you haven’t noticed, but Google’s made an awful lot of changes to Google Analytics over the past year.
Two points:
First, this original filter method is the product of the work by Jim Newsome (Omega Digital Media) and Brian Clifton (of Google). So a trick that Google helped developed was stonewalled by… Google? You need to check your references. Google is not out to get you. While they want your advertising dollars, they have consistently achieved this by making these products better, not worse (not to mention free). Also, if you were doing something Google didn’t like, they’d be sure to let you know.
Second, autotagging has nothing to do with this. There have recently been problems with advanced filters across the board due to many of the new updates, and if anything, this is simply a bug.
Shawn Purtell
ROI Revolution
@Shawn
I am a huge fan – of your blog and of Analytics in general.
I’m glad it is “just a bug”. That means, I hope, that Google will fix it.
And of course, I am very happy that Google gives away these things for free so we can refine our efforts to make more money and in turn spend more money on Google. It is a genius cycle and I’m honored to be part of it.
Just wanted to know if this is up and running again? I only installed it last week and after troubleshooting it’s still a no go.
Same for everyone else I guess?
Aaron
Aaron, thanks for stopping by!
No, these filters are still buggy but we posted a fix here.
Google truly is pile of horse manure. In fact, Google actually is an ancient Native American word for “Pile of manure”