As usual, Google continues to change and modify their AdWords platform and policies. The newest change (announced via the AdWords blog) was the topic of a Brad Geddes post on Search Engine Land that very clearly laid out the good and bad of the policy change. However, here is my take:
What Changed?
A lot of PPC providers out there take your money and give you back the leads/phone calls that result from the spend. If the results justify the cost they keep paying. However, these aggregators don’t usually report how much was spent on clicks and how much they pocket for themselves. Hence the policy change.
Google is just requiring that the end client know how many impressions they got, how many clicks and the total spend. This way the advertiser will know if an agency is pocketing a large chunk or not.
Why I Think It’s A Good Thing
In a word: Transparency! Agencies that are afraid to disclose their cut should be culled from the herd. If you’re good then your clients should be willing to pay the fee because you produce results. Pretty simple if you ask me.
About Robert
This is awesome. I can’t tell you how many of my clients get cold-called by someone offering them to get “placed in the top 3 on google” for obscure phrases that neither get searched or clicked.
The pitch goes something like “For $50 a month we’ll make sure you are in positions 1,2, or 3 on google for the phrase ‘elephant gardening shoe horns’”.
Thanks for the update, Robert.