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It’s been a while since I posted about anything to do with Google Slaps. I’m sure anyone that does anything at all with Adwords has grown pretty weary of the whole thing and just numbly accepts it as inevitable. However, I think now is a good time to revisit this most unpleasant of topics and see if anything has changed in Google’s position and more importantly, to see if there are any lessons to be learned.

The one thing that has been clearly established by now is that the only way to determine what Google wants is via observation of indirect effects upon their system. Because there’s no way in Hell that Google is going to come right out and tell us what they really want.

At this point, I want to say that of late, I’ve noticed many fewer ads showing up off to the right of the Google SERPs. And not all of this is for extremely long-tail keywords either. In many cases there are only 3 ads being displayed and one of them is the ever ubiquitous one from eBay.

One possibility is that there has been a ton of attrition amongst Adwords advertisers.

The last Major Slap occurred back in the middle of March 2008. I had a domain taken out during that one and I know quite a few others who got whacked as well. It seems that Google likes to bring down the hammer on a quarterly basis, so we may be due for another one in the next month or so.

Another thing I’ve noticed is what appears to be a higher frequency of so-called “Mini Slaps” - Slaps that happen to selected advertisers and don’t appear to be network wide Slaps. Of course these Mini Slaps have been going on since the first big Slap came down back in July of 2006. It just seems that from a customer relations standpoint it would be preferable to have low-level cleanups rather than the scorched earth Slaps that cause all sorts of angst among Adwords advertisers.

Though, thus far, it seems Google cares little about the health and happiness of their advertisers.

There is one recent trend that can’t be denied and it carries a strong message:

Google has been issuing warning letters to advertisers regarding the low quality of their campaigns and in many cases has terminated Adwords accounts for repeated violations.

This is a fact and it can’t be denied.

What it means is open to interpretation. but it seems that Google has upped their game to forcibly removing troublesome advertisers from their network regardless of how much they spend with Google. This may seem extremely harsh and yet another example of how arrogant Google has become, but I think it’s actually a step in the right direction.

At least warning letters are being issued. So you can either find ways to comply, which granted isn’t easy, or you can continue what you’re doing and eventually get booted.

Below is a summary of what I think is going on. Please keep in mind that this all purely speculation on my part and the rules are made up to satisfy my worldview, which of course could change tomorrow.

• Google is now rewarding Adwords advertisers with multi-page sites with quality content. Additional points are awarded for PR and inbound links from authority sites. It would seem that the algos for organic search and Adwords are beginning to converge or at least sharing some metrics.

  I have a large content site with some PR that I’ve been running an Adwords campaign for about 3 years now on auto-pilot. It’s in the competitive fitness niche and consistently receives first page ad displays for an average .06 CPC. Granted, no one in their right mind would have the patience to build such a site and wait months or years before using Adwords to promote it, but it does give an indication of what Google will bless in Adwords.

• Google doesn’t hate arbitrage - or traffic brokering or whatever you want to call it. What they despise is advertisers that only have these kinds of campaigns in their Adwords account. If all you have is crappy CPA ZIP offers or MFA sites in your account, then it’s probably only a matter of time before you receive a warning letter from Google about the low quality of your advertising.

  However, if you have a balanced mix of large content sites and/or blogs along with some arbitrage campaigns, then Google may give you a pass. It might also be worth absorbing an on-going loss for your quality campaigns in order to be allowed to keep running your arbi campaigns, which may be much higher earners. Think of it as paying “protection money” to the mob. Google makes way too much money from PPC arbitrage to kill it completely. It just may be that they’re trying to reach a compromise without coming out and saying so.

• Don’t treat Adwords accounts like disposable razors. I see far too many people doing traffic brokering who open multiple Adwords accounts in a vain attempt to stay one step ahead of Google. Instead of taking a moment to figure out why Google is pursuing them like “The Fugitive” they come up with ever more ingenious methods to obscure their personal information so they can open more accounts.

  People are now changing their names and place of residence, opening new credit cards, and even purchasing new computers and changing ISPs in order to cover their tracks. This is taking the old cat and mouse game to incredible heights. I realize that if you’re making 6 figures a month with Adwords then the effort is probably worth it. Personally, I’d move on to something else.

In the world of paid search, Google reigns supreme and as a result, I will do everything I can to treat my Adwords account with respect and to comply with whatever Google asks of me. I’ve learned what kind of niches Google won’t tolerate and what kind of ad wording they take a dim view of. Google does send hints from time to time and it pays to take heed.

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