Is this the beginning of the fall of Google? I mean you just can't rely on them anymore... They can turn businesses from profitable to bankrupt overnight. The logical thing would have been (if they wanted to implement a change in landing page algo) to inform all advertisers well in advance of what Google was going to do and tell them exactly how to improve their landing pages in accordance of what google wants. That would at least have given us a chance to be compliant with what Google wants. Now the situation is - Nobody knows what Google wants from your landing pages in specific terms and everybody is in a limbo. Thanks a bunch Google!

They've created a market for keywords. Markets fluxuate, sometimes unpredictably.

The unintended consequence of informing the advertisers well in advance is obvious: it aids the scammers trying to game the system.

What Google wants is simple: be valuable or be gone. It's in their interest to measure value as well as they can. Same for all the advertisers.

Everyone needs to get REAL. I am a former Exec VP of Marketing for a F500 company and now a small business owner and I can tell you -THIS is a cash grab attempt - intentional or not.

If you look at any blog or forum outside for GOOGLE advertisers (the true customer google has other than a share holder) you quickly see the truth of WHO is actually affected by this change and it is most definitely NOT scammers and low content pages. MFA pages with ZERO content are still humming along unencumbered by the change.

It is the advertiser with exact content (keyword - domain name - subject match) who also has affiliates or other companies selling and advertising a product. It is also the key word with low traffic yet high click through that is set at $10 per click.

Read also the replies from GOOGLE employees to the paying customer trying to understand and make changes to somehow improve relevancy of a page where the product or service is an exact match....do some research on this. The old saying applies here... that if it "walks like a duck, squawks like a duck, looks like a duck - then it is a duck!)

This change has targeted the "small time advertiser" - google's own words here....which is 80% of their advertiser base. Searchers pay Google NOTHING....buinesses who advertise pay Google EVERYTHING. They have no definition of what a "relevant" landing page is.

The bottom line is that 80% customer base is moving now. Moving to MSN Ad Center and Yahoo - who have always had clear definition and media management to help and advertiser. Google was always cheaper and easier to use. Not any more. I expect the typical corporate denial process to take place here and silently changes may occur but the damage has already been done. Word is out on this whether the larger media is aware of it or not. When a obscure keyword with a exact matching product on a website with no advertising and a clear relationshsip to the product - an exact match if you will requires a $10 per click...somone is high off their own money stench.

"The bottom line is that 80% customer base is moving now. Moving to MSN Ad Center and Yahoo - who have always had clear definition and media management to help and advertiser. Google was always cheaper and easier to use. Not any more. I expect the typical corporate denial process to take place here and silently changes may occur but the damage has already been done. Word is out on this whether the larger media is aware of it or not. When a obscure keyword with a exact matching product on a website with no advertising and a clear relationshsip to the product - an exact match if you will requires a $10 per click...somone is high off their own money stench."

Yeah right. Why on earth would the advertisers move? Yeah, the changed algorithm may fluster some advertisers. But at the end of the day

GOOGLE IS #1 IN THE WORLD FOR SEARCHES

And that's what advertisers look at. Yeah, maybe Google makes a mistake here and there. But what search engine returns the most relevant searches? Google. What search engine is the fastest? Google (Live.com takes forever to load). And what search engine is used by nearly 50% of the world? Google.

So even though this hype will last a few more days, nothing's going to change in Search Engine standings.

And good luck with your little Ad Center thing from Microsoft. Yeah, cause advertisers want to target the 12% of people that do searches on Live.com. Remember this: 50 > 12. Oh yeah... 50 > 23 (Yahoo) too

:p

google is going to f*** us...they wanna suicide their revenue, we give them milions of dollars per day...google behaviour is against any business logic, why they want to kill 80% of their customer in one day! unbelievable! i understand their quality issue but why they also kill sites that do not point directly to the affiliate site!? like review sites or other similars! weird...
hope msn and yahoo break google ass even it they suck at least they are more honest of google!

The outrageous part is that Google is making judgements on what constitutes a good user experience vs. a bad one.

If an AdWords campaign is successful, then customers have "voted with their feet" and it is by definition a good user experience. Advertisers will discontinue unprofitable ads automatically.

Now some bureaucrats at Google have stablished "dogmas" about what constitutes a good user experience and what doesn't. The problem is, while these people may have ivory tower PhDs, they have obviosuly never marketed any product to anyone and couldn't sell their way out of a paper bag. These Google surivie making a living online for a single day!

Yet they decreed:

- Dogma #1: Lots of original rambling textual content is what the user wants. Truth: Yes, tire kickers and freebie seekers want that, but actual buyers want to BUY as quickly and efficiently as possible, so LESS is often MORE on the landing page.

- Dogma #2: Asking the user for their e-mail address, before giving away information or a download, is considered "strongarm tactic" now. Truth: Asking for a way to get back to the prospect before giving away a free consultation has been good business practice for 100 years. Everything else is running a charity.

- Dogma #3: Beautiful pages are better than gaudy-looking or, plain, black-and white pages. Truth: Ugly web sites SELL because they put the focus on the MESSAGE rather than how "beautifully" it is delivered.

How can such fundamental business decisions be made by a bot or a ivory-tower theoretician that has never sold anything to anyone? Outrageous.