Beware of Google's in house "experts"

[MASSEY]

I'm willing to bet my right **** it wasn't.

You are making bold claims here.

Actual EMPLOYEE's at google are pro active at finding people who want advice about adwords. They then pass your details to their EXPERTS that call you and do what has happend to the op.

I had an email from a google employee and i accepted and then declined when i got the call because they were offering a pile of rubbish.

Your far better to approach smaller companies or very good individuals you will save a fortune.

 

[wevet]

I'm willing to bet my right **** it wasn't.

The trouble with this type of ill judged, ill informed "I know best" posting is that it can dilute the message that there are serious issues with the Google Adwords optimization offer.

When I started this thread, the intention was to alert those new to business and adwords to the potential pitfalls of allowing Google to optimize their adwords campaigns.

Yes I wholly accept that the world is full of scammers I field a dozen or more calls a month from peoplle who say "I am calling from Google".

The adword optimization was incepted following the setting of a new adwords account. You will actuall find that it is now standard practice by Google to offer this optimization service all new adwords accounts.

This will inevitably include a large number of inexperienced people who may just have visited this forum. Now, if I can help someone new to business to avoid spending a lot of much needed cash as a result of the dubious practices of the Google optimization a I count that as being wothy of my time in writing a posting.

Time and again one sees sensible threads hijacked inane comments.

Well in this instance you say "I am willing to bet..." Well I am up for it: here is the bet £50 to Help for Heroes from me if I am wrong that it was Google who contacted me or £50 from you when I show quite clearly it was Google.

Anyone wish to referee?

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Time and again one sees sensible threads hijacked inane comments.

Yes, this should have been a really helpful thread, but it was hi-jacked by know-it-alls who were "sure" you were scammed.

Funnily enough, right from page 1, there were people saying they believed it was google - two of whom are ppc managers. There were other people who said they'd had campaigns reviewed/optimized by Google.

You'd have thought that might have made people stop to think... but, nah, not going to happen.

Steve

 

[Perfect Windows]

There was an article about this on Radio 4 the other week.

A guy from Google said that if you are called by someone from Google, always tell them you need their email address. If it isn't x x x (at) g o o g l e . c o m (spread because forum isn't letting me post it correctly) they aren't from Google. (Gmail and googlemail, anyone can get, by the way). If it is a google.com address, hang up and send them an email to call you.

Good advice, I suspect.

Vin

So, given that it was an (at) g o o g l e . c o m address, then this call did come from Google.

Vin

 

[estwig]

I was one of the nah-sayers, maybe I'm wrong.

My reasons are born out of a deep mistrust of the OP, going back a long way. I have very good reasons not to trust him and I won't ever believe a single word he says.

 

[mit74]

I will hold my hand up and say I'm wrong about this but can you say you arent suspicious about this?
I find it hard to believe that any google employee whose job it is to configure adwords would setup such a poor configuration for your business. For most people it takes a day to learn the basics of adwords. What you mentioned shows all the trademarks of a scam company and the quotes they gave you are obsurd. Although they may be licensed as Google employees it's likely they're on commission per click per company.

Another important note to every reading this: getting an email from @google.com is absolutely no guarentee the email has come from google. Email headers can be easily spoofed so it looks like it has come from a certain address.

 

[Consultant sea]

Another side of the coin is that if the Google employee helps your campaign run better (isn't always the case but can be) then your company makes more money and in the long run will spend more on Adwords. If a startup company using Adwords for the first time has a bad run due to poor setup and the company goes bust, then this doesn't benefit anyone.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Exactly.

When ad agencies first started, they didn't charge any money for the creative, they were paid a percentage of the cost of running the ads.

The better the ads, the more/longer they ran, and the more money the agency made.

What Google are doing is just a variation of this... except they often do a poor job of making the ads good.

Steve

 

[JohnnyCash]

The better the ads, the more/longer they ran, and the more money the agency made.

What Google are doing is just a variation of this... except they often do a poor job of making the ads good.

If the person optimising the ads is making something directly proportional to the ad spend, better ads does not neccesarily equal more money being made by the agency.

They would likely making more money by being deliberately wasteful, but doing it in a way that dripped just enough profit back to the site owner so that he still wanted to keep the ads running...

You would need to be crazy to pay someone on a percentage of your ad spend. If someone gave me their £2000 a month account to manage on 20% commission, I could spend 4 hours optimising it and cut spending by 50%... and effectively burned £50 from my own wallet for each hour that I worked, and thats just for that month alone

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I will hold my hand up and say I'm wrong about this but can you say you arent suspicious about this?

Yes.

I've seen some dreadful stuff by them.

Steve

 

[directmarketingadvice]

They would likely making more money by being deliberately wasteful, but doing it in a way that dripped just enough profit back to the site owner so that he still wanted to keep the ads running...

Perhaps, but how wasteful you can be is limited by the competitiveness of adwords.

If clicks were under-priced and competitors were incompetent, then you could over-spend significantly. But that's not the way things are.

It is stange. Someone who read Adwords for Dummies wouldn't make these basic mistakes. So I don't know why Google "experts" are.

But, at the same time, I don't believe this is a con by google to deliberately waste people's money.

Steve

 

[Toby1968]

This is hysterical, we have a bunch of people who obviously haven't any real clue as to what they are on about. The OP insisting he is right and can provide evidence, yet has spectacularly failed to do so. The opposing side all insisting they are correct, and no one has actually come up with any credible facts.

Back this up with people working from their bedrooms and offering advice on the likes of business rates and commercial units, and the whole quality and credibility of many members is worrying.

Perhaps people should just comment on their fields of proven business acumen, rather than guessing and repeating urban myths and hearsay. Or if you don't really know what your on about at least make it clear that you are just guessing or voicing an opinion.

Is a amusing though, all this posturing - bit like a Friday night down the pub when every one is an expert on everything after a few pints!

 

[estwig]

This is hysterical, we have a bunch of people who obviously haven't any real clue as to what they are on about. The OP insisting he is right and can provide evidence, yet has spectacularly failed to do so. The opposing side all insisting they are correct, and no one has actually come up with any credible facts.

Back this up with people working from their bedrooms and offering advice on the likes of business rates and commercial units, and the whole quality and credibility of many members is worrying.

Perhaps people should just comment on their fields of proven business acumen, rather than guessing and repeating urban myths and hearsay. Or if you don't really know what your on about at least make it clear that you are just guessing or voicing an opinion.

Is a amusing though, all this posturing - bit like a Friday night down the pub when every one is an expert on everything after a few pints!

It's a game innit!!

There are some very serious business people on here, who make good money, really know their beans and are willing to help. There are also a lot of back bedroom warriors, who spend too much time on Club Penguin!

It's great, a big mix of people all discussing things and invariably arguing about the colour black!!

 

[UKSBD]

It's great, a big mix of people all discussing things and invariably arguing about the colour black!!

I personally prefer #111 to #000

 

[Toby1968]

Iinvariably arguing about the colour black!!

Black isn't actually a colour, dougnut

 

[Tom McClelland]

I have to confess that my instant reaction to the OP was that he had been scammed. I get these "Hello, I'm calling you from Google" calls every month, and invariably they are scammers. (Yell, anyone?)

But the opinion of respected SEO/PPC people has given me pause, and I do recall that when I first set my account up I got a legitimate call from Google offering to help me out. They were able to modify my campaign *without* me giving them any password details once I'd given them verbal permission and the stuff they did and things they suggested seemed reasonably sensible. In the end I think I didn't run with most of their suggested changes though.

It isn't much of a reach to think that the OP therefore had a genuine call from a clueless Google rep with a clueless manager, who made suggestions that would enrich Google, but not the client.

 

[estwig]

The bit that loses credibility for me, is the Google rep setting up a poorly optimised account, why would Google do that?

People claim to make money, I don't think so, very short sighted of google to go for the 'bird in the bush'!

A well optimised account, done by Google will keep the punter coming back for more, far more money for Google in the long run, 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush'.

Google are far from stupid.


You have to remember in all this that the OP is seriously unstable and hasn't got a danny about anything.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

The bit that loses credibility for me, is the Google rep setting up a poorly optimised account, why would Google do that?

It's strange, but I've seen it.

For example, the account I was reviewing yesterday had a campaign set up by Google that ran worldwide.

This business sells "next day x services" (won't tell you the market) relating to the UK.

The google person had the broad match keyword next day services.

I'll say that again, the broad match keyword next day services running world wide with no reference in the keyword to what these services are, or that they relate only to the UK.

That's the quality of work they do.

Why it's so poor, I've no idea. Like you, I don't see how this is good for Google in the long-term.

Steve

 

[estwig]

It's strange, but I've seen it.

For example, the account I was reviewing yesterday had a campaign set up by Google that ran worldwide.

This business sells "next day x services" (won't tell you the market) relating to the UK.

The google person had the broad match keyword next day services.

I'll say that again, the broad match keyword next day services running world wide with no reference in the keyword to what these services are, or that they relate only to the UK.

That's the quality of work they do.

Why it's so poor, I've no idea. Like you, I don't see how this is good for Google in the long-term.

Steve

Suppose Google has incompetent people same as any company. The rumour is they don't pay much, so if your any good at adwords, you might be off chasing the bright lights of better money!

 

[crossdaz]

I was one of the nah-sayers, maybe I'm wrong.

My reasons are born out of a deep mistrust of the OP, going back a long way. I have very good reasons not to trust him and I won't ever believe a single word he says.

I have encountered similar threads from the op - all very critical of google and how they are out to put him down.

Even when I've clearly stated that his site is flashing on kaspersky as an attack site (hence the reason Google keep trying to get rid of him) the experts have carried on talking as if he has a justified complaint?

 

[Gord]

The google person had the broad match keyword next day services.

I'll say that again, the broad match keyword next day services running world wide with no reference in the keyword to what these services are, or that they relate only to the UK.

Wow, that's so bad it would be cheaper to go with a genuine scammer.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Suppose Google has incompetent people same as any company. The rumour is they don't pay much, so if your any good at adwords, you might be off chasing the bright lights of better money!

Could be just another "Indian outsourcing" issue.

But what I don't get is, why offer the service at all? If they're not willing to pay to get competent people, why not just remove the service?

Surely it just damages their reputation.

Steve

 

[UKSBD]

What is more worrying than anything is these low level google employees (if they are) can gain access to peoples AdWords accounts so easily.
I wonder what vetting procedures Google use?

 

[JElder]

I'm willing to bet my right **** it wasn't.

It probably was google - we run quite a few accounts with them now, and I do get regular calls when I set up a new account.

I'm sure they are legit, as they call within a day for the new account being created, know the account name, and do not use any of the obvious 'scam' telltales like using the word 'guaranteed'.

I've never used them, as I prefer to do the set-up myself (I'm half way to getting the Adwords Qualification), but I have heard they tend to use very broad matches, and suggest budgets that would make getting an ROI tricky for many clients.

By all means use them if you are a complete novice, but keep a very close eye on budget and ROI.

 

[The Business Valuer]

My experience:

I got a phone call from "google" offering me help with my adwords, and telling me I hadn't budgeted enough, and it was pointless setting such a low daily spend limit.

I ended the call and said I would get back to them. I saved the number in my phone.

I called back about 3 months later when I had a general question about adwords. The person on the end of the phone told me they couldn't help as they were an external department and I would need to ring a different number (which they couldnt give me).

It seems like they outsource this "service" to a bunch of idiots in a call centre who try and convince people to spend more money.

Shocking! So is it Google? Kind of...