Does Google ever sell top PPC position?

[Tom McClelland]

I've just had an interesting sales call from a sales rep who purported to be from Google, selling the guaranteed permanent #1 position in PPC ads for a range of keywords chosen by me, for a fixed monthly budget. The price that I was quoted by them is less than Google is currently getting from me on my Adwords campaigns, so I'm just a bit skeptical. Has anyone heard of this Google product, or is the whole thing likely to be a "shady" sales technique by a PPC management company, and actually nothing directly to do with Google at all?

 

[FLAUK]

I had been called by a company offering this several times - just after registering sites on freeindex, which is where I believe they get the leads.

After some in depth questions I would not touch them - shady does not cover it imo.

 

[FLAUK]

Just remembered the name of the company that called me - searchrankresults.co.uk

Started off claiming to be from Google, then switched to the only qualified adwords company in the UK, after I challenged that the sales guy became quite aggressive as his lies became more and more apparent.

Be very careful what you say as the calls are recorded.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Has anyone heard of this Google product, or is the whole thing likely to be a "shady" sales technique by a PPC management company, and actually nothing directly to do with Google at all?

The latter.

You can guarantee position #1 on Adwords. Just set a high enough bid and budget and set position preference to #1.

If you can do that - without using a PPC company - how could Google guarantee position 1 to the people who phoned you?

Steve

 

[Tom McClelland]

The latter.

You can guarantee position #1 on Adwords. Just set a high enough bid and budget and set position preference to #1.

If you can do that - without using a PPC company - how could Google guarantee position 1 to the people who phoned you?

Steve

The people calling me were purporting to be Google themselves. Clearly if that were true then they could do what they said, and they might have reasons to offer such a product that I'm not party to. But I have my severe doubts, which is why I'm querying it.

Just to be clear, they claimed, on the phone to me, that they could guarantee no#1 position for the next 30 days, for a fixed fee which is lower than my current Adwords spend. To me that sounds like nonsense. I asked them to email me a formal quote listing the keywords that they'd achieve that for *and* a link to a Google website page that explains the product that I'd be buying. Funnily enough I've not heard back from them several hours later...

 

[Tom McClelland]

I did mention to them that I already have a trusted PPC consultant who has done excellent work including keyword organisation and split testing of landing pages on the site (naming no names, just follow where my eyes look) and that I would of course be asking my consultant about this scheme to see what they thought of it.

Come to think of it that was fairly close to the end of the conversation and they got off the phone pretty quickly after that... Maybe that says it all.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Come to think of it that was fairly close to the end of the conversation and they got off the phone pretty quickly after that... Maybe that says it all.

Lol.

A have to say, as a PPC manager, I find it shameful the way some of these companies conduct themselves. Claiming to be Google, then partners of Google... it's just crookedness of the highest degree.

The weird thing is, why?

Adwords isn't perfect, but as advertising goes, it's pretty damn good. Maybe the best there is.

So why don't they just hire some people, train them up to do the work and then sell it honestly?

It's not like there's a shortage of prospects out there who'd be willing to pay for adwords help.

Steve

 

[Tom McClelland]

As it happens they've just got back in touch. The same person on the phone again.

So I've repeated my request for a written quote detailing *exactly* the terms of the offer, ie what PPC position are they guaranteeing, for every single search in a 30 day period, for what range of keywords relevant to my site, for what fixed cost?

I await the response with interest. I expect a cleverly weasel-worded quote which manages to imply position #1 on ppc without actually guaranteeing it.

 

[Paul Norman]

Tom, as a person who runs a number of big ecommerce projects, I too get contacted by these kinds of outfits.

I would not advise you to waste another minute on them. It is shady sales blurb for something you could get your current PPC to potentially achieve.

 

[Ali-v-8]

At the moment google IS promoting preferred partners, but these can easily be found through Google's website. This is only done on follow up after a call from Google themselves. Another point is that they only contact you if your not really spending well.

 

[Tom McClelland]

Another point is that they only contact you if your not really spending well.

Steve has done good work to improve a PPC situation that we were already very happy with. I'm sure that further improvements are available if we wanted to spend lots of time on it, but they're going to be increasingly marginal now that Steve has already waved his magic split-tests over the various ideas that he had for improvement, as well as cleaning up the keyword lists.

The only reason that we considered these people for a second is that they represented that they are Google and that they're offering a new deal... I was skeptical from the start, and as time has gone by my doubts have only increased.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Too true Steve knows his stuff. Only more proof that they were not from Google.

Steve has done good work to improve a PPC situation that we were already very happy with. I'm sure that further improvements are available if we wanted to spend lots of time on it, but they're going to be increasingly marginal now that Steve has already waved his magic split-tests over the various ideas that he had for improvement, as well as cleaning up the keyword lists.

The only reason that we considered these people for a second is that they represented that they are Google and that they're offering a new deal... I was skeptical from the start, and as time has gone by my doubts have only increased.

 

[Tom McClelland]

OK, I've got the quote from them, and of course it isn't Google. And what they're offering in the written quote is, "First Page Position", which is a very very long way indeed from "First Position on Page 1", which is what was being verbally quoted on the phone. I actually clarified twice that what they meant was that I'd be permanently the top advert of the 3 yellow ones above the organic listing. I'm not going to name them because I can't prove that they lied to me on the phone. It is easy to see how an addwords n00b could be taken in by this kind of thing and give these people a lorryload of money for nothing.

 

[bdw]

Report them to trading standards.

 

[delboy388]

Hi tom, i run a sales company that offer similar products, but to answer your question NO, that product does not exist and no one should guarantee that. this is what gives our industry a bad name. Your right to be reserved, ask for it in writing stating that if your not there 24/7 at 1st position your entitled to a full refund due to breach of contract. hope it helps

 

[Tom McClelland]

Since it is completely clear that they can't deliver, and they've sent me a weasel contract different from the phone conversation, the simple thing is just to tell them to go away.

 

[jatt]

It can possible through inorganic listing by google adwords. Its not posssible that google sell top position in results.

 

[stusatomicdustbin]

You have to laugh when these folks call you.

The thing that amazes me is that some folk must fall for that, or else they wouldnt be calling, would they?:|


Remember.....its a jungle out there!

 

[UKSBD]

I had one lot guarantee me a 5 year top position today for a one off payment because they were getting it via a government grant

 

[NellyUK]

Learn PPC yourself, yes it will cost you initially unless you invest in a well know ebook out there by a respected ppc expert - Perry Marshall which will definately limit any loses.

Once you start to get it right it will be worth it, by the way it's easier handle if YOU lose a couple of thou, you can blame yourself and hopefull gained alot of expirence in how NOT to do it, but some one else loose it for you ...ouch!

Its not to say don't hire anyone - BUT- at least learn the basics on how to interpret data in the your google adwords webmaster account.

 

[Tom McClelland]

Learn PPC yourself, yes it will cost you initially unless you invest in a well know ebook out there by a respected ppc expert - Perry Marshall which will definately limit any loses.

Once you start to get it right it will be worth it, by the way it's easier handle if YOU lose a couple of thou, you can blame yourself and hopefull gained alot of expirence in how NOT to do it, but some one else loose it for you ...ouch!

Its not to say don't hire anyone - BUT- at least learn the basics on how to interpret data in the your google adwords webmaster account.

That is exactly what we did for the first couple of years. And we were very pleased with the effectiveness of our campaign. Our only "loss" was that we could have been doing it even more effectively, it now turns out.

Then we gave a professional (Steve Gibson from this forum) a crack at it. The cost was reasonable and the gains were significant, more than covering the consultancy costs straight away.

To re-iterate, the only reason we gave these people the time of day was because they represented themselves as being Google selling a new product in the phonecall. If they'd been honest and said that they were a 3rd party ppc management company we'd have told them that we didn't need their services because we already have a well-managed PPC account.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Learn PPC yourself, yes it will cost you initially unless you invest in a well know ebook out there by a respected ppc expert - Perry Marshall which will definately limit any loses.

I'd agree that it's a good idea to learn the basic principles, at least.

Armed with that understanding, you can tell whether a PPC person is telling you something credible or whether it's a nonsense.

That's good for you and it's good for us PPC managers that are competent and honest.

"Adwords for Dummies" is a good starting place. Alternatively, I have a free report on my PPC site (see my sig link) that covers the way to think about Adwords.

(No signup required, just right click, save)

Steve

 

[jacksons]

Once you begin popping up in organic listings and submitting your website in directories you will no doubt get hounded by these companies offering guaranteed position 1 on Google. Non of these companies are Google and only some have approved status so best check first.

Also watch out for extremely good offers like £40 a month for 5 keywords. This is not possible, as a result your advert will only show occasionally and when it does it will most likely be lower on the page.

Do you research first!!