[ianharper]

Guys

I would like to thank who ever it is thats clicking on my adwords you have halfed my cost per click over the last month plus with my tracking program am being refunded all the clicks that are genrated as they come from outside the UK because of the program you are hidding behind, google is no fool.

The point that I am making here is that in adwords you have a thing called "click through rate (CTR)" and mine is high because of the fraud, that is lowering the cost per click. over the last month its half what is was.

I think googles has got it right. because of the way Ip's work it allows fraud but google has put the balance our way thats the people that use their advertising. its easy to fear the cost that fraud can cause you but i would say in my experance over the last month i have won out.

this CTR makes your adverts stand out in googles eyes and they reward you with lower cost per click.

One other point, the grass always looks greener over the fence, well sometimes its not.

well done google

Respect

Ian Harper

[Mike Halliday]

why do you think the person will be here to read your thank you?


just done my first month of adwords cost me £48 with 43 clicks and not one job 

don't think I'm doing it right

[Mike Halliday]

Ian what percentage is your CTR? mine borders around 2.8%, how high does it have to go to get a lower price?

[garry22]

Ian what percentage is your CTR? mine borders around 2.8%, how high does it have to go to get a lower price?

Mike,

How many separate ad groups are you using?

[Mike Halliday]

3, leather general & powerwashing

[james roffey]

Ian

As i am the nearest to you i would like to say " it was not me"
Frankly it is childish and rather pathetic, the person responsible must be a bit worried about you, so you must be doing something right.

All the best

Jim Roffey

[garry22]

3, leather general & powerwashing

On a friend's site a while back we had over twenty groups (running sixty different ads against each other). Some groups were so tight, they got 80% CTR.

You are ALMOST looking at one group per keyword if you want to boost CTR.

For example there should be a separate one for carpets, another for upholstery.

For your leather, you may need more than one if you are targeting different areas.

[ianharper]

James

The point of this post is apart from thanking the person is to air this subject as many will have the same issue and its all to easy to get in a tit for tat situation with who you many THINk it is. I would like to move this on and say to others with this issue that its just not worth lowering yourself to this level. I know what its like for people to think that your behind stuff when they had no real proff. These people hide and  as I said they know they cant be found out. but as i said also above there is light for adword users.

I know your a top guy and would not do this and any rate its not happing in southend its in another area.

Mike

In the areas that I am having probelms with its as much as 25%. they are give away signs that its fake clicks.

what it sounds like you neeed to do is start using your site logs and using the negative keywords in adwords. this will cut out loads of clicks from happy clickers. 

and yes its someone that knows me from the data i get you can tell that. but who, well they know what they are doing. I cant say how i know they know me in open forum, but if I said they would change their ways. you can only think you know and thats why I want to show others with this issue that its not all bad.

sounds like your clicks are really cheap Mike this shows that your not hitting the target. you should be paying much more than that per click. Plus your budget is very low as well. your know when youhave  got it right. the ROI will be good. I back up what Gary says i have just two keywords per group.

And as a side not, when I said about the green grass what i ment is that we are all in business to make money and i am by no means racking it in. so why click?

I have a idea for the person thats clicking, if you are here. over the next month print off the search results of your main keyword with the PPC and then compair them in a months time and many of the advertisers will not be around. given that there are three top slots why would you want to carry on clicking? Its a fact that prospects will not choose the first person they call or use the cheapist so why would you want to cary on doing what your doing? there is plenty of room for any person that has the budget to use adwords.

One other really interesting thing I have found out and thats a town that you might think would be good will not and ones you might not are, lots of low end movement. Also the housing market is on the move again. lots of owners with buy to rent selling up now. done a few where the tenant is being told to move out and then the house is being sold. hope that helps.

Respect

Ian harper

[Ian Gourlay]

Ian

I have been scared of Goggle for that very reason.

Also being on here might mean that other good folk check you out,

You have always had a high profile and sometime controversial style of posting which would mean some who our curious will look at what you do to see if they can learn anything.

You will then have your local competition who will want to aniliate you and put you out of business.

I wish I had the time to spend learning all this SEO  Adwords stuff and HTML  etc instead of spending a rushed 8 hours a year trying to get sorted.

Ive got all the info it just need to be dissected piece by piece

[prodry]

Ian

If they are masking their IP address to a non-UK address. Simply change your Adwords settings to only show your ads in the UK.

Many of the Spam mails you get are from other countries and they have someone searching for businesses online to find email addresses or have automated programes searching for addresses.

Michael

[garry22]

Ian,

How does this happen?

Are your ads showing by keyword or by the searchers IP address?

If it was IP, then they would have to be using a proxy address pretty close to where you are.

You learn something new every day.

[ianharper]

guys

if anyone in the world uses google.co.uk and say puts in "carpet cleaner colchester" the advert will show even with the local setting in adwords. its all about the way ip's work.

google will NOT and can NOT stop this even if it wanted to. and with these fools hinding behind radom ips the ban IP in adwords will not stop them. but with data that i get i can ask from refunds from google and as i have facts they can not say no.

I have some guys at the moment seeking my adverts out in other areas then his own area. He must think that i just stop and fold my business. I belive in what goes around comes around and one day he will get back what he is doing. and it will not be from me. as i dont want to get in a tit for tat situation, its me today but it can so easly be someone else that not so laid back next time, and the only real winner is google then.

Do You what really gets me I share as much marketing info as i feel i can, much more that many and this is what i get back. That

http://synnd.com/

is a real benfit to anyone that wants link exchange just for £60 mth

Garry, I cant go into how it all works dont want to cause problems for others. as i said its managable and in the long run will benfit me with great CTR. just want others doing this or on the other end to know that it can be managed.

Some people would just start clicking back on any advert thaey might think is doing it to them. this is not the way to combat this problem. as you just dont know and you can only guess who it is, which is not the way to defend yourself.

Michael, hope your well? if it was happening all all my areas whay you say might be true, but its not its only in two at the moment. and I have asked myself if i should drop the advert in those areas as the work i get does not really make it worth the time i have to spend dealing with it. thats what sad. he must think i getting loads of work for these areas.

Glad your back aroung Michael, Guys if you want an top slot site then this guy knows what he is doing. he helped me out in 08 when i was going though my split up by selling me some sites which saved my bacon. Thank you Michael.

This brings me onto another subject that interests me and thats how much is any town worth in work? i will start another post

Respect

Ian Harper

[garry22]

if anyone in the world uses google.co.uk and say puts in "carpet cleaner colchester" the advert will show even with the local setting in adwords. its all about the way ip's work.

Ian,

I'm making this statement on the assumption that you have not stopped the ad from running. If you have, then disregard what follows..

I've put in "carpet cleaner colchester" into G from my location near Birmingham, using my own IP address..

I've got you showing at number two in the organic listings but not at all in the PPC ads.

I've also tried through a USA proxy (Nevada I think) and got the same results, again with you at no. 2 in the organics (I actually got local USA ppc ads showing)

To be honest, I did not expect to see your adwords ad if the system is working properly.

If someone is using a proxy IP address it has to be reasonably local. If it is, I can see why it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

Garry

[wynne jones]

Im no adwords expert but I can't see how it makes sense that someone clicking on your ads are helping your CPC come down.

If you are repaid for fraud clicks they ain't going to give you the high CTR otherwise this would be an easy way to game the system. 

My experience is fraud clicks are intercepted and you get refunded. No drama, no problem. If your CPC has come down it's probably because of something you have done, and would pay well to find out what.