Today I was shocked to find Google testing YouTube listings and additional Google products to their regular AdWords area. This could signal big changes ahead for AdWords and possible losses of traffic for AdWords advertisers.
This one change could cost you your online business!
In my video below, I’ll show you what I found and explain what Google has been testing and what these new search results could mean for Google AdWords advertisers:
I attended an online marketing seminar recently on how Google AdWords and traditional search engine optimization have become so dependent on each other. There was some talk of Google's new approach to displaying search results changing the entire landscape of search engine optimization. However, I don't think anyone in attendance had yet realized that this could have such an enormous impact on AdWords advertisers.
I have been an AdWords advertiser for many years and have driven millions of visitors to my sites with it, but have never seen something that could so drastically slash my AdWords traffic as this Google experiment.
Will Google's new concept kill your AdWords traffic?
What do you think? Comment below and let me know.
Hi Bill,
I realize I’m making this comment way after your post, but when I read through it, what struck me was that in the VERY long run, if Google continues to promote their own sites with top rankings in both search and paid listings then EVENTUALLY it will backfire as more and more people realize they’re not getting independant, objective results anymore. If people are only being fed google, (i.e. You tube, google store, google Knol) then eventually, enough people will start trying other search tools just so they can find things that are not googleized.
Anyway, at least I hope thats what happens.
Thanks,
Art
Well, I am glad to be on your list!
No more getting caught completely off guard by Google’s random changes !
I have learned one very definite and true lesson form you –With Google anything can happen and you have to be utterly alert or you could lose your business in the blink of an Eye!
Keep up the good work, your advice is always accurate, workable and dare I say it? “Profitable!”
Ok I am freaking out right now. I have an adwords account, what is going to happen to my website? This doesn’t make sense to me. I am so utterly dissapointed with Google and their strange ways of handling their business.
Hi Erica,
That sounds like a good idea in theory: Cut out the middlemen and increase Google’s profit. I just don’t think they would ever do that.
Google has experimented with affiliate marketing a little bit over on their AdSense product. However, it largely appears to be unsuccessful.
The problem is that the official Google corporate motto is “Don’t Be Evil”. It seems a little strange for a commercial corporation to hold such a strong and subjective statement as their guiding principal, but it’s nonetheless true.
In many people’s experience with Google (mine included) they seem to hold many forms of online marketing in general as something evil. So the likelihood that they’d get involved with affiliate marketing directly is slim. I think they’ll leave all the evil doing to us until they can survive solely off of the advertising income from big corporations. Then I wouldn’t be surprised if they banned many of the practices of Internet marketers and small businesses marketing online.
Hi Scott,
You’d think that Google would treat their AdWords advertisers like gold and carefully protect that revenue source. The problem is: They don’t. It’s been the experience of many online marketers that Google holds the user experience up as the holy grail to be pursued at all costs. Even if that means stepping on the toes of Adwords customers.
I’ll cross my fingers that Google will not mess up a good thing, but it wouldn’t be the first time if they do.
wow. i actually have had that thought before. like…why doesnt google just take the affiliate money and promote all these things themselves, instead of just getting the adwords money from small business owners? “we could do our own ads for free and then make all the money from the affiliate clicks too!” i mean, i thought of it, so the chances of someone at google coming up with that idea are pretty good.
Being that Adwords is the reason Google is in business, anything that would cut Adwords revenue would be ruled out.
I am *hoping* this is the case.