Let Me Clarify My Stance

[ihelpyou]

I have read many a discussion on PPC at other places. Just want to put the record straight how I stand on things.

These forums are here for ALL of us to learn from. Because of this most important fact, we can and we will discuss ALL aspects of the search engines, no matter what kind of engines they happen to be.

If we do not agree with something, we will speak out and voice our opinions. Keep in mind, that these are our OWN opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the administrators, but they could.

These forums are extremely open and very laid-back. We/I love debate. I sometimes can even be good at it.

If you feel something is wrong with a search engine, by all means speak you peace. I know that eventually many engine employees and partners will be viewing here. Not only does this kind of debate help all of us regular people, BUT it will also HELP the search engine we have a problem with.

Good debate can only be a good thingy.

The search engines can take notice and make changes accordingly, AND we can ALL learn and make this a really special place.

:cheers: to you all and :cheers: to the search engines!

[ihelpyou]

Further;

It is no secret to many here that I am not a fan of PPC. I feel that it is the way into the net for only the big boys to participate and thrive. It has the potential to scew the results in favor of big business. This would be a bad thing for the net.

Not only that, but the fact that I am an SEO and have NO desire to manage PPC's for clients, lessons the likability for me to the PPC.

Money is all that matters with PPC. That is all. With the known possiblilities for fraud that the PPC's can have for all sites, I could not recommend them to any of my clients.

The ways to protect against fraud are vast with some PPC's, BUT there are MANY people on the net who are very skilled and could/can break thru the protections that are in place on PPc's, that would drain accounts in a heart beat from unsuspecting sites.

[bigDugan]

I agree with you Doug, I do NOT like PPCs either.

As you say, they put all the emphasis on "cash money" and nothing on content.

Goto is your classic example.

They are not a Search Engine, they are an "Ads Engine".

Type in some keywords and display some links. What will you find? Not content! :eek: Ads, Ads, and more Ads.

And what about Goto's so called "listing guidelines" concerning spawned/pop-up windows?

It's very ironic for a "Ad Engine" who is supposed to have a "policy" against pop-ups, has more than any other search engine that I know of!! :load:

The other thing that bothers me about Goto, is the amount of fraud going on from paid-to-surfs.

Goto and Jimbo from SEFs will tell you otherwise, but I can tell you from personal experience, it's there and is as rampant as ever.

In March and April of this year, I lost SEVERAL THOUSAND dollars from fraud, and was NEVER refunded for the bogus clicks. :steaming:

It is VERY SIMPLE to implement a "nickel clicker" simply by using IP cloaking and the META tag "REFRESH" command. Using the two, you can determine who "clicks" on your GOTO links and who doesn't. And since these "clicks" are coming from "normal" users, all appears to be legit, as they are all coming from different IPs. :shocked:

My personal belief is that PPCs are for people who know nothing about SEO, so they have to pay to get their site listed.

[ihelpyou]

Although I do not have much experience from PPC's, I do agree with you.

Common sense tells us that the model of it forces companies to compete with each other head to head for the top 3 placements. This would tend to bring out all the VERY sharp programmers who the company may hire to trip up any filters that the PPC may have to fight fraudulent clicks.

No one can win at this game. Not the PPC and not the companies who wish to be at the top AND not the surfers.

Because many sites can have their money dwindle away like this and not even know it, they probably should spend some of that money on either learning how to optimize, or paying someone to help them.

Besides, if the major engines are forced to spell out which results are payed results in detail, this will also hurt the PPC's. We all know that internet users in general tend to shy away from anything they believe is an ad. Look at the banner ad industry.