Google's Adwords - Advertising Practices

Advertisers pay billions of dollars per year to place their ads on Google's mega network, Adwords, and this online advertising makes up 99% of Google's $6 billion dollar annual revenue.

Lately, advertisers are paying more money on Adwords but noticing less return on their advertising dollars. Advertisers complain about click fraud, Google artificially inflating bid prices, and other allegedly fraudulent advertising practices to cheat small and large businesses.

Click Fraud is the fraudulent practice of intentionally increasing advertiser fees by manually or electronically clicking on advertiser's links. One recent lawsuit against Google was settled for $90 million as advertisers complained that Google's system was susceptible to Click Fraud costing advertisers millions of dollars.

Google has also been accused of artificially inflating bid prices by participating in the bid process and by not displaying sponsored ads thus causing advertisers to bid higher and pay more.

Other advertisers have complained that Google approves keyword phrases and ads but does not display these ads for all searches. Advertisers feel they are being cheated from traffic and visibility on Google's large network.

Google Adwords Articles

Google Adwords: WordScam
Marc McKinney and his sunglass company bought into Google's adwords when it was fairly new, back in July of 2005. "We only had a small budgetâ€"we stuck our big toe in," says McKinney. "We had success for about three weeks, then something unusual happened..."

Google Overcharging Adwords
"Google's Adwords are overcharging and it infuriates me that they are so greedy," says Google customer Gary Kerr. "Their pricing policies are quite Byzantine regarding how they charge for clicks in the bidding process."

Google AdWords: Caught in the 'Mousetrap'
In the complex world of Google AdWords and AdWords advertising, a growing trend involving click fraud shows no signs of abating, in spite of claims by Google that not only does it have a handle on the problem, the internet juggernaut suggests the issue is not as big as some claim.

Google Adwords Lawsuits in the News

OCT-22-07: According to recent research findings, online companies such as Google are not doing their part in putting a stop to click fraud. A report found that click fraud is actually on the rise on the major search engine networks. [COMPUTER WORLD: ADSENSE FRAUD]

APR-20-06: $90 million lawsuit settlement against Google on behalf of advertisers who complained about being overcharged for online ads. The settlement will be paid in advertising credits to online retailers and other advertisers. [MSNBC]

Register your Google Adwords Complaint

If you or your company has suffered monetary losses from advertising on Google's Adwords network, you may qualify for damages or remedies that may be awarded in a possible class action lawsuit. Please click the link below to submit your complaint to a lawyer for a free evaluation.

Please click here for a free evaluation of your case

Last updated on Nov-24-07

ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS

Google Adwords: WordScam?

Dallas, TX: Marc McKinney and his sunglass company bought into Google's adwords when it was fairly new, back in July of 2005. "We only had a small budget—we stuck our big toe in," says McKinney. "We had success for about three weeks, then something unusual happened... [READ MORE]

Google Overcharging Adwords

Charlotte, NC: "Google's Adwords are overcharging and it infuriates me that they are so greedy," says Google customer Gary Kerr. "Their pricing policies are quite Byzantine regarding how they charge for clicks in the bidding process. [READ MORE]

Google AdWords: Caught in the 'Mousetrap'

Mountain View, CA: In the complex world of Google AdWords and AdWords advertising, a growing trend involving click fraud shows no signs of abating, in spite of claims by Google that not only does it have a handle on the problem, the internet juggernaut suggests the issue is not as big as some claim [READ MORE]