ABC Search

[ktaylor310]

Has anyone used this company before and can you explain how they work? One of my clients recently signed up w/them. He has received multiple hits, all with 100% bounce rates. Stats are also suddenly filled with worthless inbound links - a lot of porn, etc., and not sure if this "affiliate" program is responsible.

[David Jackson]

Kim, as far as I know, ABC is a legitimate pay-per-click search engine. However, if your client's raw data logs indicate that ABC's traffic was bad, he should be able to get his money back.

But he can't just make a claim. He'll probably have to prove to ABC that its traffic was bad.

David Jackson

[Logan]

Practical first step is to splash some water on your face, then immediately pause any spending with the campaign. Once your outgoing money flow has been paused, then you can evaluate your concerns without being under pressure. My rule of thumb, take the budget associated with ABC and put it towards better performing campaigns. Have you really exhausted adwords, yahoo, msn prior to taking budget from those and devoting to a second tier. Also, are these only search ads or context also? An intermediate step may be to tweak the campaign to ensure search only in USA... if possible/feasible. if not just drop it and find something better for the $. it really doesn't matter what others experiences are, based on your 'test' results something is not working with that bounce rate for your clients budget.

[ktaylor310]

Thanks David! We are looking into everything and have the logs on hand if needed. Webhosting stats show most clicks came from the same affiliate whose website does appear in the logs. Their site looks like a doorway page to another affiliate program?? Wondering if this has caused the spike in poor inbound links. I'm actually more concerned about that then his wasting his money.

Years ago this client hired an "seo expert" (great sarcasm) who installed automated link farming on his site. This of course got his site banned from Google and he lost 60% of his traffic almost over night. Took a lot of work to get his site back into Google and re-earn their trust. Maybe I'm a little too concerned about Google thinking these low quality sites are his "neighbors".

[ktaylor310]

Hey Logan, our posts crossed

I'm actually having a very hard time explaining most of this to my client who seems bent on buying PPC in some fashion at all times. We've actually had so much success w/our organic SEO that he has been able to stop using Adwords and MSN. We've had really poor results w/Yahoo (their records never line up w/our webhost logs) which has resulted in multiple refunds. I think my client is looking at ABC search as "really cheap PPC, so it can't hurt". If he is not getting his ROI that's one thing and he'll figure it out eventually (when he tires of my harping!) but I am concerned about the "neighborhood" he is associated with. Can this type of program result in an increase in bad incoming links? They just seem through the roof this month.

[Logan]

As a general rule, I am not concerned with bad sites linking to me (as I can't control who links to my site) as much as who my site is linking to. Aside from that, paid campaigns can be a slippery slope with google. So I wouldn't be too concerned, but at the same time I would try to disassociate the site from paying for any services that is associating your site with bad neighborhoods.

[David Jackson]

Originally Posted by ktaylor310

I think my client is looking at ABC search as "really cheap PPC, so it can't hurt".

I beg to differ with your client. I don't care how cheap an advertising campaign is, it still needs to have a worthwhile ROI.

Kim, for what it's worth, a few years ago I used a ppc search engine called Findwhat.com (now Miva). For every $100 I paid out, I got back nearly $500. I also had great success with 7Search. For every $100 I paid out, I got back nearly $300.

I haven't had to use paid advertising for a couple of years now, so I have no idea if those ppc search engines I mentioned are still effective. But they might be worth taking a look at.

David Jackson

[ktaylor310]

I beg to differ with your client.

Me too!!! But he doesn't ask my permission The man refuses to be retrained! I'll check out the sites you mentioned. I surely appreciate all the help.

[David Jackson]

Originally Posted by ktaylor310

I'll check out the sites you mentioned. I surely appreciate all the help.

My pleasure, Kim. Anytime.

David Jackson