Google condones AdWords->AdSense arbitrage?

[Numbat]

In this case study, Google is bragging that one of their advertisers is using AdSense to more than cover his AdWords advertising costs:

https://www.google.com/adsense/medicalcoding

It's not *true* arbitrage, as he's actually selling products as well, but it does seem to be a sort of implicit permission by Google to do that sort of thing.

 

[engaged]

Dude... think about it... this is win-win for Google.

 

[Numbat]

Dude... think about it... this is win-win for Google.

Well, of course it is, at first glance. They get paid twice from the same user - once when they click the arbitrage ad, and again when they click the AdSense ad.

However, Google's very cognizant of "product quality" concerns, and there is a lot of talk that they're cracking down on arbitrage because of it. Especially AdWords, because it's very easy for them to track. There have been a number of posts on this forum talking about how people believe you can get smartpriced by doing it. It's very hard to tell what's actual cause-and-effect, and what's just a combination of paranoia and pattern-seeking.

Anyhow, it seems like Google definitely condones it in certain circumstances, at least.

 

[Jon]

Google says they care about quality in public, but let's face it, more people doing this shit means more revenues and profits for Google, so they will say whatever they can but they won't condemn it realistically.

It's similar to when a Jihadi blows himself up in a marketplace. Sure, they government condemns it in public, but in private they are cheering about it.

 

[ConceptualMind]

Nice analogy.