Adwords Ethics - is this fair practice or not

Sposs

Just posting to ask people if they think it's okay to use competitors names in the title of your google ad, when it clearly misleads users clicking it into thinking they are going to h365.

http://www.hosting365.com/googlead.png


Both companies were contacted ,however to no avail.

connundrum

Thats capitalism, no?

seamus

I only see one infraction there.

And this isn't the place for this kind of argument, you know this.

Sposs

When i say both companies i mean Google as one of the companies, there is only one infraction.

I has asked this to be moved to an appropriate forum.

damnyanks

Wasn't there some sort of legal hoo-ha in which other companies were using copyrighted names in their google ad's? they got into a lot of trouble I thought.

Gordon

What seamus said, imo there's only one unethical ad there. And you should take it up with Google if you think it's a problem.

Sposs, you're stirring up the old Hosting hornets nest, you remember what happened to the hosting forum right?

Sposs

As i said we took it up with both companies , as everyone knows google has Appalling customer service and so over a month later we are still awaiting their response, i don't believe this is trying to stir anything other than name and shame the offender who after been contacted by us, has refused to change their ad words.

Pablo

Sposs : submit here : https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/request.py?ctx=cuffhelp

Yes the first one clearly uses your companys name. Send an email to the people at adwords support.

You could always click them a few times to peanilise them a little

I've always found that Adwords support has been pretty fast. I guess it all depends on how much money you give them every month. In the past I've worked on a campaign that budgeted for over €1k/month, and they were pretty nice to us.

zAbbo

As you advertise through adwords yourself, can you contact your account manager ?

I'd have a low opinion of the business using your company name in their ad.

Bob the Builder

Gordon wrote:

Sposs, you're stirring up the old Hosting hornets nest, you remember what happened to the hosting forum right?

Maybe, it's not a god thing talking about these issues! Google are responsible because it's classified as their website with their product..not blacknight or let's host

Sposs

nevf wrote:

Maybe, it's not a god thing talking about these issues! Google are responsible because it's classified as their website with their product..not blacknight or let's host

Just regarding this, the blacknight AD is fine, i will get that removed from the image to avoid confusion.

As i said this is a last resource in the hope that the company bow to peer pressure as they seem unable to just do the right thing.

DonJose

The company who brought Google to court and won was Geico,

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3547356

I would send a registered cease and desist letter to this company, followed by legal action. In real world terms this is like Spar putting up Tesco signs outside their shops.

I also found R.a.ckspace.co.uk doing the same, you might want to make sure that it is not an affiliate doing the adwords advertising. Extra characters added to prevent additional google PR rankings

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