GoogleAds // Turn OFF Search Partners

[DrewAment]

Short Version
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Turn off, or have your venders turn off, "Include Google search partners" on your campaigns. It is wasted money based on what I have found, and the "partners" are not not policed by Google

Long Version
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We have seen some disturbing and misleading ads/sites that are abusing the Google search partner program. Apparently, Google is not doing a good job vetting the program partners. This is creating low quality traffic and non-converting traffic to our dealers sites, and a bad experience for the consumers.

Ads are attached - showing on places like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTubeShorts, etc. They link to sites like

https://p1.tt/4b0MO6M

Drive Away in a Chevy Silverado With a Massive $10K Markdown!

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Search Results for “Gmc Sierra 1500 Arizona” – Consumer Dose

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Toyota Tundra Clearance Event

Get the best deals on the Toyota Tundra at the clearance event. Starting at $24999, it's the perfect chance to own a reliable and affordable truck.

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Tips on Nabbing Leftover Dodge RAM Trucks at Unbelievable Prices

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Pressure needs to be put on Google to better vet and/or control the partner program participants??

We have to upload business docs, licenses, record a video, give our first born -- AND we pay them tens of thousands of dollars a month. What do these search partners (assume AdSense) need to do to get verification, and how often are they checked/rechecked and reverified?

It is pretty obvious that a few of my examples have a full (albeit fake) news website - probably to get on the program. Then are creating hidden backpages with these clickthrough's from the ads they are running.

Does anyone else find this unacceptable. Who thinks Google needs to be held accountable?

BONUS >>> Funny how the new PMAX campaigns do not have the ability to shut off "Google search partners"

 

[Ryan Everson]

Arbitrage - taking advantage of price differences across markets to make a buck:

1. Advertise unbelievably good offers
2. Achieve a high CTR %
3. Get rewarded with a low CPC
4. Land the clicks on a page full of AdSense ads

= Profit

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

Short Version
===
Turn off, or have your venders turn off, "Include Google search partners" on your campaigns. It is wasted money based on what I have found, and the "partners" are not policed by Google.

Thank you for this post. I guess I never thought of the downside of thsi. This may be a stupid question, but in GA4 these would still just show up as google / cpc, correct? Or is there a way to decipher whether traffic is from Google or Google Search Partners?

 

[jon.berna]

Seniors over 85 pay $10k extra! Sorry pops!

*Walk away with a F-150 means you have to physically push and walk it home to take ownership. Hope you stretched!

I want to write ads like these for a living this is hilarious

 

[DrewAment]

Just a small update - I have found these ads running in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, SF Bay Area, Austin, and Jacksonville. More images attached - all linking to the same google partners search spam type sites.

 

[DrewAment]

Thank you for this post. I guess I never thought of the downside of thsi. This may be a stupid question, but in GA4 these would still just show up as google / cpc, correct? Or is there a way to decipher whether traffic is from Google or Google Search Partners?

Ya, the data doesn't come through GA4 (or the old GA).

Pressure needs to be put on Google to better vet and/or control the partner program participants, along with BETTER reporting and control on partner spends.

The only way I know to "see" the traffic is to run segments reporting in the ADWORDS accounts. And, if you want. add conversion columns to the reporting table (it dont look pretty) -- example

 

[Carsten]

I haven't checked myself but I heard recently that GA4 makes it harder to see some of the data. I don't know why they would do that.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

Ya, the data doesn't come through GA4 (or the old GA).

Pressure needs to be put on Google to better vet and/or control the partner program participants, along with BETTER reporting and control on partner spends.

The only way I know to "see" the traffic is to run segments reporting in the ADWORDS accounts. And, if you want. add conversion columns to the reporting table (it dont look pretty) -- example

View attachment 8473

Yikes. So the majority of this budget went to the search partners pages?

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

I haven't checked myself but I heard recently that GA4 makes it harder to see some of the data. I don't know why they would do that.

The only thing I've really seen is not being able to just look at one URL at a time. The minimum is 5. A few of the standard things that I used I had to create under Explorations. GA4 has prioritized events more than UA. Personally, I think there was plenty that you could do in UA to view event activity. Just took a little more work. So, to me, it falls under the category of "six of one, half dozen of the other." Full disclosure, I have not fully dove in and toyed with everything yet, so I'm sure some will tell you that there is a lot more that GA4 can do than UA could.

 

[Ryan Everson]

FYI LotLinx also suffers from a very similar tactic.

This is what happens when dealers have become trained to only look at the quantity of clicks / VDP views, not the quality.