Something that comes up about once a week around here are questions about advertising on the Internet, and in particular why ads show up in the "Ads By Google" space that may not seem to mesh with the goals of this site. Indeed, in recent weeks, I've seen ads for "subscribe to Ann Coulter columns!," "support Huckabee!," and "support McCain" pop up. For various reasons which I can't get into, I have some some specialized knowledge in this area, and want to explain the principles of keyword advertising, which I'll do after the flip.
Here are a few principles:
- These ads are served by Google. They are not placed "on Daily Kos" or on a particular webpage, but are based on the words that appear on that web page. As a general rule (with a few exceptions) anyone can buy any keyword as a trigger within Google's advertising system, and when that keyword shows up, either on a page or in a search query, the ad appears. So, if I buy the keyword "Kos" on Google, I can have an ad appear when someone searches for "Kos" or when "Kos" appears on pages which are AdSense served by Google. When you search "Kos" an ad appears in the "sponsored link" section bought by Yahoo! about travel to Kos in Greece.
- The Google algorhithm for ad hosting is complex. Basically, you have three options when buying an ad:
A. "Broad Match"--let's say I've created a pro-Democratic site. I decide to buy ads triggered by the keyword "Clinton" on a broad match level to drive traffic. If I buy an unrestricted "broad match," this means my ad will appear not only when people search "Clinton," but when they search "Bill Clinton," "Clinton Library," "Clinton, Texas."
B. "Exact Match"--I buy a word or phrase and only when that exact word or phrase is searched does my ad appear. If I buy an "exact match" for "Clinton," then the ad appears when someone searches "Clinton," but not when someone searches "Bill Clinton" or "Hillary Clinton."
C. "Negative Keyword"--This is a refinement of "broad match." Let's say I want to buy "Clinton" but only get "positive" searches. I could then "negative keyword" words such as "sucks," "stinks," and the like. Thus, my purchase would make ads appear when folks searched "Clinton," "Bill Clinton, "Hillary Clinton," but not when people searched "Bill Clinton stinks" or "Clinton sucks."
- Often, there are many people who want to buy a particular keyword. That's when "bidding" comes into play. Advertisers say "here's how much I'm willing to pay per clickthrough." The highest bidder gets the top ad position in Google search results and preference in appearance in AdSense ads and so on and so forth. Usually, these bids are not "high" on an absolute level, but measured in pennies. The top bidder may pay 10 cents per click through.
- Anyone can place an ad directing a user to any website, provided they pay. There's nothing in Google's policy (as far as I know) preventing me from buying advertisements that direct readers who search for a particular name or product to my site, provided I do not misrepresent what my site is. (E.g., I can't say in my ad that my site is the "official NIKE site" after buying the keyword NIKE unless Nike agrees with me.) As far as I know, there's nothing in Google's policy that would prevent you or I from buying, say, candidate names, and directing advertising to that candidate's site (or another candidate's site). (Campaign finance law is a different question.) There's also nothing prohibiting competitors or "enemies" from buying names: for instance, right now, a search for "Clinton" has a triggered ad for John McCain, and "Romney" includes a triggered ad for "The Truth About Mormons!" These issues have generated substantial litigation in the trademark context. Basically, companies are upset that (for instance) when you search for "American Airlines," ads appear for travel brokers that sell products other than American Airlines tickets.
- Payouts work as follows: Payment is only made by the buyer when and if an ad is clicked through. If an ad sits on the side, never getting clicked, neither the advertiser, the hosting site, or the publishing site gets any money. Who gets paid depends primarily on how the ad is hosted.
A. Straight search ads on Google: Google gets all the money. Where do you think those profits are coming from?
B. AdSense ads and Google provided/served ads on other search engines: Google takes a "commission" as a placement agent, with the balance going to the publishing site.
So, every time you see a pro-GOP ad in the text ads section, theoretically, you click on it and a few pennies go from a GOP-friendly organization into Kos Media and Google's pockets. On a cost-benefit basis, not really worth it, but it's there--and those ads are NOT "approved" by Kos Media, Markos, or anyone else--they're creatures of the site's content.