A new Google PPC feature

[atxrealtor]

I just noticed this morning...was browsing on Google, clicked on some PPC ads that brought me to totally worthless pages (some local realtors who don't know what they are doing). Anyway, I click the "back" button on my browser and next to the ad I now see this: "was this ad helpful? Yes No". I think this is awesome. I would LOVE to see all those completely unrelated pages like "HomeGain" or "HouseValues" get totally banned from ever advertising, and if enough users click "No" after leaving those sites, it may happen.

[RonnieG]

Like anything Google ever does, this will be a double-edged sword from our perspective.

Real estate PPC ads that take a user straight to a registration form will see the brunt of the negative user reviews. To that extent, HouseValues, JustListed and others that are nothing but lead aggregators and do not deliver immediate, real-time results to consumers will certainly feel the pain, including increased PPC costs, which is good.

However, even good real estate sites that do deliver what the consumer requested will feel the impact, simply because so many are clearly Realtor sites, and often are not seen as consumer-neutral sources of information. This plays into the discussion elsewhere on this forum of why agent photos and other "I'm wonderful / We're wonderful"" approaches will continue to see a decline in consumer acceptance (unless they are a cute female).

[atxrealtor]

That ties into our discussion of PPC optimization. I feel that your landing page should deliver exactly what you promise in the ad, with minimal hassle, extra navigation or registration forms.

This will force more lean and to the point landing pages, which is the way I like them anyway. Why read a bunch of fluff which is nothing more than a vehicle for keyword insertion, when a page with a few headlines and a bulleted list of benefits is all that's needed to give users the option of what to do.

The worst offenders are housevalues and the like, and also some big borkerages like Remax that just advertise their front page on PPC.

[Eric Blackwell]

Agreed.

I think is also will favor those who do not require registration (as Ron indicated above). Yep--this will put a hurt on lead aggregagators, but it also put boundaries on REALTOR sites as well. We need to provide EXACTLY what the consumer expects.

Eric

[Willben]

We need to provide EXACTLY what the consumer expects.
Eric

And as a consumer as well as a realtor, I have no problem with that. It's about time.

[Eric Blackwell]

Absolutely.

It provides consumers a great experience. REALTORS remove folks looking to provide info to the public that we SHOULD and CAN be providing ourselves. It facilitates THEM connecting with US.

Sounds like a win all the way around...

Eric

[kensmith]

Was this while you are signed in to Google? Wondering if it's part of the personized search as I am not seeing it when I tested it this morning.

[atxrealtor]

No I wasn't logged in, I don't even have a personalized search account with them. I'm also not seeing it this morning. I think it's a feature that Google is about to implement and they're testing it so it might show up now and then. I was about to go waste some of HomeGain's PPC money but couldn't find the option this morning

[kensmith]

It might only be on one or two DC's as they test it. If you see it again check which DC you are on so we can see it.

[atxrealtor]

what's a DC? let me know how to go about checking that and I'll do it.