I assume this was a joke (SES NY)
"Search Relationship Organization (new concept?)– contact competitors to lower bids if you constantly can locate a competitor and hiking up each others bids."
I'm not at SES NY. The above quote is from an article I just read, Creating Compelling Ads at SES NY. I have to assume that was greeted with a little laughter when presented. I mean really, does anyone think that's a good idea or productive use of anyone's time? As a theory I could see how that would sound ok...that is until you thought about it and the potential implications for more than a minute. There are SO many reasons why that's a bad idea I don't see how anyone could suggest it with a straight face.
If anyone's using this strategy with success by all means, please share. There are some solid suggestions in the rest of the post, give it a read. It's worth the time.
Labels: misc
Comments: 8 so far
posted by: Jeremy Mayes
permanent link: I assume this was a joke (SES NY)
8 Comments:
The sentence doesn't even make sense... :/
@minorthreat -
I think it was written quickly and has a typo or two. I just a did a copy past from the source I linked to.
My hunch is it should read:
"Search Relationship Organization (new concept?)– contact competitors to lower bids if you constantly can locate a competitor and are hiking up each others bids."
Grammer aside, it's an absolutely ridiculous idea.
Actually, it's not a joke. I can't remember which session this was mentioned, but I remember a few chuckles amidst a shocked crowd during this statement.
Garry, I think the session was called
"Creating Compelling Ads"
I'm surprised that a comment like this, at a conference that people paid to attend, would go unchecked. I have talked to quite a few people who work paid search about this and have yet to find anyone that thinks it's a practical / realistic idea.
This is a ridiculous idea. So say Nike & Reebok are both attempting to rank in the top 2 positions for a keyword, say "Best Basketball Shoes". Nike is bidding $10, & Reebok $11. So am I to understand that a recommendation is for Nike to call Reebok and say, "Reebok, since we are bidding against each other, why don't we both lower our bids in an effort to save money on each click."
In essence you will lose the innate nature of PPC advertising...the competition. No competitor I know is going to lower their bid, trusting that I'm going to lower mine accordingly.
It must've been a joke.
Yes John, that's the spirit of the suggestion.
Using your example the real winner is Adidas. While Nike and Reebok are dropping their bids Adidas steps in and scoops up the traffic...they're not playing "bid buddies" with everyone else.
I could go on but I think everyone can see this is a seriously flawed strategy.
I do believe the person (Jason Miller at engineready) who originally brought it up thinks it's a viable strategy, or, just doesn't feel the need to respond to follow up questions posted in response to some of his statements. I asked him about it elsewhere and he decided no response was the best answer.
It would not work anyway. Unless someone created a marketplace specifically aiming to coordinate something like this.
Is this legal in your country ?
Hello Marcel,
I don't see any reason why it would be illegal...but I'm not a lawyer so I could wrong.
Regarding a marketplace to coordinate...step one in doing something like this would essentially involve sharing your data (bids, keywords, etc) with your competition. I don't know anyone in their right mind that would do that...
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