Comments on: Step by Step Guide to Blocking Domain Parked Sites on Google AdWords

By: Ignoring The Content Network? Think Again To Vastly Improve Conversions

Ignoring The Content Network? Think Again To Vastly Improve Conversions — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:01:03 +0000

[...] want your ad to show. Here is a step-by-step guide that explains how you would accomplish this for parked domains. The exact same steps apply for different categories or [...]

By: Brad Geddes aka eWhisper

Brad Geddes aka eWhisper — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:42:48 +0000

At present you can’t opt out of certain sites on the search network. You have to either be on all of it or none of it. Hopefully, that will change in the future.

By: Mike Lamar

Mike Lamar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:35:43 +0000

Is it possible to opt out of certain sites on the search network?
To my understanding, the search network is an on/off type feature.

By: Phil Barnhart

Phil Barnhart — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:03:43 +0000

I’m running a test with about a dozen domains (and publishing ongoing results on my blog). Thanks for the info – I’m sure others will be hunting for this info so I’ve linked this from the test results page.

By: Richard Ball

Richard Ball — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:55:39 +0000

Quick followup with sources from Google help pages. First, the site exclusion tool is a content network (NOT search network) tool:

adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78851

Quote: The Site and Category Exclusion tool lets you prevent your ads from showing on individual websites or categories of webpages in the Google content network.

Second, that excluding the parked domains page type does apply to the search network, even though that tool is designed only for the content network:

adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=71871

Quote: If you exclude this page type, you’ll exclude all parked domain sites, including the ones on the search network.

For a company like Google that prides itself on simple design, this is an ugly hack. It’s important, though, that advertisers understand how this works.

By: Richard Ball

Richard Ball — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:43:53 +0000

Yes, Google does classify some parked domains as search even though the clicks they send are actually contextual. This is a serious flaw.

BTW, you can use the site exclusion tool to block parked domains on the search network. You don’t have to opt out of the entire search network. This is also a design flaw. How many people know that the site exclusion tool (which is a content network tool) impacts the search network in this limited case?

By: Brad Geddes aka eWhisper

Brad Geddes aka eWhisper — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:55:06 +0000

Search vs content is difficult to tell in one area – when the publisher has a search box. Both links and contextual ads (where there is no actual search being conducted) fall into the content network.

However, when publishers have search boxes on their site, this is usually considered search and not content. As you can’t block search partners yet, I don’t believe (but haven’t tested recently) you can opt out of those ads unless you opt out of all search partners.

By: SearchQuant

SearchQuant — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:21:14 +0000

To Richard’s point, is it clear from Google whether all these AdSense publishers now admitted into domain parking will be in the Content network exclusively, or will some of them be in the search network?

By: Web design

Web design — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:29:03 +0000

Nice article, thanks for the tips.

By: Richard Ball

Richard Ball — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:45:35 +0000

Nice info for parked domains on the content network. It’s the parked domains on the search network that cause advertiser confusion. What’s your advice for analyzing that traffic?

BTW, don’t you think it would make more sense to simply have a domain network, independent of the existing search and content networks. Routing the traffic across both networks, as is the current practice, is a poor design, IMHO. If not a separate network, they could certainly add an option to opt in or out of this traffic at the campaign level (rather than the clunky design of using site exclusion). Look at what they just added for mobile. They added that option at the campaign setting level.

I’ve seen some spikes in traffic in pure search campaigns (content network off) where parked domain traffic is chewing up clicks and impressions for exact matches. In those cases, the traffic was actually contextual in nature. IOW, it wasn’t direct navigation. The exact match keyword wasn’t close to the domain name. It was from a click after landing on the domain and then clicking on a contextually relevant link. Those are being routed as searches when they’re actually contextual clicks. If you want specific examples, let me know.

In the meantime, I’m blocking all parked domains in pure search campaigns. The risk of fraudulent traffic is simply too high. For the content network, your post will be helpful for advertisers. I’d suggest a new post explaining what to do about parked domains on the search network. It’s a completely different story.