Nevertheless these emails keep coming, and users get trapped every day.

So here are the newest ones claiming to be from Google Adwords:


Received: Fri 11/7/2008 1:31 AM
From: Google AdWords [adwords@google.com]
Subject: Google AdWords Alert
Header: Return-Path: <dex@bobpalin.com>
Delivered-To: [myemail]@ninanet.com
Received: (qmail 41613 invoked from network); 7 Nov 2008 09:30:40 -0000
X-Mail-Scanner: Scanned by qSheff 1.0-r3 (http://www.enderunix.org/qsheff/)
Received: from unknown (HELO ?79.133.155.27?) (79.133.155.27)
by *my mail server* - 79.133.155.27 with SMTP; 7 Nov 2008 09:30:39 -0000
Received: from [79.133.155.27] by mx1.mailhop.org; Fri, 7 Nov 2008 12:30:38 +0300
From: "Google AdWords" <adwords@google.com>
To: <[myemail]@ninanet.com>
Subject: Google AdWords Alert
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 12:30:38 +0300
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0006_01C940D4.A3AC6B00"
X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.6353
Thread-Index: Aca6Q86UB1OM0E8H8FEPGP29TW0WOA==
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1437
Message-ID: <01c940d4$a3ac6b00$1b9b854f@dex>


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our system was unable to process a payment for your outstanding Google AdWords account balance using your primary credit card. For the time being, your account is still open, and your ads are still running. However, we require you to update the payment information in your AdWords account very soon in order to ensure continued ad serving.

Please update your credit card information in order to trigger our billing system to try processing your payment again. If you plan to use the same credit card(s), please use the ‘Retry Card’ button on the Billing Preferences page of your account. Otherwise, please follow the steps below to update the information in your AdWords account.

1. Log in to your AdWords account at: http://adwords.google.com
2. Click the ‘My Account’ tab.
3. Click ‘Billing Preferences’ link.
4. Click Edit next to the appropriate ‘Payment Details’ section.
5. Enter your new or updated payment information.
6. Click ‘Save Changes’ when you have finished.

In the future, you may wish to use a back up credit card in order to help ensure continuous delivery of your ads. You can add a back up credit card by visiting your Billing Preferences page or visit the AdWords Help Centre for more.

Tip: You can review the status of your billing on the Billing Summary page, under the ‘My Account’ tab. If a payment has been declined, click ‘Payment Declined’ beside the line item to review information for that particular payment. Once your payment has been processed successfully, you can view and print an invoice from your Billing Summary page.

—————————————————————— This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message. If you have any questions, please visit the Google AdWords Help Centre at https://adwords.google.com/support/?hl=en_GB to find answers to frequently asked questions and a ‘contact us’ link near the bottom of the page. —————————————————————-

Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords. We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This one was sent to all my email accounts as well as to all email accounts for a client.

First, if your payment for your Adwords account gets declined, your ads are NOT running if your account is in the US, Google suspends them immediately.
If your account is in England, they might still be running, since they do not suspend them (see the real emails for Google at the end of this post).

Second, who is dex@bobpalin.com?
And why would Google be using a mail server in Russia (79.133.155.27)?
For those who are still not convinced, the link in the original (of course not plain text) email does not take you to your Adwords Login page, but here:
http://adwords.google.com.session-28452946214953142525.38926930096145367630.sys56.ru.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dynamic Keyword Insertion sure has its pitfalls:

Ooops.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: Google AdWords [mailto:reactivation@google.com]
Sent: 26 June 2008 11:29
To: [Client Name]
Subject: Your ads have been suspended.

————————————–
Dear Advertiser,

We were unable to process your payment.
Your ads will be suspended soon unless we can process your payment.
To prevent your ads from being suspended, please update your payment
information.

Please sign in
to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login
and update your payment information.

We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.
Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords.
——————————–
The Google AdWords Team
——————————–
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OK, now we just recently HAD a problem with one of this client’s credit cards (it had expired).
And one of his accounts WAS due today.

Yet, the email didn’t LOOK right. Remind you, I had received an email only days earlier from Google because there really had been a problem.
The original from Google however did include:
Amount
AdWords Account Number

None of these were in this email.
As the account manager, we should have gotten an alert as well.
But it is still early, and I haven’t even had coffee yet.

I am still trying to analyze the email, as another one comes in, from the client’s Marketing Manager:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: AdWords-NoReplay [mailto:adwords-noreply@google.com]
Sent: 26 June 2008 15:28
To: [Client Name]
Subject: Please Update Your Billing Information.

————————————————–
Dear Advertiser,

We were unable to process your payment.
Your ads will be suspended soon unless we can process your payment.
To prevent your ads from being suspended, please update your payment information.

Please sign in
to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login,
and update your payment information.

We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.
Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords.
————————————-
The Google AdWords Team
————————————–
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now I’m awake.
Check out the Return Address: AdWords-NoReplay

I hovered over the link in the email, and there it was:

http://www.adwords.google.com.lkpos.cn/select/Login

We get phishing emails every day, most of the time from organizations we are in no way affiliated with.
But this was the first time we had received phishing attempts for one of our AdWord accounts.
But something tells me it won’t be the last one.

Excel 2007 particularly has some neat features.
One gimmick I especially favor when working with keywords and AdWords:
Color Scales in Conditional Formatting.

It makes visualizing data a lot easier, everybody knows how boring hundreds of lines of cell data can be (unless you are a true geek).

Although Google’s Quality Score is pure theory for all of us since we have no idea how it is being compiled, its basic algorithm can help you when trying to optimize your bidding strategy. Especially when you can visualize the data.

Let’s assume you have a certain amount of competitors for a certain keyword. In the following screenshots let’s assume we are Advertiser B:

Your CPC has been pretty much the same for a while, and all of sudden things change:
Your ad either drops a couple of positions, or your CPC increases steeply.

What happened? A new competitor? A higher bidder?
It’s not necessarily bid-related (though it could be, and you can play around with this option yourself), but let’s assume the following:

One of your competitors has sprung for a copywriter, and this guy revamped the ads and maybe they did a little housekeeping in the account structure. But no bids were changed.

Google noticed the changes and increased his QS by a couple of points because the new ads are better and the landing page is now considered to be more relevant as well.

So instead of a 1.2 (or whatever the numbers Google assigns to the QS may look like) he now gets a 1.6.

Let’s look at this sample in Excel:
You were holding your #2 position, you never were really interested in #1. And this lineup has been the same for a while.

Now Advertiser C’s QS jumps from 1.2 to 1.6 and your CPC increases from $1.14 to $1.52.
Advertiser C’s CPC decreases from $1.61 to $1.21.

This is what Google’s *instant reward* is all about. And it’s noticeable.

They take it one step further and optimize the landing page for this particular keyword as well, and Google again raises his QS, from 1.6 to 2.0.

All of a sudden you get pushed off your #2 spot, because your max CPC was $1.70 and would now be $1.90, so the list of advertisers gets resorted, and this is the outcome:

Advertiser C is now in #1, you are in #3.

While your CPC has decreased again to $1.08, Advertiser C now pays $1.66 for the #1 spot (more than Advertiser A used to pay before the first change).

You can now raise your CPC to get #2 back, let’s say to $2.00:

This would kick Advertiser A off the #2 spot, because #2 now costs more ($1.65) and is higher than his max CPC of $1.50, and would actually put you in the #1 spot.

If this is not what you want, set your position preference to 2 and below.

It’s all theory, but it’s a fun (and geeky) thing to play around with.

Download the Excel 2007 version here
Download the Excel 2000/2003 version here