At the end of April we did a post about an ex Google employee and their claims that Google was cheating publishers.
Jim Edwards of Business Insider is out with an article on the Google denial and why the conspiracy theory has one giant flaw.
From the article:
Business Insider interviewed three sources who have done business with Google. The search consultant had this to say:Google recently denied, vehemently, a gossipy conspiracy theory that suggested the search engine was stealing money from web publishers to fatten its own profit margins. The theory is fake — we’ll explain why below — but three sources who have done business with Google’s AdSense advertising program for years told Business Insider they sympathize with the theory even if they don’t believe it.
The theory contains one giant flaw that spoils it. But it also references a few events that did actually happen at Google. That’s why the “Google AdSense Leak” (as it came to be known) electrified Google’s search marketing partners earlier this month — and why a few of them regard the theory as a fancifully embroidered version of a more mundane truth. They don’t believe the theory is real, but they can see why some people might believe it.
That’s a problem for Google: Many of its own customers are so frustrated with the way Google sometimes deals with them that they’re willing to sympathize with the devil. Even Google has admitted in an official blog post that the actions it takes against publishers it doesn’t like can be “scary”:
… we’ve also heard the stories: publishers finding their accounts suspended or even disabled for “invalid activity” without a clear understanding of why or how to fix it. We know this can be an intensely frustrating, even scary experience.
The article is a great read and worth the time to check it out completely. Read the full story hereThis is all gossip, of course. But it’s important gossip, because Google cares deeply about its corporate reputation. Here’s the only thing we know for sure right now. Everyone agrees the theory is fake and the leaker is not a real Google employee — he or she got key details wrong, apparently. The smart money says this is a website publisher who got banned and is now seeking revenge. But the leak got enough right to get a conversation going.
Here’s why the theory is wrong.
More importantly, the theory must be wrong because, by definition, the more publishers and fake clicks that get axed from the system, the fewer ads Google serves, and the fewer paid clicks it generates. Its revenues would decline in the process. And as Google takes a fixed cut of AdSense revenues, it wouldn’t affect the profit margin percentage anyway.
