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And how you're tracked online. I've worked on Google ads accounts every day for a decade and I don't see you,the user, and your data.
I just click "female, 50+, likes home decor, uses a phone" and then a little business I work with bids 10% extra on you because they think you might be interested in their new autumn wreaths they're super proud of, and Google think you fit that box I ticked.
And that's advanced marketing for most businesses. Most businesses won't even get into the audience side of things and they'll stick to keywords: they'll show you an ad because you searched for "autumn home decor" and that's all.
Google take advantage of most advertisers by saying "let us be in charge of your keywords, and how much money you spend, our AI is smarter than you and you don't have time!"And most businesses just use the automatic stuff because they don't understand it, and it's true, they don't have time... so then Google takes your "autumn wreath" keyword and shows your ads to someone looking for "Christmas trees", because they're both seasons and they're both plant related, right?
And then the small business gets charged $1 by Google to show their autumnal page to someone who wasn't interested and left right away.
My job is to help these businesses actually make an advertising account that doesn't fall for all these little bear traps that Google sets all over their ads interface. They weren't there 7 years ago, but things have been getting worse and worse. Including third party sales companies like regalix, hired by Google to constantly call you and telling you to trust the automation and spend more.
It's fascinating that the enshittification is taking place on both ends of Google. I would have thought that the slow bastardization of search was for the benefit of advertizers but it's bad for everyone except Google.
It's very frustrating watching it happen as someone who is old enough to remember when it wasn't always this way. It used to be common business knowledge that if you help your customers, then your business will grow, and you'll be successful. But now these companies are so enormous, with such little competition, that their philosophy is "squeeze everyone until they're dead and then squeeze the new people who are forced to walk into your lair". It's not just the enshitification of the Internet, or the consumer market. These are companies that provide products and services so intertwined with our lives that it has become enshitification of the world, our very lives.
You're absolutely right. From this side of the fence, Google are clearly focused on short term profits above all else. They used to run on the fact they could make you a profit easily, now they run on "you have no choice!"
Thats the entire world anymore. Everyone wants to make wall street happy, and those assholes are more addicted to money than cocaine. There is no long term planning anymore, everything is next quarter's profits. It is what is killing capitalism, short term greed.
Rolling Stone published a great article a few years back from a former trader, talked about how he got out of college, was super happy when he got his first bonus worth $100K. A few years later, he was mad, lividly pissed, his bonus was on a couple million, and not more.
That was always part of the enshittification formula. The final stage after exploiting users is to exploit business customers to the breaking point.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
Google used to have really robust tools for keyword research. They were even useful for finding overlooked niche subjects that paid well as an AdSense publisher. But as far as I can tell, they've completely removed those tools, instead pushing ignorance and "trust us" messages.
They still have a relatively good keyword research tool within the Google Ads interface, but I think I recall the stats are nuked unless you're actively paying money for an ads account.
The ad categories offered by various companies vary and I think adsense is nowhere near the closest-targetable network there is.
Try showing an ad to only Python software developers. Not IT repair shops. Not software developers writing exclusively C. I think you may be able to do that with keyword targeting on AdWords, once you avoid the bear traps you mentioned, but it's hard.
OTOH, I bet there are ad companies that will help you target "30-40 years, single, lonely" for dating ads (that might be possible even with adsense), and definitely people with specific diseases to peddle medicine to them.
Occasionally someone posts a list of categories used by one or multiple networks and they can be the most specific, or far too broad (see: python dev).
I'm extremely surprised that I haven't seen ad companies offering specifically to advertise to people working at specific companies. I'm sure it exists, just haven't seen it. This would be incredibly valuable both for job ads, industry specific ads (this would benefit from breaking down by department), and also criminals and spies trying to get people from specific companies infected with malware.
What's also important to understand is that these categories don't need to be accurate. "This person has a 80% chance to be in category X" is more than good enough. Hell, 10% would probably already work.
The right ads pay really well. A life insurance click can be worth tens of dollars, because the conversion is worth thousands. So if there is a 10% chance you're interested in buying life insurance, bombarding you with those ads makes sense.
Absolutely, I always thought Google ads categories were a little creepy... until I saw the Facebook categories, they're a lot more invasive and detailed.!
Yeah for Python devs it'll be targeting keywords, with bonus points for certain demographics. I don't think we get categories that detailed. I'll have a look when I'm in the office tomorrow 😅
It's very rare that I would target anything other than keywords, as it's pointless being so broad that you show to someone who's uninterested, it wastes everyone's time and money.
For me, the categories are just there to A) watch, and see if there are any interesting correlations (weirdly the people who most click the autumnal home decor are also into extreme sports?!) And to B) say you'll pay a percentage extra for people with relevant interests ( like, apparently extreme sports)
Google also has the world convinced that because they collect mountains of data on everyone, that their ad targeting is superhuman. They want people to believe that they know people so well that they can show someone an ad for something they want before they even know they want it.
Meanwhile, I lived in a country where I didn't speak one of the local languages, and every Google ad I saw was in that local language. The ads were 100% wasted because I had no idea what they were even advertising. This is despite my constant visiting English-only webpages, despite my browser settings saying which languages I spoke, and so-on.
If Google can't even be bothered to track what language to use for the ad, their ad tech is clearly worse than slapping a generic ad next to a newspaper article then printing up a million newspapers.
I'm managing a Google ad campaign for a non profit with a budget of a few hundred dollars a month. I came up with some keywords but have been using their automated stuff too. If you could suggest one thing I can do to improve what would it be?
Has the nonprofit applied for the Google Ad grant? Worth looking into it, if not.
Definitely this, but it does limit your targeting options. But it's not so bad if your sole goal is brand awareness, as it's all paid for you.