Comments on: Just a Bit Off Target With Pay-Per-Click

By: Don

Don — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:57:15 +0000

Although the landing page has been fixed, I’d argue that for such a specific product search query this landing page would be more appropriate for the query “logitech harmony remote”: http://www.target.com/Logitech-Remotes-Electronics/b/602-3606555-1369430?ie=UTF8&node=259112011

By: Nishi

Nishi — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:11:09 +0000

This is BIG! If someone from Target’s online marketing team visits, I hope they leave a comment here explaining why they chose the homepage as the landing page.

We write PPC ads for companies too, however it is upto them to check if they are getting a good ROI on their ads. You can’t force people to click and you definitely can’t make them buy. But you can at least lead them to the right page on your website once they have clicked!

By: Ted S

Ted S — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:24:29 +0000

Unfortunately this issue is not new to Target. For the better part of a year, I’ve noticed Target listings popping up in results for highly specified searches with good copy but landing pages that have nothing to do with the query. Even worse, these pages are often an incorrect product or category page which makes it even more of a pain to get to the right product, assuming they even sell it anymore. In any event, I’ simply learned to ignore Target listings for the most part which is not what you want to see from your customers!

By: Daniel McGuigan

Daniel McGuigan — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:44:09 +0000

Papi: You beat me to it. I had just noticed that it’s now linking to the Logitech page and was about to point it out. So congratulations to Target for noticing the problem and fixing it.

Gogi: I’m not sure I understand why you think I’m grandstanding. As I said, I’m aware that this is/was a mistake of some kind. I don’t see why this would be done intentionally, but that’s not the point — it’s an error that’s costing a company sales, and it’s something that seems to be a common oversight with PPC campaigns. My point was that making sure your customers are being brought to where you want them to go is crucial, so it’s important to double-check each PPC ad. Apparently, that’s what Target just did. (Either that, or they read GrokDotCom.)

By: Papi

Papi — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:03:39 +0000

Actually, the link from Google took me to the logitech page on Target, first time, without redirecting. You think they fixed it fast?

By: joeB

joeB — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:57:47 +0000

I have noticed the same for Target before
and then clicked off their site, this is
costing them sales.
Best Regards,
joeB

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:18:10 +0000

I think there is a bigger point being missed here…Yes, we don’t want to confuse the customer but also, Google likes when landing pages are related very tightly to the link, and almost always will reward you with significantly better CPC rates.

Since it is probable that other products are set up this way, Target’s AdWord costs are probably much higher then they need to be…and only because the people responsible for its advertising budget are not properly trained in AdWords. For small businesses these mistakes are much more costly.

By: Gogi Gupta

Gogi Gupta — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:38:51 +0000

And for the record, we don’t/have never worked with Target/Target.com.

By: Gogi Gupta

Gogi Gupta — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:38:03 +0000

Its a mistake/error, its not like the agency doesn’t understand why its a good idea. Holy grandstanding, Daniel.

By: Steve Baldwin

Steve Baldwin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:30:39 +0000

Great detective work, Daniel. Target is paying top dollar to Google for this position. As of 3:29 PM, EST, Target (or its SEM agency) still hasn’t fixed the problem.

I hope this isn’t an endemic problem with Target’s search campaigns. Other terms that should link to Target areas (such as Erin Featherston) do link correctly to the customized landing page area. So let’s hope this is an isolated problem.

By: Becca

Becca — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:30:17 +0000

Hundreds of companies do this, so I have stopped visiting these ads all together. Too bad a few bad apples ruined a good thing.

By: Elena

Elena — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:47:09 +0000

That’s just tragic, really.

By: Daniel McGuigan

Daniel McGuigan — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:13:10 +0000

The link actually just went straight to the homepage, no redirect.

By: Elena

Elena — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:59:56 +0000

This is *not* nitpicking, Daniel. This is a very valid concern!

I was also terrified to see that there was no tracking code in the URL in the first screenshot.

Question: were you re-directed to the homepage from some other page, perhaps? This would explain the lack of relevancy and no tracking code.