Dell Deals
scotty on 04/05/2007 at 12:08 pm, filed under ComputerUpdate on 7 May 2007.
Thanks to Dominic from DGMAustralia for some clarification.
- DGMAustralia has been contracted by Dell AU for their search engine marketing work, therefore has permission to use “Dell” trademark on Google AdWords.
- TheDeal.net.au, a publisher/affiliate partner of DGMAustralia, also has written permission from Dell to use the trademark.
For the past few weeks I have been posting some real Dell deals at OzBargain, including coupons that give you $150 off business/professional systems and 3% to 10% off regular price (btw, both of them have expired yesterday). So I said to myself, “hey, maybe it would be good if more people can know about these deals”!
Being a good and moral person (yes, trust me, it is true!) plus lack of knowledge in any dodgy black hat way of getting cheap traffic (okay, that is the main reason), I decided to go with what has been recommended by the big G — buying Google AdWords advertisements! So I went there, created a small text ads saying “Save on Dell Products”, added a list of keywords that I wish my ads would appear on, crossed my fingers and waited. And waited… A few days later — still no impression nor clicks.
Then yesterday morning I received an email from Google, saying that my ads has been disapproved because I have placed a trademark term, i.e. Dell, in my AdWords ads!
Fair enough. I can understand where Google is coming from, and they have every right to ensure trademark law is not violated in the advertisements. So I simply delete that ads and move on.
Until I tried to search the same keywords on Google. Search Dell Deal on Google Australia for example. Right in my face are two sponsored links at the spot where you normally expect to see AdWords ads.
Alright, the second entry is obviously violating the same rule that I have broken, using trademark terms in ads! The word “dell” appeared on both the title and the description. That website not only lists Dell computers, but also Apple and Sony computers plus lots of credit card offers. As of the Dell computers listed, the “Go to Deal” button looks a bit dodgy (more about it later). Once you click through, you will be redirected back to Dell Australia’s website. Discount? None at all! It gives you exactly the same price as Dell’s regular specials.
Good deal? Don’t think so.
Now, go back to the list of sponsored links returned by Google. Is the first sponsored link using trademark terms in ads? Not if it is indeed Dell Australia advertising on Google! See — it has www.dell.com.au listed as URL! However, is it really Dell Australia advertising on Google?
To check the actual landing location, assuming you are using Firefox:
- Right click on the link “Dell Deal” to bring out context menu
- Select “Copy Link Location”
- Open notepad.exe, and paste the copied text into notepad
- The actual URL should be following
&q=http://...
If you see what I am seeing, the landing location is NOT www.dell.com.au as claimed in the ads, but an affiliation link from an Internet marketing company! That means, when you click on that link to go to Dell, (1) you will not land on a special page with exclusive promotions (2) someone will get commission for that Dell that you have just purchased. How much commission? 1.5 to 3 percent! Now if you go back to that other site on the sponsored link list, all its “Go to Deal” links, including Apple deals, Sony deals, credit card deals, etc — they are all affiliated links as well!
That is a blatant violation of Dell trademark if you ask me! Well, please read the update at the beginning of the post for clarifications from Dominic.
Am I annoyed that Google disapproved my ads but approved someone else’s? Yes! But maybe I am such a cheapstake because I am only willing to pay 10 ¢ per click on search network and 4 ¢ on content network! Google must have thought that even the electricity used to generate these ads would cost more. Well, anyway…
Am I annoyed that someone would get a commission without providing any service? Yes and no. I am still going to pay the same amount regardless whether I have that affiliation tracking cookie in my browser. It is not that I am going to pay more for a Dell computer because I was referred there. However I do feel cheated after I click through the ads without finding any real deals.
What I find annoying is that some cashback/moneyback communities like MoneyBackCo do not get approved by the affiliation network to access these Dell commissions. Otherwise we will see an all year round 1.5-3% cashback on all Dell products — and that’s what I will call the Dell Deal.
Have you considered that perhaps DGMAustralia was contracted by Dell to do online advertising? Dell would have given special permission for their trademark to be used…
It is possible. However how these affiliation network works is, it is not DGMAustralia that advertises these links, but a publisher who signs up DGMAustralia that does.
For example, I can sign up DGMAustralia, and then request for approval to run a Dell campaign. Then I can get an URL with both my affiliate ID and Dell’s code. Now if anyone navigate to this URL, he/she will be redirected to Dell, but I will get commission for any subsequent sale. DGMAustralia is only a “broker” between the advertisers (Dell) and the publishers (me).
Maybe I should try to apply for Dell ads from DGMAustralia, pass the code to MoneyBackCo so they can do their cash back for everyone else, and reapply Google AdWords to see whether they want to accept me (although I doubt it would work).
Your Dell ads land on your website. DGMAustralia’s (or that other reseller’s) Dell ads land on a Dell page. Could this be the reason why Google is allowing the other ads to run aside to the fact that they might have a special arrangement with Dell?
Yan — there are two in the sponsored list. One uses DGMAustralia’s affiliation code and yes the final landing page is Dell AU. However the other one lands on his own site as well.
I cannot yet fathom why Google rejects one and accepts another. I have also previously had other ads rejected for other reasons that I’ve seen many other people used.
I am the publisher manager at dgmaustralia
dgmAustralia operates an affiliate network and a search engine marketing agency.. both of which use the same tracking codes ie the dgmaustralia urls that you have observed in the dell.com.au ads and on our affiliate partners website http://www.thedeal.net.au
As an affiliate network dgmAustralia act as a tracking intermediary which sits between dell and small affiliate websites (eg thedeal) awarding commissions to affiliates of between 1.5% and 3% for every sale they direct to dell via dgm tracking tags (ie dgmaustralia.com)
The dgmAustralia search engine marketing department are contracted by dell to drive them sales via google, yahoo etc etc on a management fee basis… they have explicit permission to bid on Dell key terms
Dell is 100% aware of the ads in google and has given specific permission as part of a commercial relationship for all ads you see with dgmAustralia in the click through tags. The dgm search engine marketing business has specific permission to use Dell brand terms and to use dell.com.au as the URL in their ads this is a direct deal with Dell to run their SEM campaign. Thedeal.net.au also has specific written permission from dell to have this ad, he is an affiliate on the dgmAustralia network.
There is no violation of any rules here, this is simply affiliate marketing and search engine marketing tracking on Dell brand term ads approved by both Dell and Google.
The reason that your google ads were not approved is because the word dell is a trademarked term in google.. to gain permission to use this in your ad copy and keyword lists you need specific written permission from the trademark owner to google to lift the restriction (ie what dgm SEM and a few of their selected affiliates have)
Can this post please be altered or removed as this entry casts dgmAustralia in an bad light unjustifiably.
Kind regards
Dominic Sofia
Publisher Manager – dgmAustralia
dominic.sofia@dgm-au.com
+61 (0)2 8569 0013
Dominic,
Thank you very much for the clarification. It has indeed resolved my problem — why some sites can use trademarks in Google AdWords but some can’t. I have added a big update section at the beginning of the post to show some of the corrections. I apologise if this post has caused bad light on DGM, but please also understand that with a blog format — what’s said has already been said, but I am happy to add more updates to rectify any misunderstanding.
However, part of the purpose of this post is to “educate” readers, mostly people looking for bargains, that a so-called “deals” from a deals/bargains website do not necessarily give you any special discount. They are the product of marketing, and commissions is usually the only reason why they exist (see my previous post).
I know with this kind of view I am most likely having conflict of interests with other affilates and affiliation network (indeed I have!) but I guess I am speaking from a shopper’s PoV whereas affiliates are usually on the merchants’ side.