You know how Google’s AdSense is considered one of the best contextual targeting platforms out there? You know how Google tells its AdWords advertisers that by using content match they will be able to tap into some of the most relevant content on the web?
Ummmmm, yeah. We found a case where a site owner is pulling the wool over Google’s eyes by doing some ninja moves on the backend of their site that result in AdWords advertisers wasting money on irrelevant clicks.
Want to see the example? Let’s check it out.
In a different window, open up the domain www.ayparty.com (not hyperlinking of obvious reasons).

At first, when you look at the site you can see a border of AdSense ads surrounding a graphic for Los Duenos Del Flow, which seems to be some type of music group or something. Interestingly, it seems like AdSense has decided to add high cost-per-click contextual ads to the page for products like insurance, leads, mortgages, and the grand-daddy of all keywords Mesothelioma. This might make you wonder if Google is attempting to dupe advertisers and profit from less than qualifies clicks? But they are not (I know, I was bummed too – finding Google being evil would get this blog so much traffic :) ).
In truth it’s the site’s owner who is behind the confusion between content and advertisements. You see, when you view the source behind the page you see this hidden chunk of text in 1pt font:
mesothelioma mesothelioma lawsuits mesothelioma diagnosis mesothelioma treatment pleural mesothelioma conference call consolidate student loan student loan consolidation car donations car donation donate car sell annuity conference calling medical malpractice new jersey life insurance settlement health insurance leads new jersey medical malpractice life settlements structured settlement payment business phone system health care administration data protection money market vehicle donation laser hair removal nyc medical malpractice new york medical malpractice pennsylvania car insurance auto insurance automobile insurance laser hair removal manhattan new york medical malpractice life insurance leads university of phoenix online HR
Software nevada llc colorado mortgage asset management cash for structured settlement online class student loan student loans laser hair removal new york content management software telecommunication audit credit card processor car insurance rates web content management home security system mba degree program manufacturing software medical office software merchant Services ce marking refinance loan content management budgeting software dallas movers asbestos lawyer paternity testing structured settlements medical billing software online university medical alarm new jersey web design dna testing 1031 tax deferred exchange mba executive cerebral palsy mortgage leads criminal justice rackmount servers brokerage accounts banner stands inventory management software 1031 tax free exchange mortgage lead viaticals llc formation waterproofing medical alert culinary school culinary schools server racks va home loans stock loans credit card processing rackmount chassis credit counseling .net hosting document management software commercial real estate loans time and attendance content management system home loan Home Loans industrial scales car insurance quote auto insurance quote
If you look really closely you can see all of that stashed at the very top of the page (see image below). So based off of that text, AdSense is picking what it sees as the most relevant ads and serving them up on the site.

As a company that advertises with content networks through Google, this is obviously a little disappointing…and a little scary when you think about the thousands of sites like this one that are out there. AdWords does give you the ability to remove sites like this from your content match (which we did), but tracking these sites down is the tough part.
Luckily, or PPC powerhouse Cassie found this site by using the PPSeer service, which she discusses in this blog post. If you do a lot of content match through your PPC accounts, you might want to consider using the service as well.