AdWords Warriors

Summertime Dress · 12-09-2010, 08:52 AM

Hello Warriors. AdWords & Cloaking question...

Will Google disapprove an ad if the cloaking occurs on the landing page itself and not in the ad?

For example, on my landing page, I'd like to bypass the vendor's site and direct link to Clickbank checkout via a cloaked link.

<a href="www.mydomain.com/clickbank-product-checkout.html">Buy Now< /a>

Does Google consider this a violation of terms?

I currently have no problems running an Adwords campaign with direct linking to checkout -- but the vendor supplied the direct link and it shows my affiliate id (non-cloaked).

Wisdom???

csmcmanus · 12-09-2010, 04:38 PM

anytime you get into cloaking something, it can lead to a TOS violation.
Best practices on your ads (according to G) is to land on a page before check out. And it does say that you can not redirect the clicker...

Wesley Atkins · 12-09-2010, 04:48 PM

This will be fine... Your only cloaking people after they have visited the landing page.

Your just preselling the visitor and probably doing a better job than the merchant, so your sending them directly to the checkout page to make a purchase...

You should have no problem with this at all...

Nothing in the TOS to say this is an issue :-)

tryinhere · 12-10-2010, 04:06 AM

Yes you can do that but here is your problem, the display URL must match the display URL,

so lets say you have a site / land page - www. bluewidgets. com - then the destination URL must land on that tld / ie it must somewhere have - bluewidgets. com - in the page that destination URL takes you to.

in your case i am not sure if thats how a CB payment page works ? is it placed onto that tld ?

let me check one - / OK the answer is no the CB payment page rests on CB itself - so to answer your question it is yes and no.

it is no if want to display www. bluewidgets. com and send them to a tld of www. clickbank. com as that will violate the ad terms and cause a error in the ad being run

how ever in tech land you could do a display name like

bluewidgets. clickbank. com - and then use that destination URL to take them through to the payment page

the problem then becomes one of user value and i see no user value in landing a customer wham bam on a payment page, there is nothing but a please pay now, so your copy comes down to around 95 chars worth of words in the ad itself, and i doubt you would pick a quality score above 1 / 10 for your efforts resulting in a campaign that will cost you to much to run, if it ever did run.

Summertime Dress · 12-10-2010, 09:11 AM

Hey there, just to clarify my original inquiry...

I run a PPC ad --> someone clicks on the ad --> goes to mydomain.com (relevant landing page related to the ad).

On the landing page, there is product info, etc. --> at the bottom of the landing page is a "Buy Now" link.

It is *this* Buy Now link that is cloaked to direct link to ClickBank checkout (in order to hide my hoplink in the menu bar).

So, there's no PPC ad ---> ClickBank checkout which I agree would be a horrible value

Does this make sense?

On a similar note, can I have a cloaked link on this same landing page from the image of the product to the vendor's site?

My main concern is the "no cloaking"

12-09-2010, 08:52 AM	#1
Summertime Dress HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 178 Thanks: 72 Thanked 36 Times in 28 Posts	AdWords Warriors - I Need Cloaking Advice Hello Warriors. AdWords & Cloaking question... Will Google disapprove an ad if the cloaking occurs on the landing page itself and not in the ad? For example, on my landing page, I'd like to bypass the vendor's site and direct link to Clickbank checkout via a cloaked link. <a href="www.mydomain.com/clickbank-product-checkout.html">Buy Now< /a> Does Google consider this a violation of terms? I currently have no problems running an Adwords campaign with direct linking to checkout -- but the vendor supplied the direct link and it shows my affiliate id (non-cloaked). Wisdom???

12-09-2010, 04:38 PM	#2
csmcmanus straight pimpin the net War Room Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Tacoma Wa Posts: 99 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 15 Thanked 11 Times in 11 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: AdWords Warriors - I Need Cloaking Advice anytime you get into cloaking something, it can lead to a TOS violation. Best practices on your ads (according to G) is to land on a page before check out. And it does say that you can not redirect the clicker...
	So I am this dude that lives in Tacoma and hangs out online. How's it goin?

12-09-2010, 04:48 PM	#3
Wesley Atkins SEO & IM Consultant War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: London Posts: 217 Thanks: 21 Thanked 202 Times in 41 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: AdWords Warriors - I Need Cloaking Advice This will be fine... Your only cloaking people after they have visited the landing page. Your just preselling the visitor and probably doing a better job than the merchant, so your sending them directly to the checkout page to make a purchase... You should have no problem with this at all... Nothing in the TOS to say this is an issue :-)
	===> FREE Report: Turn Your Passion Into A Profitable Online Business In 30 Days <===

12-10-2010, 04:06 AM	#4
tryinhere Pete Young War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: downunder Posts: 2,163 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 367 Thanked 518 Times in 354 Posts	Re: AdWords Warriors - I Need Cloaking Advice Yes you can do that but here is your problem, the display URL must match the display URL, so lets say you have a site / land page - www. bluewidgets. com - then the destination URL must land on that tld / ie it must somewhere have - bluewidgets. com - in the page that destination URL takes you to. in your case i am not sure if thats how a CB payment page works ? is it placed onto that tld ? let me check one - / OK the answer is no the CB payment page rests on CB itself - so to answer your question it is yes and no. it is no if want to display www. bluewidgets. com and send them to a tld of www. clickbank. com as that will violate the ad terms and cause a error in the ad being run how ever in tech land you could do a display name like bluewidgets. clickbank. com - and then use that destination URL to take them through to the payment page the problem then becomes one of user value and i see no user value in landing a customer wham bam on a payment page, there is nothing but a please pay now, so your copy comes down to around 95 chars worth of words in the ad itself, and i doubt you would pick a quality score above 1 / 10 for your efforts resulting in a campaign that will cost you to much to run, if it ever did run.
	• - just chillin.

12-10-2010, 09:11 AM	#5
Summertime Dress HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 178 Thanks: 72 Thanked 36 Times in 28 Posts	Re: AdWords Warriors - I Need Cloaking Advice Hey there, just to clarify my original inquiry... I run a PPC ad --> someone clicks on the ad --> goes to mydomain.com (relevant landing page related to the ad). On the landing page, there is product info, etc. --> at the bottom of the landing page is a "Buy Now" link. It is this Buy Now link that is cloaked to direct link to ClickBank checkout (in order to hide my hoplink in the menu bar). So, there's no PPC ad ---> ClickBank checkout which I agree would be a horrible value Does this make sense? On a similar note, can I have a cloaked link on this same landing page from the image of the product to the vendor's site? My main concern is the "no cloaking"