Gentleman’s agreements prevail, for now!
By Colin Telford. Affiliate Director, R.O.EYE
As the Google changes begin to sink in and ads begin to appear against previously protected Trademark terms, I wonder exactly what the fall out has been. It was billed as the most important change in affiliate marketing for some time and even prompted some affiliates to circulate white papers on the effects of the changes. Some networks themselves also reacted with emailed information, but many seemed to be too bogged down with the influx of merchant queries and concerns to be in that enviable pro-active position.
So what has the affect been? The beginning of that week saw ads appear and it looked as if it was going to be a real free for all. Some affiliates reported very profitable opportunities, with Google probably desperately trying to realign the balance and apply the appropriate quality score and cost per clicks. And this is what seems to have happened. As the week progressed, those opportunities began to dry up and costs were predictably increased.
But the most interesting outcome in my eyes are the gentleman’s agreements that are being brokered and agreed over phone calls that really only happen once in a blue moon. It’s essentially the agreement between two merchants to leave each other’s terms alone. They in turn brief their respective search agency/manager contacts and as a result the costs for that particular merchant’s search terms remain around the same (and in the current climate of cost reduction, this agreement can be seen as a saviour on some marketing schedules, I can assure you.)
But will this be a short term fix? Competition will get stronger, targets will become higher and those involved in these agreements will move on. Then when the pressure is on, brand bidding on competitor terms will be an attractive option. And then affiliates will be called upon to spring into action and block leakage where possible. Only then can merchant’s use the redundant landing pages that their briefed affiliates built for them in the pre-May 5th panic, before that gentleman’s agreement phone call was made.
If you need any advice on an affiliate strategy to combat the Google trademark term strategy then please get in touch.