The buzz about new Google Slap for landing page quality has PPC marketers reeling. Not a few internet gurus immediately began peddling their latest "Slap Solution". You don't need to buy a solution. I got nothing to sell you. And you're missing the opportunity of the century unless you understand what Google is really up to. Read on for some insights...

Loads of Affiliate marketers were hit big time with their simple one page landings. The Slap it's called. But millions of dollars also stopped coming into the Google coffers as the Affiliates were knocked out of the game.

So you gotta wonder....

Why does Google Do This Stuff? Is it...

* Because they can.

* 5000+ Searches every Second. 24/7/365

* Google's bank deposit is $60,692,308 a day from Adwords advertisers.

Okay... but still, why in the heck would Google toss out the millions of dollars those affiliate marketers spent doing gazillions of CPA offers like Email and Zip submits?

The real reason is relevancy for those Searchers. Google loves its Searchers. 5000+ every second. Tick. Tock. Google serves the interests of those searchers... and that's why Google is the 8000 lb. gorilla.

Relevancy.

They live it... they breathe it, I think the evening prayers at Mountain View are sent up to the God of Relevancy.

Why? Because it works. Relevancy... it's been the business model since Day 1 for Larry and Sergey, while they boldly go about "organizing the world's information".

Relevance is the family crest for a good reason.

Searchers love Google because the reward is exactly what they wanted on the first page 80% of the time. Yahoo and Bing together get about 20% of all searches, that's how good Google is

Searchers come back again and again too. Google.com is my brower's home page and has been since 1999.

5000+ per second. Wrap your head around that number by multiplying 60 x 60 X 24 X 5000 = 432,000,000 daily

Blow your brains out by multiplying that last by 365. These are all shoppers... even if its only information they seek.

* Google is the new Gatekeeper for billions of shoppers around the world.
* That's why Google does what they do.
* Google only cares about their searchers.



PPC advertisers are not Google's customers. Nope, its not you the PPC advertiser.
The Searchers are Google's customers. And they both got you and me firmly by the cojones, my friend.

If you want those shoppers ya gotta pay the Gatekeeper for access. The shoppers aren't looking anywhere else to shop.

* Newspapers and magazines are over in ICU and nobody cares.

* Printed catalog marketing is around, but losing ground fast.

* Direct Mail? I ran with that game in the 80's and learned my trade. DM is now working best as offline followup to campaigns that began online with Adwords.

Anything else for shoppers?

The printed Yellow Pages are a dinosaur. And the online YP is seldom used.

Why screw with any yellow pages when Google gives me every dry cleaner's in a 20 mile radius in 2 seconds by typing in Plano dry cleaners. And a nice map with phone numbers to boot!

Everybody goes to Google to shop. Even when she's headed to Nordstrom's for the Black Friday sales, she checks prices online... using guess what to find latest prices on those Manolo Blanco's she wants badly.

Relevancy. They've been saying it all along. Ad Copy, and Landing Page Quality Score means it must have relevancy for the Searchers.

Slap? They don't care what you call it. They don't even pay attention to all the Buzz. For Google, the bottom line is the same every time.



Google can't go look at every page manually, so they do it with technology.
Adwords bots check your landing and all pages linked to it, ad copy screening with Stop word lists, keyword screening for trademarks... all done in the blink of an eye when you have a 1000 or so data centers and each one contains 10,000 to 100,000 computers crunching data 24/7. And there's an algorithm using weighted scoring that keeps track of every campaign, ad, and landing page in your account you run... forever. If you hit the "possible bad guy" target score, you get a manual review. (They have buildings in Bangalore with 1000's of people sitting all day visiting sites manually that have been flagged for SEO or Adwords scoring.)

We all have to find our own way to the Temple of Relevancy and satisfy the requirements. Or you don't get to play. You don't like it, you go home.
Here is what's working for me in Adwords...

* Think , instead of landing page.

* Think . With lots and lots of supporting pages of content relevant to your ad copy and offers.

* Go after entire markets, not CPA offers by the 100's. A domain strategy is more work, and lends itself to targeting evergreen niche markets, not going after loads of different irrelevant offers.
Become the Master of One, instead of the master of None.

That's my two cents on the Slap. The golden opportunity is in seeing thousands of people quit Adwords and online marketing because Google is unfair. NOT true, folks. They are just good businessmen with a good model... also happens to make them the GateKeeper to the world. Understanding the gatekeeper's rules is your opportunity to stay in the game profitably while others leave in disgust.

Good luck to all on the journey to PPC profit and Adwords relevancy.

All the Best,

Jan Gregory

P.S. GateKeeper? Gorilla? You bet. At all the levels. The Lion's share of PPC spend for sure. Google's Affiliate Network... what do you think that's for, as 1000's of new merchants climb on daily? Google wants to charge you to advertise and then control your affiliate commissions too, which you get only thru your Adsense account check... hmmm. See the connections here? Google is a new domain Registrar. They now have unfettered access to the private registrar's Whois and ICANN databases to cross-check anything about you and your domains. Why do they give away free access to gmail, Google Docs and tools? These are all sales funnels with loss leaders to bring in the flocks with freebies.

The ultimate goal has to be a Google Profile page for everyone in the entire world... one stop for gmail, tools, groups, webmaster tools, analytics, Adsense, & Adwords accounts. Did you know its required to get a Google Profile to get your free Local Business Center listing? So that's millions more newbies climbing on the wagon... all with Google Profile pages which will be the main gate for billions and billions of dollars all controlled by a single GateKeeper. Slap? No, its not. It's not a conspiracy. It's just a good business model.