le denies manipulating ad bids in resurfaced SMX Advanced video //
Google denied manipulating ad bids at SMX Advanced 2015. This was eight years after it admitted that they did.
Jerry Dischler, Google Ads executive, told the audience during the keynote speech:
- “We do not manipulate search results, or the ad-auction to increase profit. It’s not what we do.”
Fast-forward to the 2023 federal antitrust trial, Dischler completely backtracked and told Judge Amit Mehta that the search engine “frequently” changes the auctions it uses to sell search ads without telling advertisers, increasing the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-quietly-increases-ad-prices-targets-432155#:~:text=Google%20has%20admitted%20to%20quietly,5%25%20for%20the%20average%20advertiser." Google has admitted to quietly increasing ad prices by up to 10%.
Why it matters Google’s complete U-turn is likely to raise questions about its reliability, at a moment when this trustworthiness has already been questioned.
The tables have turned. Andy Taylor, Tinuiti’s VP for Research, resurfaced the SMX Advanced clip, claiming Dischler had denied it in response to a recent presentation he gave. He said:
- When I presented RKG’s data at SMX Advanced in that year, the Google representative who responded to a question about my findings during their keynote Q&A with a similar dismissal… was…Jerry Dischler.
- My presentation from the show showed many data points which indicated Google was manipulating CPC and driving it up at the time.
- There are many victory laps that can be taken…Oh, how the turntables!”
Why is Google changing the prices of search ads? Dischler said that his staff was “shaking cushions” in order to meet revenue targets set by Ruth Porat (Google’s Chief financial officer) to Wall Street. In an email sent to his staff in May of 2019, he wrote the following:
- If we fail to meet our quota in the second quarter and miss the expectations of the street again, this is not what Ruth told the street. So we will be punished in the market.
- I care more about the revenue than most people, but we all know that the morale of our teams living in high-cost areas will be affected by another $100,000 loss in stock prices. Not to mention the impact on the sales team.
What has Google said about it? Google’s spokesperson responded to Dischler after his comments:
- Search ads are priced according to a real-time bidding system where advertisers can never bid more than they want. We are constantly improving ads for advertisers and users.
- Our quality improvements eliminate irrelevant ads, increase relevance, drive greater advertising value, and deliver a high-quality user experience.
Deep dive. Read our Google antitrust case updates to learn the latest information about this case.
The post Google denies ad auction manipulation in resurfaced SMX Advanced video appeared initially on Search Engine land.