My Competitors are Using Misleading Ad Copy What Can I do?

[kateperry]

Hi,

I was wondering if you could help?

Some of my competitors are using misleading information on their adwords PPC ads - for example saying a product costs £13 when it actually costs £25. Is there anything we can do?

Any help apperciated.
Thanks

[williamc]

Report it to google adwords quality assurance team.

[kateperry]

Many thanks for your reply.

Do you have an contact email for them in the UK - couldn't find one when I looked??

Thanks again

[williamc]

Try asking here: AdWords - AdWords Help

[Milo]

kateperry,
I would report them, but they are really doing well to get a bad reputation by doing this. These kind of price differences will get noticed by their visitors and they should not be around for too long if they continue to go about advertising this way or doing business this way. I don't consider these kind of issues with my competitors a problem. In fact, they are taking up a space in the SE's with a crap result, hence making your site more appealing, while paying for their misleading efforts in hard cash.
Would you go back to website that falsy misleads you, I definately would not. Just my opinion anyway.

[crankydave]

Originally Posted by kateperry

Hi,

I was wondering if you could help?

Some of my competitors are using misleading information on their adwords PPC ads - for example saying a product costs £13 when it actually costs £25. Is there anything we can do?

Any help apperciated.
Thanks

There folks/companies that seem to believe this kind of thing is a good idea. Happens all the time. "Get them in door and we'll take it from there" if you will... IMO.

There are also folks/companies that believe that this is a bad idea. These are the folks/companies that tend to have a long term, dedicated, outlook that, over time, will serve to benefit them... again IMO.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Do what you do as best you can, better than the rest, and smile as the "wannabes" eventually fail. In the long run, you'll be better and stronger for doing so.

As Will pointed out, get a message to the quality team and as Milo pointed out, "do your thang".

Dave

[Orion]

Here's a bit of a philosophy that I try to follow myself (and the key word there is try.. cause it's not easy..)..

Who cares!.. I try to see what good things my competitors are doing and ignore the things they do that may be wrong, or unethical.

I figure that so long as I continue to operate my business ethically, be fair and honest then I know I'm good, and my customers know it. It's served me well for 12 years now.

Eventually those that try to 'pull one over' on the customer get found out, and honestly I would love to see what their repeat business is like, lol...

All the best...

[jason]

So, let's click his ads. Ummm...I'm just kidding.

You can report it to Google or you can simply stay put. People who click his ads will see that it over states. Then, he'll pay the click for nothing.

[SEObyCanz]

Hhahahahha... Jason I was thinking the same thing, give us the search phrase and I'll click on the ad and click on link once on the site..... they'll run out of adverting budget for the day lol....

Seriously though, thats the sort of behavior that gets found out in time, if you have a blog, write a few posts with well thought out titles about these other sites, don't need to name them, just say what they do, and put a call to action so people can buy from you

Lynny

[midnightshow22]

I wouldn't worry too much about this because people will move away from there site quickly when they realize they are using bait and switch techniques. In fact, they are going to end up losing money and as a person mentioned above me, reputation.