Optimzation Addiction and the Google Democracy

It came along at a good time. The Sopranos is over, and let’s face it, the last 3 or 4 seasons kind of stunk it up anyway.

I have been playing around with Google ad words as part of something I’m part of that’s planned for the fall. I dedicated a $300 budget to it, and…by the time I’d spend $13, I’d probably learned enough, but man, it was so much fun I just couldn’t STOP PLAYING WITH IT.

I like optimizing. I am curious about improvements. Simple lazy mental masturbation stuff. Like, when I see The Hardest Working Man in the Marina, I want to tell him, “Dude, stand out in front of the Cingular store on June 29 when the iPhone is released and you’ll RAKE IT IN!" The combination of guilt and giddiness could be lucrative. If they needed an iPhone so badly they were in line for it on June 29, by the time they have it they are going to be giddy! *update 6/11/07 12:55pm PDT: just found out the iphone will not be available for purchase until ~6pm on 6/29.

Google allows continuous optimization in real time. You can see results, make changes, try different campaigns, get immediate results, optimize some more, etc. I did a variety of experiments ranging from the ad copy, to where the page landed to keyword vs. site specific. I could get lost in it – probably forever if I had enough money to just send continuous ads into the world.

But there’s something else. I don’t see how it can last really although a part of me hopes it always works exactly the same way. I wrote a blurb on how dumb Time Warner is for not having leveraged the Sopranos across its major brands very well and wrote ad copy that said: “Time Warner Needs a New CEO, if you love the Sopranos Richard Parsons must go!” and then I linked it to various Time Warner keywords including “Sopranos” and “Richard Parsons”. They ran my ad. Even on the Richard Parsons search! People clicked – though not a lot…but the night is young and I haven’t spent all my $300 yet.

The Sopranos finale didn’t make me feel any better about any of that…

Update 6/10/07 7:50PM PDT: The ad for parsons generated a lot of clicks (over 200) and then exceeded my $ allowance for that particular campaign -- I had not put all $300 against that campaign.