Official Phishing Notice From Google

You or your clients may have noticed recently that there have been emails appearing in your inboxes which look like an official email from Google asking you to update your billing details. It would seem that this is a phishing exercise. It must be on quite a large scale as Google have now approached their Adwords advertisers with an official email on the subject.The content of this email can be seen below. You have been warned.

Hello,

At Google, we take the safety of our users very seriously, and we work hard to ensure that your accounts are secure. As part of those efforts, we recently compiled some tips on our blog to help protect you from "phishing," which is an attempt to fraudulently collect passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive information: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-avoid-getting-hooked.html

This information is important because any online account can be targeted by phishers, including online advertising accounts.

There are currently reports of phishing attempts that appear to be from adwords-noreply@google.com. These fraudulent emails ask users to update their billing information, take action on a disapproved ad, edit their account, or accept new AdWords terms and conditions. Please remember that the Google's AdWords team will never send an unsolicited message asking for your password or other sensitive information by email or through a link.

If you need to change your account information, such as your billing details or your password, always sign in to your AdWords account from the main AdWords login page at https://adwords.google.co.uk and make the changes directly within your account.

We've included more information below on how to avoid phishing. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at http://adwords.google.co.uk/support/bin/request.py?ctx=cuffhelp.

Sincerely,
The Google AdWords team

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Tips on how to avoid phishing:

- Don't reply to or click on links in emails that ask for personal, financial, or account information.
- Check the message headers. The From: address and the Return-path should reference the same source.
- Instead of clicking the links in emails, go to the websites directly by typing the web address into your browser, cut and paste or use bookmarks.
- If on a secure page, look for "https" at the beginning of the URL and the padlock icon in the browser
- Keep your computer's antivirus, spyware, browser, and security patches up to date and regularly run system scans.
- Review your accounts regularly and check for unauthorised activity.
- Use a browser that has a phishing filter (Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Opera)

If you receive a phishing email, please report it to Google by completing the Report Phishing Form: http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/request.py?ctx=cuffhelp&contact_type=phishing

Google Confirms Page Loading Time Added To Quality Score Algo

We have today received an official notice from Google that the recent changes to the Adwords quality scoring algorithm now include a page load time component.

The official word from the Googleplex Gods reads as follows:

"As part of our continuing efforts to improve the user experience, we will soon incorporate an additional factor into Quality Score: landing page load time. Load time is the amount of time it takes for a user to see the landing page after clicking an ad.

Why are we doing this?
Two reasons: first, users have the best experience when they don't have to wait a long time for landing pages to load. Interstitial pages, multiple redirects, excessively slow servers, and other things that can increase load times only keep users from getting what they want: information about your business. Second, users are more likely to abandon landing pages that load slowly, which can hurt your conversion rate.

When are we making this change?
In the next few weeks, we will add load time evaluations to the Keyword Analysis page (we'll notify you when they are available). You will then have one month to review your site and make necessary adjustments.

After the one month review period, this load time factor will be incorporated into your keywords' Quality Scores. Keywords with landing pages that load very slowly may get lower Quality Scores (and thus higher minimum bids). Conversely, keywords with landing pages that load very quickly may get higher Quality Scores and lower minimum bids."

Many advertisers will probably be in a bit of a lather over all of this, but based on our research, we take the same stand point as google, if users have to wait around for your page to load they will probably bounce away from the landing page and search elsewhere for what they want. This obviously will have a large impact on the campaigns ROI as there will be clicks which will not convert to sales.

If you want to read more on this subject, please see this Google Help article.