Online name fight: Yo mama
UPDATE: boston.com has changed the wording of its Google-ad headlines.
Back in 2006, Christine Koh set up a site called Boston Mamas. One guess what it's about. Last year, boston.com launched a site called BoMoms. One guess what it's about.
Now, all is fair in love and mommy blogging, but somebody in charge of marketing at boston.com seems to have taken things a bit too far. They realized that many people use Google not just as a search engine, but as a place to type in domain names. So this person figured, hey, let's buy ads on results pages for "bostonmama.com" for BoMoms. But why stop there? Why not use "bostonmamas.com" as the headline on those ads?
Koh explains why she is not the least bit amused:
... [W]hat bothers me immensely - and thus has moved me to write publicly on the topic – is the fact that Boston's primary news source employed a sleazy marketing technique that my PR friends have informed me is the type of strategy that clients (semi) jokingly discuss, but wouldn’t dream of actually engaging.
In this challenging time for newspapers, this behavior feels like a step in a truly ill conceived direction. It is misleading for readers, and what I feel very deeply – particularly now as a writer, editor, and artist myself – is that the action is demeaning to the staffers and freelancers who pour their hearts into the creative content of Boston.com.
Finally, to me this incident represents a sad example of a major organization trying to take advantage - and ride the humble wake – of an independent blog such as Boston Mamas. ...
The story begins to propagate across Twitter.
Ed. Note: At 2:19 p.m., I typed "bostonmamas.com" into the Google search box on my copy of Firefox. Here's part of what I got back:
Comments
Does that violate Google advertising guidelines?
I don't know Google's rules in detail, but I think misdirecting people with mislabeled ad headlines may go beyond what is allowed.
Jeez
Between their Wicked Local Ripoff and this, I'm beginning to wonder who authorizes this crap.
That is very sleazy, or very
That is very sleazy, or very stupid of the Boston people. It would be one thing if it said Boston Mamas online or something, but it is an obvious attempt to use a domain name they couldnt get their hands on. Its also silly they would do it in regard to a blog on mothers in Boston, its not like this is a huge deal for the Boston.com people, unless its a wide stradegy they use on all sorts of other parts of their site as well?
Coming to a google search soon Bostons Hub of the Universe blog, or as it will show up on google
Universalhub.com
www.boston.com/hubuni
Different now
It comes up differently now - with the Sponsored Link on the side with the Title Boston Mamas (instead of bostonmamas.com) for the BoMoms site.
I just saw one saying "need
I just saw one saying "need mothering advice"
Contextual Ads
LOL @ MTV "Yo Momma" ringtones being offered over here for me right now ->
This could just be Google's broadmatch + keyword insertion...
This could have been an unintentional mistake. See my comment on Boston Mamas' blog:
http://www.bostonmamas.com/2009/02/bostoncoms_bad_behavior.html#comment-41018
It is just a "broad match" issue in Google Adwords...
I agree... They are probably not doing it intentionally. All that needs to be done is to send an email to Boston.com, directed specifically to the search marketing person. Tell them they need to make "Bostonmamas.com" a "negative matched" term.
Thanks so much + another incident
Adam and all, I am so very grateful to everyone who has gotten the word out about this situation. I'm really glad the problem is getting resolved.
I'm afraid that another parenting blog I know (nationally known but locally based) -- Work It, Mom! -- also has been affected by this wayward campaign. See screenshot at http://www.bostonmamas.com/2009/02/bostoncoms_bad_behavior.html#comment-41024
Hopefully that will get resolved soon too.
It's not just Boston Mamas
I checked Workitmom and there it was, a top sponsored search result taking folks to BoMoms. There is no way this is an innocent mistake or anything Google does -- who does "workitmom" relate to "bomoms?".
It's incredible, in this time of online transparency, that this could happen -- what did Boston Globe think, we would not notice?
Workitmom
When I google 'Workitmom', the sponsored link at the top is titled 'Are You A New Boston Mom?' -- not 'Workitmom'. So maybe it's already fixed.
Um...
No one posting here really understandings, SEO, keyword targeted adds, or the Google Ads / search results formula, so why don't you all shut up now, and go whine about something else? It has to do with the Good Adword/keyword matching engine. If you think it is so suspect, report the ad to almighty Google, it couldn't possibly be them, could it?
Oddly enough, if I type 'shitty journalism' or 'joke of a site' or 'out of work luser' I get UH results at the top - what A SHOCKER.
Get me some SEO mavens and an ad optimizer stat!
Aw, poor widddle SEM drone is offended
Yeah, on your basic point, you're right, as a couple of folks upthread mentioned, it could have been just a boston.com marketing intern not knowing how to set up a Google campaign. Or it could be, as Christine notes at the bottom of her comment thread, something more intentional. Either way, it reflects poorly on boston.com - although what reflects well on them is how well they did fix it.
As for you other comments, sorry to hear your life has turned out so horribly poorly for you.
'out of work luser' When I
When I type that into google its says Yo Mamma