Kirk Williams, the owner of ZATO, has written an open letter to Google Ads Leadership, expressing concerns about ongoing practices within Google that he believes are causing more harm than good to users, advertisers, and Google itself. He appreciates Google's contributions to the world but urges for greater transparency and ethical considerations in decisions within the Google Ads leadership team.
In his letter, Williams highlights six primary trends that have eroded advertiser trust with Google:
- Google’s role as buyer/seller/auctioneer in the advertising ecosystem, which decreases trust due to the lack of third-party oversight.
- Google-controlled automation in product development, which could potentially disadvantage advertisers.
- Decrease in reported data to advertisers, which frustrates them and hinders their decision-making process.
- Inconsistency between public and private admissions about what occurs in the auctions, which damages trust.
- Impact on product quality when revenue goals become more important than innovation and quality.
- Lack of true support from the Brand/Agency Partners program, which appears to be more about sales than support.
Williams proposes several solutions to rebuild advertiser trust, including increasing transparency in auction mechanics, prioritizing product quality over revenue growth, increasing reported data to advertisers, and transitioning the Google Partner Rep program into a support system. He believes that with the right changes, advertiser trust can be rebuilt, and the PPC industry can continue to grow in success and strength for decades to come.
