Google Adwords: “Do I own my keywords?”

I was just asked this exact question the other day:

“When I signed up for Google AdWords advertising I was told that I owned my keywords, can you explain to me how that works?”

Of course the answer is : “You can’t own a word!” No one can own a word, especially in regards to Google AdWords.

Google AdWords is a bidding process in which you bid against competitors to get the highest ranking for your ad in reference to the keyword you are bidding for. There are other factors that influence this bidding and will effect it in a huge way, but for the sake of this article lets stick with one aspect of successful AdWords management, the bidding.

Unfortunately some people lie. They misrepresent things and imply realities that don’t exist.
In online marketing, people are lied to all the time by so called professionals and it angers me.

I answered this gentleman truthfully by saying, “I don’t know how you can own a keyword, because I can go to my Google AdWords account right now and bid on that term without any restriction from Google at all.”

Just based on his reaction when he finally understood, I don’t think his AdWords management company will be managing his account very much longer.

As a business owner YOU have the responsibility to do your due diligence when you are hiring someone to manage your online marketing and advertising. It is really no difference than hiring a new employee.

You wouldn’t hire someone because they gave you a smooth sales talk. Chances are you know quite a bit about the position you are hiring for and so you can make an effective determination about the candidate. Well, it shouldn’t be any different when you hire a group for your marketing.

If it sounds shady or if it has an odd ring to it, STOP!, step back and research it first. Heck, if you aren’t sure where to research, email me and ask me about it. I will give you a straight forward, understandable and verifiable answer.

Google AdWords can be an Amazing, Effective and Highly Profitable Activity when done correctly. It is not the easiest activity to do, but it simply requires hard work and burning the midnight oil for just a little while.

Once it is researched and analyzed, tested, programmed and implemented, an AdWords campaign can be an ongoing source of highly profitable income that just keeps on rolling in hour after hour after hour.

Image by Terry Johnson