Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Gambling Ads Sidestep Google Filters

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As reported in Murdok earlier, search engines Google and Yahoo have decided to ban online casino ads from appearing on SERPs. The ban was to go into effect at the end of April. However, it appears that some of the casinos have found a way to “cheat” the filters Google has put in place.

As first pointed out in MediaDailyNews, certain keywords still yield casino and online betting ads. Google was questioned about this and promptly removed the offending ads. But, the ads that Google removed has given way for other casinos’ ads to appear.

Speculation as to why these ads are still appearing centers around Google’s automated ad filter. If ads pass through undetected, Google allows them to be posted on SERPs. Brad Fallon, CEO of interactive marketing consultancy Smart Marketing Inc. believes that these casinos are merely reposting their ads. He blames Google’s lack of human intervention for the casino ads reappearing. “It appears that Google doesn’t like to do anything manually; they want to have it be automated.”

Google declined to comment on the subject. The following is a list of keywords that have online casino ads accompanying them:

horse racing
online casino
casino
online betting

Almost certainly there are more keywords that allow the ads to sneak through, but this list illustrates the point nicely.

Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
Your source for investigative ebusiness reporting and breaking news.

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