Enhancing AdWords / Policing AdWord-based Phishing Attempts
I just came across a Google AdWords Ad was linked to a phishing site. The top-center sponsored link on a “eu change of address form” search was pointing toward an impersonation of the actual USPS Change of Address form. I’d include an active link but I don’t have the referral traffic/trouble -
This wasn’t a random piece of malware I stumbled across in some long forgotten corner of the internet but rather the the top center *sponsored link* on the first page of Google Search results! IMHO this was “misleading at best” and I can only imagine someone with introductory-level web fluency being mislead, someone like my Mom(!), so I decided to report it.
After a few minutes of searching, which needless to say was more than I’d expected, I finally found the Feedback on a specific Google Adwords Ad form.
I’d expected/assumed that Google would have a very straightforward/streamlined way to report abuse - don’t be evil, or allow evil, right? Well it took longer than I’d like to admit - and oddly enough abuse.google.com doesn’t return a DNS entry, hmmm.
So I got thinking (wearing the systems designer hat) and came up with this -
What if Google added a hover state to their AdWords text ads? When the user lingers over the ad, a small list of options appears - The first/top option might be “Visit Site” or “Continue”, followed by “Ad Feedback” - which would ultimately lead to a form for reporting abuse.
Hey, extending the scope for *just a moment*, some fun stuff could be done here - Google could layer on a bit more interactivity into their text-based AdWords. They could enable advertisers to build very simple interactive text ads - lets call them “Enhanced AdWords” - text ads with rollover interactive capabilities. Under this model, a new “partial involvement” metric could be gathered. Of the people who viewed the ad, how many peeked inside - as is common in the expanding ad market. Anyhow, when a user activates the rollover, a series of sub-options (or intention paths) would be displayed. Options might include Yes, No, Maybe to a question or any other response or intention one could think of - including, the one I want for the circumstance described above - “Ad Feedback”, which would have sub-option for report as abusive/offensive/fraud.
Anyhow, I didn’t really intend to open up a huge can of worms / great opportunity to enhance AdWords here, rather I wanted to stress the importance of providing a feedback pathway for the viewers of AdWords (and any other online content). Engage, engage, engage!
In other news: I see they’ve setup a specific form for reporting Adwords phishing emails and/or they can be forwarded to phishing@google.com. I’ve been getting a decent number of these, I’ll have to forward a few of them on.
