You know you’re a blogger when…
You know you’re a real blogger when even as a tiny company, you can get a reaction from a huge company. In this case, Ben & Jerry has decided to pay for the google.ie search “ice cream ireland” so that their site will come up above mine (see above) as a “sponsored link.” I’m not sure whether to be flattered or frustrated by the possible confusion this might cause among readers.
What’s ironic about their move is that Ben & Jerry built their brand by taking on the food giant Pillsbury, and their “What’s the doughboy afraid of” campaign. Now they are owned by food giant Unilver, so maybe the question should be, “What are the Vermont boys afraid of?”
Given that google charges per click, maybe I should start a campaign to get people to click on the link as much as possible! Still, I hardly think a company their size would feel the pinch much…
This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 6:52 pm and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 10th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Your shock tactic’s must have frightened them away. My search revealed that you No. 1. Way to go.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I think it’s a great compliment – shows that you’ve rattled their cages!
February 10th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Looks like they are bidding on the phrase ‘ice cream’:
http://www.google.ie/search?q=ice+cream+hello
So maybe not directed at your personally.
Rgds
Richard
February 10th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Great to see your position in the SERPS come up. But as Richard says it’s probably not directed at you personally. In adwords there are 4 levels of matching.
# Broad match: ice cream
will display ads on keywords similar to ice cream, like sundaes, icecream, ice lolly
# Phrase match: “ice cream”
Will only show up when they have the words, ice cream in their search, so “ice cream cake” will also show the ad
# Exact match: [ice cream]
will only display when someone has that search query, and that alone
# Negative match: -sundae
won’t show up for when people type in any search for sundaes
Paul
February 10th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I don’t think they’ve done this because of you – I think they just want to get visitors for “ice cream” and they either haven’t started or aren’t going to start an SEO campaign.
February 10th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
That’s helpful. Thanks, guys, for enlightening me! I was kind of surprised, because I’ve seen other sponsored ads come up with ice cream highlighted, but only their one with “Ice Cream Ireland,” so maybe they are bidding on that term as well?
February 10th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Hello Kieran, just a quick question. I am baking Wiebke’s famous Sacher-torte, and for the ganache – says the recipe – I need 150 g golden syrup. May I use honey instead as I am not so fond of the golden stuff? Thanks!
February 10th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I’m not a great fan of it either, Monica, but it has different properties than honey. Still, try the honey and let me know!
February 10th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I always think that there’s something a little bit dodgy about those weird blue “sponsored links” and completely ignore them!