PPC Direct Linking?

[maximus]

I've read over a bunch of stuff the last few days on direct linking in adwords but seem to find conflicting info. Can someone who's done this explain this to me? I'm mostly confused about the Display URL and Destination URL b/c if you show the offer in the DISPLAY, you can only show your affiliate link in the DESTINATION, but according to G that is agains policy and they don't allow that. Right?

For example:

Display URL: www (dot) blockbuster (dot) com
Destination URL: What would go here? Obviously we can't have the blockbuster top level domain, but G won't approve anything that doesn't match.

How would you do this and get away with it in this example?

 

[arz]

You can use a destination URL that redirects to another landing page. So if you put an affiliate link in the destination URL that automatically redirects to blockbuster.com, it would be fine by Google. In other words, the domain of the display URL should match the domain of the eventual landing page.

 

[ubaidabcd]

so if you actually type in your affiliate link in the destination field and it's a blockbuster offer but your destination url is: www.xvap.com/dkjfdafa they don't care that that the it doesn't match the display url and the destination url doesn't have blockbuster in it, as long as when that url is tested it forwards to blockbuster.com ? I've always bought .info domains and forward /mask to the offer, but I don't do much on Adwords but that can get costly.

If this is correct, this is good to know.

Thanks!

 

[maximus]

That's how I thought it worked, but then in reading G's TOS and talking to G on the phone, they said I can't have the display and destination urls *not* match. When I've tried to enter the offer URL for the display and a redirect via my aff link in the destination URL, they never get approved. Has anyone actually had this get approved?

Display: www blockbuster com
Destination: www my_aff_url_that_will_redirect_to_blockbuster com

You can use a destination URL that redirects to another landing page. So if you put an affiliate link in the destination URL that automatically redirects to blockbuster.com, it would be fine by Google. In other words, the domain of the display URL should match the domain of the eventual landing page.

 

[silentbob]

About a month ago I had all my ads disapproved because I was iframing the affiliate offer although the disapproval reason was that my landing page was a "bridge page". After a lot of back and forth with support they told me the iframes were the problem and as a possible solution said that I could link directly using my aff url as destination url and the merchant url as visible url.

So the visible and destination url do not have to be the same domain. Is's ok as long as the page where the user eventually lands is the same as the visible url.

 

[maximus]

Thanks Silentbob, that's exactly what I thought. When I talked to G support, they told me this was not allowed, but the woman sounded really unsure of herself. She put me on hold to double check but still came back saying I couldn't use an aff url in the destination.

Just further shows how worthless G support is, and they'll never let you talk to the "specialists".

Is your ad approved and running now with the aff link as destination url?

About a month ago I had all my ads disapproved because I was iframing the affiliate offer although the disapproval reason was that my landing page was a "bridge page". After a lot of back and forth with support they told me the iframes were the problem and as a possible solution said that I could link directly using my aff url as destination url and the merchant url as visible url.

So the visible and destination url do not have to be the same domain. Is's ok as long as the page where the user eventually lands is the same as the visible url.

 

[Eves]

last time i checked that (2 yeas ago) rule was that the display domain has to be the domain of the final url that the user will end up on (after forwarding).
so i just assume that rule still holds and i do it all the time and always gets approved.

 

[arz]

so if you actually type in your affiliate link in the destination field and it's a blockbuster offer but your destination url is: www.xvap.com/dkjfdafa they don't care that that the it doesn't match the display url and the destination url doesn't have blockbuster in it, as long as when that url is tested it forwards to blockbuster.com ?

That's right..."they don't care that that the it doesn't match", as you said. (huh?! ) But keep in mind that only one ad will be shown for the display URL blockbuster.com, so the affiliate bidding the most on the keyword will be the one getting the traffic.

That's how I thought it worked, but then in reading G's TOS and talking to G on the phone, they said I can't have the display and destination urls *not* match. When I've tried to enter the offer URL for the display and a redirect via my aff link in the destination URL, they never get approved. Has anyone actually had this get approved?

Display: www blockbuster com
Destination: www my_aff_url_that_will_redirect_to_blockbuster com

I do that all the time. Google reviews my ads regularly and they don't get disapproved. The important part is to make sure the eventual landing page domain matches the display URL domain.

Even large companies do that, BTW. Hover over the link in the Radio Shack ad at radio shack - Google Search and you'll see that the destination URL is on the domain tracking.searchmarketing.com, which obviously doesn't match radioshack.com.