Ghost in the Machine

Google reveals an internal lapse allowed a rep to change an ad campaign’s creative... without advertiser’s knowledge or any audit trail.

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A Google Rep Changed an Advertiser’s Campaign

A haunted house, but it’s your Google ad account mysteriously getting taken over by an ad rep without your consent.

Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison, confirmed yesterday that a Google ad rep recently made unauthorized changes to a client’s account without approval.

Ghost ad edits

The issue was first flagged by Andy Youngs, Co-Founder of The PPC People, who posted about noticing changes to their ad accounts on LinkedIn.

We’ve just had a Google Rep actively make changes to a client account, without authorisation from us or the client.

The changes they made (including writing new ad copy, adjusting headline pinning and changing a bidding strategy) don’t even show in the account change history.

Following an investigation, Marvin responded to the post, saying "We did not properly follow our processes for ensuring approvals.”

She said the issue was a mistake and that Google is taking steps to prevent similar breaches.

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From ad mishaps to strong earnings, Google published its third-quarter earnings report yesterday, beating revenue expectations.

  • Ad revenue climbed 10% year over year to nearly $66 billion.

  • Search and other, the company's largest segment, was up 12% year over year to nearly $50 billion, driven by demand from financial services and retail marketers.

  • YouTube saw a 12% increase during the period, bringing in nearly $9 billion in revenue.

Challenges ahead

Despite its success, Google faces a turbulent landscape, with recent regulatory scrutiny looming over its operations.

  • In August, a landmark ruling determined that Google maintains an illegal monopoly on search, jeopardizing its primary revenue stream. The company plans to appeal this decision, which could let competitors gain ground in the search market.

  • Google is also facing a separate antitrust challenge from the Department of Justice concerning its ad-tech network, which recently wrapped up a three-week trial.

During discussions with investors, executives refrained from addressing ongoing litigation but reinforced their argument that Google's dominance stems from a superior product.

In 2010, a woman sued Google for $100,000 because:

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