Who is Responsible for Relevant AdWords Ads: Google or Advertisers?

Yesterday, I discussed the issues Simon Delivers faces with the natural search results on this page. Today, let's take a look at the Sponsored Links coming from Google AdWords:

The AdWords displayed are from:

Safeway.com
homebistro.com
Yellowpages.AOL.com
shopping.com
peapod.com

All are relevant to the given search, which is a good start, but things fall apart when I start clicking on them:

Safeway.com: Safeway Now Delivering in: Arizona, California, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Washington, D.C.
homebistro.com: Actually is relevant.
Yellowpages.AOL.com: sent me to a form rather than a page containing what I searched for:
shopping.com: A shopping.com results page containing nothing but sponsored search results above the fold (I believe they're served by Google AdWords) followed by a handful of grocery items.
peapod.com: Offer limited to the following areas: Chicagoland, Milwaukee and SE Wisconsin, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia.

My biggest gripe with this series of ads is the display of ads from businesses who are not physically capable of serving me. PeaPod and Safeway are wasting their money and my time by serving ads to someone in Minnesota. If they were more AdWords savvy, they would set their ads to only display in markets they served. One exception: If I searched from Minnesota for the term [arizona grocery delivery] my search would be relevant for Safeway, and [maryland grocery delivery] would be relevant for Peapod because I've geographically qualified my search.

Should Google better police their advertiser's ads? Google makes money on those clicks, so do they care if they're entirely relevant? In the long run, I think Google is better off providing fewer but more relevant sponsored results if they want to keep the clicks coming. Why would people continue to click on ads if there is such a lower chance of finding what they're trying to buy?

Or is it up to advertisers to use Google's ad platform however they see fit? Sure, some will waste money advertising to poorly chosen audiences, but that's not Google's fault. Who is ultimately responsible for providing truly relevant content to searchers?

Comments

1. Posted by: Keith Gregory on August 10, 2006 8:56 AM:

Absolutely google should do a better job of managing their adwords.

As a user, I will sometimes click on the sponsored link, hopeing it is relevant.

And when I am dissappointed by its lack of relevancy, it goes a long way towards encouraging me not to ever try to click on them.

I might be a more savvy search user as I have been to page 4,5 & 6 at times when looking for something, and perhaps my response is not typical of the typical user.

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