Google Cracks Down On Short-Term Loan Ads

Google has reportedly cracked down on payday loan services using AdWords, which are in violation of its policies and government regulations.
TheDrum.com reports (via Search Engine Land) that Google has pulled all Moneysupermarket ads as part of the crackdown, which is the result of increasing government pressure on Google.
The publication shares a statement from a Google spokeswoman, who said, “We have a set of policies which govern what ads we do and do not allow on Google. We have strict policies for those advertising short term loans, and make it very clear that advertisers need to comply with local regulations and be transparent about their fees, implications of non-payment and collection practices. If we discover sites that are breaking this policy we will take appropriate action.”
Here’s what Google says about short-term loans in its AdWords policies:
Short-term loans are defined as secured or non-secured loans with a duration of 60 days or less. Google doesn’t allow websites for short-term loans that don’t include all of the information below (includes lenders, lead generators, and aggregators of short-term loans):

• Legitimate contact information or physical address (P.O. box addresses are not acceptable)
• Compliance with other state or local regulations related to short-term loans
• Prominent disclosure of the following on the landing page, meaning that it’s shown in the same font type, size, and color as the base text on the landing page and presented in a way that is clear and conspicuous to users:
  • APR
  • Implications of non-payment, including the following:
    • Financial implications (whether fees are charged and/or interest rates are raised)
    • Collection practices
    • Potential impact to users’ credit score
    • Renewal policy information, including if the renewal is automatic and if there are fees associated with the renewal
    Aggregators/lead generators may provide sample implications from their network to satisfy the above requirements. Implications of non-payment should be grouped together in one location on the landing page.

Google has different policies for Japan, Singapore, the UK and the US. These can all be found here.
Advertisers who have had their accounts suspended are advised to review the guidelines, remove all unacceptable content from ad text and their websites, provide users with accurate info about business, products and services, ensure that their sites contain all info required by state and local lawas, and be transparent about the products or services being promoted.

About Chris Crum
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003. Follow Chris on Twitter, on StumbleUpon, on Pinterest and/or on Google: +Chris Crum.

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Resource:  http://www.webpronews.com/google-cracks-down-on-short-term-loan-ads-2013-04

Google’s New ValueTrack Parameters Go Live

Last month, Google announced new ValueTrack parameters for Enhanced Campaigns for advertisers using keyword level URLs. Today, the company announced that they’re now live and ready to be applied to campaigns.
“These features will help you achieve your conversion and ROI goals, and make the upgrade to enhanced campaigns easier by directing users to a device-specific landing page at the keyword level [and aligning performance reporting with device groupings used in enhanced campaigns," says AdWords senior product manager Karen Yao.
Specifically, Google has added the {ifnotmobile:[value]} parameter, which lets you replace [value] with the text that will show up in your URL when the user clicks the ad from a computer or tablet. They’re changing the parameter {ifmobile:[value]}, which will now insert the specified value into the URL only when the user clicks from a mobile device.
Google shares some examples for using these parameters in a blog post here.
If you still need to learn more about upgrading to Enhanced Campaigns, Google has a guide available

About Chris Crum
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003. Follow Chris on Twitter, on StumbleUpon, on Pinterest and/or on Google: +Chris Crum.

View all posts by Chris Crum → 

Resource: http://www.webpronews.com/googles-new-valuetrack-parameters-go-live-2013-04

Companies Can Announce Important Info on Social Media, Rules SEC After Reed Hastings Investigation

The Securities and Exchange Commission has clarified its rules on Regulation Fair Disclosure, saying that public companies can use social media outlets like Facebook or Twitter to announce key company information – just so long as the investors are made aware which social media accounts may be posting such information beforehand.
“The SEC’s report of investigation confirms that Regulation FD applies to social media and other emerging means of communication used by public companies the same way it applies to company websites,” says the SEC.
The SEC didn’t recognize company websites as proper disclosure channels until 2008.
“One set of shareholders should not be able to get a jump on other shareholders just because the company is selectively disclosing important information,” said George Canellos, Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Most social media are perfectly suitable methods for communicating with investors, but not if the access is restricted or if investors don’t know that’s where they need to turn to get the latest news.”
This ruling stems from an SEC investigation into the Facebook activities of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Back in December of 2012, Hastings ran afoul of the SEC when he made a post on Facebook announcing that the company had topped 1 billion hours of streaming per month.
The SEC claimed the post violated Regulation FD, as the disclosure didn’t appear in an official filing or a press release. Hastings had not disclosed to investors that he would be using his Facebook page to report important information.
Just a couple of months ago, Hastings made it clear that he wouldn’t be backing down on this, as he felt that he did nothing wrong.
“I wasn’t setting out to set an example. I was sharing something to these 200,000 people,” Hastings said. “I’m not going to back down and say it’s inappropriate. I think it’s perfectly fine. Sometimes you’re just the example that triggers the debate.”
In clarifying these rules the SEC has also cleared Hastings, saying that they recognize that there had been market uncertainly about Regulation FD and social media. Thus the need for the clarifications.
“The report of investigation explains that although every case must be evaluated on its own facts, disclosure of material, nonpublic information on the personal social media site of an individual corporate officer — without advance notice to investors that the site may be used for this purpose — is unlikely to qualify as an acceptable method of disclosure under the securities laws. Personal social media sites of individuals employed by a public company would not ordinarily be assumed to be channels through which the company would disclose material corporate information.”
So, Reed Hastings and others like him can avoid all the hoopla if they simply make it clear to investors that their Facebook or Twitter profiles will be used for divulging key information. As long as that fact is known, companies, CEOs, COOs, or whoever have the right to post investor relations materials on social sites.

About Josh Wolford
Josh Wolford is a Writer for WebProNews. He likes beer, Sriracha and movies that make him feel weird afterward. Mostly beer. Follow him on Twitter: @joshgwolf Google+: Joshua Wolford StumbleUpon: joshgwolf

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Resource: http://www.webpronews.com/companies-can-announce-important-info-on-social-media-rules-sec-after-reed-hastings-investigation-2013-04