Is Google At Fault for Permitting Chinese Knock-Off Fashion Sites to Dominate Their Sponsored Ads?
Do you know a teenage girl in the market for a homecoming dress? If so, warn her to be very wary of dress shopping online. The sponsored ads on both Google and Bing are completely dominated by Chinese knock-off sites. Given the prominent placements of the sponsored results, it is challenging to distinguish between the knock off sites in the sponsored results and the legitimate sites in the organic results.
How widespread is the problem? A recent search for the term "homecoming dresses" returned a results page with the top seven sponsored search positions all being controlled by Chinese knock-off sites.
It is maddening that Google and Bing are generating revenue by permitting counterfeiters to prey upon teenage girls. The fall homecoming dance is the first major high school social event for many girls. It is a big deal in their young lives. The dresses and the photo's of them in their homecoming dresses should be a source of happy memories. However, the knock off sites prey upon them by offering cheap prices and shipping shoddy merchandise. The knockoff sites steal photography and designs, republish the photography on their websites, and if they get an order try to replicate the design based on the photography. They typically use cheap materials and poor craftsmanship. Sometimes the Chinese knock-off sites come close on matching the colors and embellishments, other times they do not. And often they are slow to ship orders.
How much blame should be heaped on upon Google and Bing for selling ads to knock-off websites? They are reaping profits from facilitating teen-age girls getting ripped off. Obviously, this is a huge user experience problem. Further, they are facilitating sales being made by offshore businesses that are stealing the intellectual property of U.S. designers. The American Bridal and Prom Industry Association certainly judges Google to be at fault, as the organization has indicated they will "go after Google".
TopPromWebsites publishes a list of knock off and counterfeit homecoming and prom dress sites.
Internet Marketing Remarks provides tips on SEO, PPC and other topics related to Internet marketing. Author Randy Pickard is a pioneer in Internet marketing and has been optimizing websites to rank well in search engines since 1996. He is also an avid bicycle rider who attempts to ride 200 outdoor miles per week, Chicago weather permitting.
Google
Well, Google is a business. Generally, whoever pays more for ads gets to the top. However if somebody points to Google that they are advertizing illegitimate and unlawful business - they should remove those ads, I think the law is clear on that: knowing and still profiteering on sales of unlawful goods makes Google an accomplice on crime, doesn't it?
Counterfeit prom dresses
You bring up a good point. I don't know enough about the law governing copyright infringement to know whether Google has any potential legal risk for accepting ads from Chinese companies that steal photography and infringe on copyrights
I believe that these shops
I believe that these shops are just paying more and that's why they are shown more. Everything simple, the same rules as in real life.
Google Displaying Ads For Prom Knock off Sites
Yes, I agree that these sites are paying more. Presumably they can do so because they have high profit margins due to using cheap materials and not having any design expenses.
Knock off Homecoming Dress Sites
When going to the sites of the counterfeiters, the cheap prices are a give away that they are not legitimate. Also, whether the sites feature fractured Eglish seems to be hit or miss, as some of the counterfeit dress websites have laughably bad text descriptions, while others are well written,