Google Sponsored Bogus Review Sites

The Google AdWord program accepts advertising that appears to be legitimate, unbiased reviews. These "reviews" don't acknowledge affiliate compensation. These ads (reviews) are purchased by my competitor, Learn and Master Guitar and the company's affiliates. These bogus reviews generate income for both Learn and Master and even more important, Google.

Here's how the system works. The consumer searches Google on about any guitar related keyword phrase. For this example I'll use "DVD Guitar Lessons."
I'll click on the bottom ad: Guitar Lessons DVD?

When you click on any of the links on this page you are registered as a customer of this affiliate. If you look at the bottom of the browser when you click you can actually see the registration process.

Now I'll click on the second AdWord ad listed above. It actually takes you directly to a review of the product at Gibson Guitars. Guitar Lesson DVD
The author of this article, Dave Hunter claims that this is an "unbiased review" without compensation. Problem is, all the product links on the page are encoded with an affiliate ID - someone's paying for the Google ad and obviously benefitting from the sales. Next, look at the bottom of the review.

When you do a "mouse over" the phrase "click here" notice the link at the bottom of the page: http://www.learnandmaster.com/826-8-3-1.html (Gibson responded to my objections and removed this afiiliate link. dm)

That last bit of code 826-8-3-1 is for affiliate sales tracking. Click on this link and you're a potential customer of this affiliate for at least 90 days. Your IP address is registered and cookies are stored in your browser for future recognition of you as the affiliate's client.

Let's take a closer look at reader comments just below this link. The first comment includes the disclaimer. The second comment questions the validity of the review.

Since these reviews are already deceptive, is one more deception really a problem? I didn't think so. Check this one out. Many of the reviews close the deal with something like this, "Every few months this product is offered for a huge discount so you should go to their web site often. Who knows? You might get lucky." That's right my friend. It's your lucky day!
Check back on Friday. Betcha' it's still on sale.

You can Google about any guitar related keyword phrases and you'll find yourself surrounded by 5 star reviews of this product. Your results won't be the same as mine because Google shows different ads around the country. But these are the first page results that I just now found for a few popular keyword phrases:

guitar lesson reviews - 5 review ads

best guitar lessons - 4 reviews

learn to play guitar - 2 reviews

beginner guitar - 2 reviews

Thanks for your attention to this matter. I've been dealing with this problem for at least four years. Thanks to the latest FTC guidelines I feel that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Doug Marks 805-581-7190
http://www.RockGuitar.com