MINIs For Sale Saint John
Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 2:34 am
Two weeks ago, the banner ad I saw at the top of this forum was "MINIs For Sale Nunavut". If you don't know Canada, Nunavut is the territory comprising of much of our eastern arctic, centered on its capital Iqaluit (pop. 7700), the former settlement of Frobisher Bay. There are few roads, and it's not known as a driver's paradise. If there are even 3 Minis in Iqaluit I'd be aghast. The territory consists of a number of islands in Canada's eastern arctic ocean. I live on Vancouver Island, an island in the north pacific ocean, some 3,500 km (as the crow flies - way farther by road, except there are no roads) from Nunavut. Why is Google trying to sell me an arctic Mini? My mind boggled.
Today I log in and find that the ad has shifted. Now it says, "MINIs For Sale Saint John". Saint John is, of course, the principle city of New Brunswick, one of Canada's Atlantic provinces. It's 4200 km from Vancouver Island. I can't imagine that the vendor managed to shift his stock; nor can I imagine that there ever was any significant stock of Minis for sale in the arctic. I suppose the whole episode must be some advertiser's Google adwords fail, in which the vendor failed to set their parameters correctly, and Google happily served them up a useless ad on the Chiffboard. I suppose the vendor should be happy to know that Google at least knows I'm in Canada, or else next month's ad is likely to say "MINIs For Sale Corpus Christi".
Edited: Sigh. Oh well. Right now, the banner is trying to sell sell me Chinese food in Denver. You can waste a lot of money on adwords if you don't want to pay to get specific. And I work hard to ensure that I'm a low-value eyeball for Google; that they know the minimum I can manage about me, and I regularly delete what they do know about me, as much as I can.
Today I log in and find that the ad has shifted. Now it says, "MINIs For Sale Saint John". Saint John is, of course, the principle city of New Brunswick, one of Canada's Atlantic provinces. It's 4200 km from Vancouver Island. I can't imagine that the vendor managed to shift his stock; nor can I imagine that there ever was any significant stock of Minis for sale in the arctic. I suppose the whole episode must be some advertiser's Google adwords fail, in which the vendor failed to set their parameters correctly, and Google happily served them up a useless ad on the Chiffboard. I suppose the vendor should be happy to know that Google at least knows I'm in Canada, or else next month's ad is likely to say "MINIs For Sale Corpus Christi".
Edited: Sigh. Oh well. Right now, the banner is trying to sell sell me Chinese food in Denver. You can waste a lot of money on adwords if you don't want to pay to get specific. And I work hard to ensure that I'm a low-value eyeball for Google; that they know the minimum I can manage about me, and I regularly delete what they do know about me, as much as I can.