Is Google Price-Fixing with AdWords?

Update on Google AdWords Complaint
I failed to discuss quality score in my original post which has  led to some interesting comments on some Web 2.0 sites we’ve posted onto.

To set the record straight:
We ran the ads for a total of 3 days, we only received 3 impressions in that time, and our relevancy score was 6/10. While 6/10 isn’t the best relevancy score I feel that score plus the short period of time that I was given to run the ad was absurd. When most sites utilize CPM  (cost per million) the idea that 3 impressions (sorry I heard originally 100 but that was for a different key word) is enough data to double my costs in my mind is not appropriate.
Lets also not forget that there is absolutely no one else advertising on this word.

My Take on the Responses
I see a lot of experts who are all too comfortable with the realities of working with Google and that scares me a bit. I look at a company with so much power who can make a flippant decision and it is a concern as a businessman. The suggestion that the person with the dominating power is just right and there can be no complaints or concerns is asinine, especially when their impact on advertisers is so skewed.
This of course isn’t my forte, I’m not the internet marketer for this site I’m a brand and product manager specialist. We’ll have some more updates straight from Gustav on the coming campaign.

Original post:

So I’m pretty new to Google and AdWords I’ll admit that straight away. In just a few weeks time of using the product I’ve seen some rather abnormal behavior all of my keywords keep going up weekly in acquisition costs.
 

Devil’s Advocate
Other companies keep bidding up the words you are using.
This is just the cost of doing business
More competitors are coming into the market
Basic Supply and Demand

My Take
It’s highly irregular to think that every single last keyword has gone up in price consistently.
It feels like I’m bidding against myself
The words I was selecting were relatively low in priority previously so why would there be a sudden rush to that real-estate?

I am Bidding Against Myself
This one is the most glaring issue I’ve seen. I selected the keyword “Messaging and Positioning” a term that had zero people paying for advertising. A week later Google asked me to double my cost of acquisition even though still no one is using this keyword.

Looks like Wyoming so why am I paying NYC prices?

 This Feels Like Price-Fixing
You have the dominate share of the internet, you offer no transparency in the bidding process, and to top it off you raise the price on something 1 person is bidding on? That sounds a lot like utilizing your market power to price fix.

Filing an Anti-Trust Complaint
I decided to file a complaint to the federal government on this. If you’ve seen a similar issue feel free to leave a comment, and if you want to file a complaint here is the information.

E-mail   antitrust.complaints@usdoj.gov

Mail   Citizen Complaint Center
Antitrust Division
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Room 3322
Washington, DC 20530
Phone   1-888-647-3258 (toll free in the U.S. and Canada) or 202-307-2040

My Complaint letter:

Complaint Against: Google
Complaint explanation:
 
Recently I’ve started using Google Ad-words. I felt this was really the only real option to drive traffic to my site as they wield about 70% of the search market share. Their process of selecting ads for placement is through an open bid auction. However, there is no visibility into this process, we’re expected to believe that Google will appropriately handle the auction and not inflate the prices.
 
After a couple of weeks I’ve seen every single ad word that we have selected has gone up in price like clockwork. Now this could just be the nature of the business, maybe more companies have become interested in a word etc. I can appreciate that argument. Except, that we put an ad in for the words “messaging and positioning” and that too has gone up in price.
 
The problem with the “messaging and positioning” is this:
1. No one else was advertising under these key words when we started.
2. Still no one is advertising under these key words as seen from the attached screen shot.
3. Google has asked us to increase our advertising price $.10 to $.20 doubling our cost
4. Google has not communicated any across the board increase in the cost of these services.
5. With no additional demand for the keyword I’m being asked to bid against myself essentially.
6. There is no transparency in how Google does business
7. To me this is an unfair business practice and should be investigated as a possible exertion of Google’s dominate market-share for the purpose of price fixing.