Is it permissible to click on sponsored ads on Google to check competitors?
Have a good week Rabbi!!
In my work (which includes paid advertising on Google for my clients)
I do competitor research to learn from them and understand.
Among other things, it’s important to me to see where they lead those who click on their ad on Google.
The problem is that every time I click on an ad like this, the person who advertises pays money to Google.
This means that he does not pay Google for displaying the ad, but only if it is clicked on.
And my question is, am I allowed to click on ads from my clients’ competitors to learn what they do, even though it’s clear to me that I’m not looking to buy a product from them?
And I’m not talking about fraud, since the person whose ad I click on doesn’t know that I’m entering the site like I do in a store.
But is there theft here?
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Thank you very much Rabbi.
It's quite complicated to get a customer or buy
Because sometimes the products are very expensive and I don't even need them
Can I instead give him a marketing tip about his website?
It has monetary value
You can simply refund the cost of the click by bank transfer or by purchasing a product from him.
It is impossible to know the cost of a click, it is not a fixed amount (and it can also be tens of shekels)
If I click on 10 competitors, it will require paying hundreds of shekels just to find out what others are doing.
In addition, most of them do not have a specific product – If for example I look at the ads of 10 magicians. I will not book 10 performances or even one, it does not make sense.
Paying hundreds of shekels is exactly what you need to do. If it's not worth hundreds of shekels to you, don't do it. As for magicians - I said above that it's allowed, but in my opinion it's not appropriate unless you can compensate them for the cost of the click.
I encountered the same problem in the past and the solution was to copy the address and paste it into the address bar above so you don't have to click.
So-and-so, but when copying the address there is no mention in the address that it is an advertisement like taboola../gogle=…. Etc. Then even if you copy and don't click, it knows it is through them?
Also, what happens if you go to the site and they know your IP that you were viewing advertisements at the same time so maybe that counts too?
It sounds to me like you can simply find the company and product manually by manual search when there is no part of the advertisement in the result. Maybe even under a different IP like in Tor.
So-and-so – it's the same thing. If I'm not mistaken, they don't charge money for a physical “click” but for entering the link that the ad points to
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