Claiming a Special Relationship or Business Partnership with Google – Bogus!

Apr 19

JohnUncategorized No Comments

Let’s be clear – having your website reviews listed in Google local results does NOT mean a vendor has a “special relationship with Google,” or any kind of formalized business arrangement.

Google Partner Claims by Companies are Mostly Bogus False

4 Common Lies told by businesses claiming to be "Google's Preferred Partner"

Having AdSense ads or being able to be a Certified Adwords Reseller or Adwords Pro does NOT mean you have a special partnership with Google. I don’t care how many times you illegally put the Google logo on your brochures or have your salespeople “soft-promise” Google organic rankings because your company has a special in with GOOG somehow.

It’s not true, it’s not happening, and you are misrepresenting yourself and your company to the business community. Here are the common misleading whoppers I see (that many people outside the search engine industry actually believe):

Common Google Partnership Lies

#1: We are a preferred data provider to Google.

Sure, if you count that reviews or other listings indexed by Google Local Maps is a “preferred data partnership.” But hey, DoctorBase reviews get indexed in local maps listings too now.

Dentist Reviews and Physician Ratings on Doctor Base the Medical Search Engine

DoctorBase reviews from patients get included in Google Local Maps now!

Does that mean we all have special data import partnerships with Google? Absolutely not – Google’s algorithm crawls our websites and determines that on its own.

#2: We have a special relationship with Google to display our ads on top.

Sure, if by special relationship you are willing to pay more than the next company to place your ads over theirs. But that just makes you another customer, not a business partner.

#3: We are a display ad partner with Google.

If by “display ad partner” they mean being an AdSense customer, then yes – they are a partner with Google. A partner that anyone can become in about 5 minutes on Google.com/adsense.

#4: We’re a strategic partner with Google regarding our new revolutionary _________

If this is true, your name must be Barack Obama, Dean Kamen, or Steve Jobs. No? Then, no. You’re not.

Using Patient Records to Buy Their Email Addresses

Apr 19

JohnUncategorized No Comments

Some marketing software companies in the dental industry secretly take patient information and purchase email look-ups from database companies to email advertise promotions to them. Hardly ethical? HIPAA compliant?

dentist marketing software companies buy patient emails

some dental software vendors quietly use patient info to buy patient emais - and sell them back to unwitting dentists

In the last few years there have been a slew of companies claiming “special partnerships with Google, “Preferred data providers to Google,” and now even those claiming special relationships with Facebook and Twitter.

Some of these same companies that make claims like this also advertise to dentists that they can discover the email addresses of their patients to market to them with “re-care messages” (i.e. 6 month care reminders, deals on clear braces, etc).

I wonder what patients would think if they knew their dentists were using the patient information stored in their dentist office database to purchase their email address without asking them? Hmmm. Dentists should be very, very careful about opting in for email purchase services! Getting the emails of your patients is important for re-care, communication, and otherwise – but you must ask for it, not buy them in bulk.