Gotta love it... or not.

Here is a hitchhiking scenario to be aware of ::

About a month or 2 ago, I changed the layout of our web site - so… as a follow up I Googled it to check on our listings in the search results. No one wants to slip, right?
Bearded dragons, bearded dragon pictures, bearded dragon care, bearded dragon breeders - they all look good. Then I come to Dachiu - probably the most important search term for us - which also happens to be our last name.
Here is where it gets interesting. Another breeder was actually paying for “Dachiu” as a Google AdWord! And it was the ONLY AdWord for that search term. Numerous other search engines and directories pull from the Google AdWord program - including AOL. **This is not a situation where our name comes up in the content because we are mentioned on that particular web site - as we are not.

After stewing for a few hours, I made a very polite phone call to the other breeder, expressed my extreme displeasure and asked them to remove it - which they promptly did. They are still using other peoples names and businesses as AdWords though.

I find this particular piggy-backing practice to be appalling. It may not be illegal - But it is amoral, unethical and dishonest for anyone to pull *to say the least* this sneaky advertising tactic on another breeder who works darned hard to maintain their standings and reputation.

So for everyone that has worked long and hard to get good listings on the search engines - whatever species you may be offering - Please keep an eye out for schemers like this.

V.