The Downside of Google Ads

Like most people who spend a lot of time working on their computers, I have a big ole power strip with about 15 things plugged into it. Naturally, I this has led to a horrible tangled mess of cables behind my machine. Today I decided to do something about it.

After a few minutes of alone time with Google, I found this device. All well and good, but I wanted to try one before I went and bought the dozen I really need. Fine. I did a Google search for "cable turtle" and lo and behold, sponsored link #3 was target.com.

Great! There's a Target down the street from my house. I went to their website to see what their pricing was like, and, hopefully, to confirm that said item is likely to be in my store.

The link took me to a generic landing page with a bunch of crap I didn't care about. Then I searched the website for "cable turtle," and guess what? They don't carry that item!

This ticked me off. (Hence, blog post.) I understand using Google's tools to cast a wide net to draw people in, but using word substitution to create an ad for something you don't even stock can't possibly be a good idea in any rational universe.

Does this mean I will stop shopping at Target? Unlikely. But it does mean I'll think twice before I click through to their website again.