Google Keyword Tool "Important Note" Disclaimer/Warning Message

Summary: Google recently added disclaimers to all of their keyword and placement research tools. The "important notes" essentially state that individual advertisers are responsible for their own decisions and that Google never guarantees any success. But isn't that common sense? What are these messages all about and why is Google posting them now? I suspect the goal is to make it more difficult for those with litigious tendencies to bring frivolous (and costly) law suits. I haven't made any secret about issues I have with the current Google keyword tool, as compared to earlier versions, but a seemingly new disclaimer strikes me as more puzzling than irritating. If you scroll to the bottom of the keyword tool, you'll now see the following message (h/t Katie @ iMarket Solutions):

Important Note: We cannot guarantee that these keywords will improve your campaign performance. We reserve the right to disapprove any keywords you add. You are responsible for the keywords you select and for ensuring that your use of keywords does not violate any applicable laws.

(Screenshot preserved for posterity)

The reason I call this puzzling is because the statement is pretty basic, boiler-plate CYA stuff that any Google Adwords advertiser should be aware of . So why add it now? It's essentially Google's statement on personal responsibility: Ride at your own risk and we can change things at any time if we have cause. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of issues with the Google Keyword Tool making it harder and harder to dig for long tail keywords over the last few years, and trying to over-automate things with the new "ad group ideas" option being selected by default. These changes seem geared toward driving up average CPC (costs-per-click), because if advertisers are only able to build small lists of the most competitive keywords, they'll be forced to pay more to be in positions that will generate any clicks. But this new "Important Note:" seems to be a common sense statement, and it just strikes me as odd that they've added it now. If you have any ideas about why Google made this change, please comment below this post. My best guess is that they're simply trying to avoid frivolous lawsuits. Again, nothing in the statement is anything we shouldn't already all be aware of, but Google is no stranger to lawsuits. Just do a search for 'adwords lawsuit' to see what I'm talking about. A few headlines from just this year:

• Appeals Court Rules Against Google In AdWords Lawsuit
• Google AdWords Class Action Lawsuit Settlement
• Vringo, Inc.(VRNG) Could Make Billions Out of its Lawsuit Against Google (GOOG)

More from the recent past:

• Google Countersues Haircutter Company That Brought On AdWords Lawsuit
• Google Wins Key Ruling In AdWords Lawsuit

And then there's this Eric Goldman piece from over 3 years ago lists 8 Adwords lawsuits that were active at the time. If you dig around a bit, it's clear that Google has actually had quite a bit of success in these cases, but in others they've settled for tens of millions, which places a big target on their backs. Imagine how many lawyers are out their drooling at the thought of picking a fight with the big G just to later make millions by agreeing to dropping a bogus suit? Basically the theory goes - Google is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, so they'll be happy to shut us up by paying us a few million. Considering all of that recent history, my best guess is that Google adding this little note is an effort to dissuade some of the dreamers before they take their little scheme to the next level. They don't want to reward weasels, but they also don't want to waste time, money and resources fighting them either, so it seems again like this is a CYA disclaimer. I'm relatively certain these statements were already published in various places (and if not, then it was Google's own fault), but I think making them more obvious will help them get lawsuits tossed out of court early. Out of curiosity I checked some other Adwords tools and they all have similar, yet slightly modified statements now as well.

Google Adwords Traffic Estimator

Important Note: We cannot guarantee that these keywords will improve your campaign performance. We reserve the right to disapprove any keywords you add. You are responsible for the keywords you select and for ensuring that your use of keywords does not violate any applicable laws.

Google Adwords Placement Tool

Important Note: We cannot guarantee that these placements will improve your campaign performance. We reserve the right to disapprove any placements you add. You are responsible for the placements you select and for ensuring that your use of placements does not violate any applicable laws.

Google Adwords Contextual Targeting Tool

Important Note: We cannot guarantee that these ad groups and keywords will improve your campaign performance, or that your ads will appear on the specific placements shown in the details view section. We reserve the right to disapprove any added ad groups or keywords. You are responsible for the ad groups and keywords you select, and for ensuring that your use of ad groups and keywords does not violate any applicable laws.

They even snuck the disclaimer into some help documents for Google Adwords Editor:

Important note: We cannot guarantee that keywords generated through the Keyword Opportunities tool will improve your campaign performance. We reserve the right to disapprove any keywords you add. You are responsible for the keywords you select and for ensuring that your use of the keywords does not violate any applicable laws.

Have you seen these "notes" anywhere else? Any better theories on why these are popping up now? Comment below, I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.