Google AdSense launched today

New content targed ad program for content providers

[eaden]

It's way cool :)

[google.com...]

Not sure if this should be in Google News or adwords. I guess this forum should really be the one for AdSense questions as it's about advertising.

Also, it seems that the site hangs in IE. Mozilla ( as usual ) works perfectly so use that.

Unlike the exising content targed ads you do not need 20 million visitors to put these ads on your site.

[nutsandbolts]

I have Google text ads via Fastclick's deal with Googlesyndication - will the per click payout be more by signing up directly with Google I wonder?

Oh, and like other ad networks - what does it show as "default" ads? Can you choose your own default ad?

And is there a handy system of allowing people to advertise on your site - click through to Google Ads - and get a small commission for the referral? ;)

[edited by: nutsandbolts at 10:09 am (utc) on June 18, 2003]

[GoogleGuy]

bpresent, we're putting checks in place to make sure that clicks are counted in the right way so that cheating doesn't take place. In the same way, vibgyor79--you'll be happy to know that we have an editorial team that will review each web publisher application. They check the content on the site and also use in-house technology to determine how popular a site is. So there will be reviews to make sure that a site is appropriate in the first place, and there will also be on-going monitoring to make sure that sites maintain the level of quality that we want to work with. It's going to be pretty exciting. :)

[vitaplease]

I like the way you can filter out some sites from appearing as ads on your page.

eaden, whats your first impression on running the program?

[heini]

also use in-house technology to determine how popular a site is

Toolbar data, CTR measurements on serps - where's the data coming from?

[GoogleGuy]

Good question, heini--I didn't get down into that level of detail with the person that I talked to about it. The main thing that I wanted to communicate is that we will have an editorial team to review sites and ensure that web publisher sites are of high quality.

[DaveN]

it would be interesting to see if a site which as lived happily in Google using dodgy means would stay after the application.

Dave

[Dayo_UK]

DaveN

Agreed - it would be foolish however for someone who has used dodgy tactics to drawn attention to the site in that manner though

Dayo

[merlin30]

This is a fantastic development.

It will pave the way for high quality unbiased review material/editorials to be financially supported; this will make a better web for everyone.

[vitaplease]

GoogleGuy,

Maybe I missed it on the FAQ, but would be great if one could have a geographical opt-in/out as publisher showing ads.

My main target is Europe. I would not mind showing ads for certain pages to the Americans though.
It would save me filtering out European targetted ads per url and would save me from suprises on new European advertisers.

[GoogleGuy]

I've been learning more about it recently and talking to people about it, and it's pretty exciting. Publishers can exclude ads from any site (like a competitor) that they want, they can swap between banner ads and skyscraper ads immediately, and they can stop the ads at any time. Ads relevant to a page are better than banner ads for users--those punch the monkey banners can be pretty annoying. And advertisers can get more inventory by using content-targeted ads, or if they ever have reservations, it's easy to disable content-targeted ads for their account.

I'll try to stop before I sound like a total salesperson, but I've seen it working on the site of a WebmasterWorld member, and it's really sweet. The member's site is very high-quality (the aim is to accept blue-ribbon sites), but it appeals to a narrow segment--so it could be hard to chase down advertisers. We serve up ads exactly matched for that website, so it works really well for them. :)