Ads lowering EPC

[jino]

One of the things I noticed after putting in the ad tracking javascript code is the type of ads that I was getting.

Most clicks were pretty targetted but I was getting a disproportionate number of clicks going to ebay and bizrate site. The weird thing was that they were coming from a huge range of pages. I run an educational site for kids with subjects ranging from reading, math to arts.

I've decided to filter these ads because they seem spammy (not targeted) and cheap. I understand from the adword forum that you may get cheap ads showing ahead of more expensive ads just by making your ads more "clicky". I believe these ads were bringing down my EPC. So I disabled them and after half a day, my CTR has increased by 70% and my EPC is slightly higher. This may even out over time.

Anybody else have experience with ebay & bizrate ads?

[annej]

filter these ads because they seem spammy (not targeted) and cheap

I filter everything like that. Even if they didn't supress earnings I think they are worth filtering so visitors won't get turned off when they click on an ad and find nothing worthwhile there. In addition some people may think we choose these ads even though 'Google AdSense' is by the ads. that looks bad for the site.

I'm not sure if the filtering helped my earnings. I noticed a bigger difference when I moved my ads to sit higher on the page.

[jino]

Anne,

Thanks for replying. I also found it strange that the URL that they display is "suspicious" like
www.ebay.com
ebay.com
www.eBay.com
www.Ebay.com

as if they wanted to prevent being filtered. Would you share your filtered list with regards to these types of companies?

Mine are:

ebay.com
Good-Offers.com
www.bizrate.com
www.ebay.ca
www.ebay.co.uk
www.eBay.com
www.ebay.com.au

[zorafex]

I assume you guys think that these type of ad's pay less? If so, this is a good idea. Some more to add:

dealtime.com
ebay.com
Good-Offers.com
google.zdnet.com
pricegrabber.com
shopper.zdnet.com
shopping.com
www.bizrate.com
www.dealtime.com
www.ebay.ca
www.ebay.co.uk
www.eBay.com
www.ebay.com.au
www.pricegrabber.com
www.pricetool.com
www.shopping.com
www1.pricetool.com

[jino]

Thanks Zora,

That is a great list. I'm pretty sure these ads do bring down the overall earnings as well as the tone of the site.

[annej]

I have filtered a lot more ads than that. I filter them by domain without the WWW so that the whole domain is filtered. I check any suspicious looking ads by clicking on the "Ads by Google" link and then copying and pasting the url so that I can see what the site is like. You have to keep an eye out as new ones come along all the time. I've also filtered out a lot of ads for buying 'widgets' as I need the ads to be related to MAKING 'widgets'.

[jino]

After 1 day of filtering "spammy" ads, my CTR has increased by about 60%. However the EPC has lowered slightly (about 5%). So my initial assertion that "spammy ads" was lowering EPC was wrong. However, the conclusion is the same, which is, they bring down the tone of the site, increased frustration for users who clicked through and lower overall earnings.

I would like to clarify my definition of "spammy ads". These are ads that has hundreds of keywords, appear all over your site, may have slightly relevant ads but are generally auction sites, directory sites, email harvesting sites, price lookup sites, etc.

[wgonz]

Please, may somebody tell me this:
After you specify in the filter any URL, how much time it takes to the system to stop those ads?
Thanks,
wgonz

[jino]

wgonz,

It may take between 5 minutes to 6 hours. Seriously!

Question for Jenstar & ASA:

Will putting in the filter URL

widget.com

filter out

www.widget.com
www.Widget.com
www1.widget.com

addition:

Will

the word in filter list

match

fliter out

matchmakerwidget.com
singlesmatchwidget.com

(I put in widget so that nobody can say I am promoting some singles site)

[edited by: jino at 12:32 am (utc) on Mar. 23, 2004]

[wgonz]

Thanks Jino!

[wgonz]

Thanks Jino!

[wgonz]

Thanks Jino!

[jomaxx]

I just found a page on my site showing four out of four ads from the same advertiser. All different ads, two had the URL capitalized and two had it in lowercase. It was actually a quite relevant sponsor for that page, but one would have been enough so I filtered the whole domain.

[yump]

Anyone any idea why some of the biggest organisations run adverts like this:

Find blueandpinkwidgetswithgreenandpurpledots at geteverything.com and then when you click on them it doesn't even take you to a relevant page.

Surely it irritates everyone and ultimately will destroy a brand? ...even if in the short term its just a numbers game?

[Sunflux]

And what really bugs me is when you get ads for Widget Brand A's Sprockets on a page detailing Widget Brand B's Gizmos. I can't imagine those get good clickthroughs.