Color of ads?

Contrasting or not?

[zeus661]

When putting ads on my web pages do you think it is better to make them contrast in color so they stick out? Or use similar colors so they blend with the site?

[4eyes]

similar for CTR
different for moral high ground
YMMV

[ken_b]

Many people say blending the ads in results in a higher CTR. Apparently Google itself thinks this, since they have made adwords colors match the rest of the serps pages.

On my site, blending the ads in resulted in a lower CTR.

I think that what works best depends on the type of site.

[4eyes]

I guess that 'similar' probably works best on sites that rely on less repeat visitors.

[Jon_King]

>>I guess that 'similar' probably works best on sites that rely on less repeat visitors.

As evidenced by the new look of Google serps.

[edited by: Jon_King at 2:03 am (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[Broadway]

Up until today I would have felt strongly that each of my consecutive pages should show ads in different colors, so the ads stand out.

Now that I have implemented Channels I find no evidence to support my previous beliefs.

[usavetele]

How about placement of the ads in terms of top, bottom or side bar placement? Anybody think placement of the ads on a web page makes a hill of beans difference? I currently have mine on the bottom of my pages, but am wondering if putting them in the top, middle or side would make a difference.

[Rodney]

but am wondering if putting them in the top, middle or side would make a difference.

Make a couple of channels and give it a test run to find out. You may be surprised.

I think it will vary from site to site, depending on how your content is organized, but it's definitely worth a test.

[sr123]

I found marked differences in CTR depending on where I placed the ads.

[usavetele]

sr123:

So where were the best places to put the ads for your site? And how many ads did you choose: 1,2, 4 or 5?

[humbads]

Definitely non-contrasting colors. I changed my colors to match my pages a few weeks ago, and since then my CTR has been on average 20% higher. This is the difference between the CTR for 11 days since I changed the colors throughout my site, and the CTR for the 41 days prior to that change. I don't know if that's statistically significant, but intuitively it seems like it is.

To be specific, almost all of my pages are black text on white backgrounds with blue links. What I had originally were highly contrasting ad colors, such as dark blue background with white text. Then I changed all the ads to light-grey border, white background, and blue links, so they look virtually like regular content. I am even considering changing the font of my website to match the Adsense font.

Unfortunately, although CTR was 20% higher, average earnings per day were 17% lower for the same period. I think this is due to other factors though, like declining relevance of the content in my pages, declining advertising expenditures, and perhaps temporary traffic spikes to high revenue pages during the prior period.