Major changes to AdSense

Pricing structure and ad relevance

[markus007]

Unless adsense is sending out a april fools joke, what do people think of the changes? Every site has a unique pricing model?

For example, a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras.

[edited by: markus007 at 8:08 pm (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[europeforvisitors]

Google in reality still can't track conversions for the vast, overwhelming majority of sites so it can't be THE reason for the drop in earnings.

I don't think anyone is claiming that Google tracks conversions for every site. But if they have conversion-tracking data from a large sample of advertisers, that may be enough (at least in their estimation) to make informed judgments about what converts and what doesn't.

(Note that I said "at least in their estimation." I'm not defending their methodology; I simply believe they have a legitimate point in saying that not all clicks are of identical value.)

Google must let advertisers bid for content targetted traffic seperately from search traffic.

That really isn't a solution to the problem of different clicks having different value to the advertiser. Why? Because there's probably greater variation in conversion rates or lead quality between different venues for content ads than there is between search ads and content ads. Surely no one would argue that clicks from special-interest sites, general news and entertainment portals, directories, forums, parked domains, gmail, etc. are of equal value.

Google's idea of variable pricing isn't necessarily bad for advertisers (though it may be bad for many publishers), and it may be essential now that "content ads" are being scattered across such a wide range of sites and pages. I'm a little skeptical about how Google is appraising the value of different clicks, though. And giving a discount for, say, a DomainPark ad or an ad on a weather site with a 0% conversion rate isn't the same as letting advertisers opt in or out with a domain filter.

[dvduval]

Do you suppose Google could be tracking coversions via the toolbar (ex. - see if users visit checkout.php)?

[rohitj]

I highly doubt google would do that, since they state clearly what type of information they collect. On a somewhat seperate note, I've read on several other forums that some of the other contextual ad programs perform pretty well. Has anyone tried any others/know of good alternatives?

[whizkiddo]

is this the longest thread in wworld or wat. I know for a fact that its the longest in the adsense forum. Well if it it then no wonder, the adsense forum is where i head first on entering this site.

Three cheers to Adsense forum and all ye members making it great.

[anxvariety]

How times change!

[karatekid]

What is essentially the end of the program for most of us deserves a long thread. It actually deserves its own website. Per Dotster, the domain

AdsenseSaysYourTrafficSucksButStillChargesTheSameAndKeepsTheMoney.com

is available.

I'd set it up but I'm starting over on how to monitize traffic.

[Sunflux]

The big problem I see with this attitude, converts to the same reason that for years, I refused to place "click to pay only" ads on my sites. Exposure is worth, at least, something. Just because a visit via a click does not convert to an instant sale, the clicker/visitor to that site, might well bookmark it for future visit and make a purchase at a later time. Where do we fall out in this scenario?

This is something that my older, much wiser father has repeatedly said. Just try approaching a newspaper, magazine, billboard, television or radio station and telling them "I want unlimited free exposure, and I'll pay you $1 each time someone buys something and mentions you". The Internet is the only media where this sort of business occurs.

AdSense is the first place where CPC has worked well. Targeted content, unobtrusive ads, and earnings that often met or exceeded typical CPM rates based on the number of impressions delivered. Now, that is no longer the case. My CPM in AdSense is down to levels that make AdSense nothing special.

[jaxomlotus]

I ran an experiment today and ran my ads as 50% Adsense and 50% ad_sonar*. Under Google's new changes ad_sonar* earned approximately twice as much revenue for me as Adsense, whereas previously Adsense would clearly beat out ad_sonar*. That may not reflect on your stats, but for me and my site the answer is clear.

Anyhow, I'm fairly certain the best way to get the message across to Google that we're not going to stand by and get shafted, is to sign up with their competitors (who I might add have personally followed up with me since I signed up months ago - none of this [e-mail] form letter stuff) and quit running their inventory all together.

But that's just me. I like to actually make money.

*Edit - remove the _ in the word to spell it correctly

[Christopher C]

>>This is something that my older, much wiser father has repeatedly said. Just try approaching a newspaper, magazine, billboard, television or radio station and telling them "I want unlimited free exposure, and I'll pay you $1 each time someone buys something and mentions you".<<

That's only because of a lack of technology... You really think a newspaper wouldn't snap up 10% of generated sales if they could?

[jaxomlotus]

Has anyone tried any others/know of good alternatives?

Yes, quigo's ad_sonar is now working better than google does.