Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I for one do not like that as people may click on that rather than the ad.
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In fact I have now just seen one add that had no ads but just a whole bunch of links for related searches.
1. Visitor clicks on a related keyword on Webmaster's site.
2. Visitor sees AdWords.
3. Visitor clicks on AdWords.
4. Google does not have to pay Webmaster his cut.Brilliant.
Yep good summary of one the great advantages for google though there are more, like branding and getting users back to google...
But to be fair, the TOS did state that publishers agreed to google ads when you signed up.
And the TOS was clear that changes will be incoporated at any time without any notice. This gives them flexibility, and also the ability to weigh up the package and its perceived and actual value to publishers, advertisers and google.
If at any time the revenue returned to us does not outpace the perceived loss of value of having Adsense there, will we just take it off and replace it with another way to fund our sites.
If google finds too many people taking it off they may revise any policies from click share to related links etc etc. Plain old supply and demand.
Obviously there is now less incentive for the airline to run an AdWords campaign. Why pay for something when google gives it away. Worse still this additional choice will almost certainly reduce clicks through the ferry tickets sellers who do pay.
I assume most people here are Google users, and as end users what do we tend to trust more the search results or AdWords advertisements? So will the search results get more clicks by default anyway?
I have a guitar site. The two related searches are for two big brand names of guitars. When you click on them, you find that they're just normal listings at Google, not paid ads. So here are two huge companies now receiving free advertising from my site, imposed by Google, who aren't making any money from those links either! If they had been required to read MY fine print, they would have found I don't allow this.
I've always lauded Google as being the eptitome of the cleverness that the internet is famous for ... I'll have to think again ... they must be thick as bricks.
Oh, the other thing ... my impressions rate my since midnight seems normal enough, my click rate has dropped to 0.00%
Looks like a busy morning with the "Find (google adsense script) and Replace (with nothing) feature of Dreamweaver.
What a shame.
I haven't noticed a reduced click through rate, probably too early to tell. But I have noticed related searches to business names that I would only want to see in banner ads.
Those are not Google ads. They are ads from AdWords advertisers.
I'd much rather Google just lowered the revenue share percentage. Would have been more transparent and fair.
Let's hope the feature is removed after Google finds that it substantially lowers the CTR (people wandering off to sites listed in search results instead of clicking on paid ads).
However, Google can live with a lower CTR if it means paying less to webmasters (it should prefer getting 20 clicks through an AdSense site + 20 through "Related Searches" to getting 50 clicks through the AdSense site).
So even if the CTR on a website is lowered by 50%, the extra clicks generated through Related Searches may make up for this.
Tom
Let's hope the feature is removed after Google finds that it substantially lowers the CTR
We have a saying in my language: hope is a mother of fools
this "related searches" links is a plot by Google to reduce payments to AdSense participating publishers. users click on these "related searches" links , new window opens, and then user clicks on searches and AdWords and the publisher gets nothing, no money at all.
I am sooooooooo angry at Google. Google was Linux of search engines, but now it has become the Microsoft, the Adolf H. of them...
Godwin's Law states " as a discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."
QED ;)
As it is, we are already livin with no-target=_blank & the "Ads by Google", this 3rd addition is completely not a webmaster friendly move.
On one of my sites, I have related topics for each section, so now it's a loss for me as more users could like on google's related searches and I would lose my surfers.
[edited by: Imaster at 12:00 pm (utc) on Aug. 7, 2003]
In fact, when AdSense was launched, it was widely expected that it would go downhill sooner or later. Now, after one month, Google may have figured out they can pay less to webmasters and still keep them. When your competitors pay $10, why pay $50? You can just pay $11.
Tom
this "related searches" links is a plot by Google to reduce payments to AdSense participating publishers. users click on these "related searches" links , new window opens, and then user clicks on searches and AdWords...
If the reader is interested in what the ads are selling, why would he click on "Related searches" instead of on an ad?
And what guarantee does Google have that the reader who chooses "Related searches" will click an AdWord (assuming that there is one for a related keyword) after clicking through to the Google SERP?
I think the "Related searches" links are going to be a problem mainly for publishers whose page topics don't have matching AdSense ads. Such publishers might want to give careful thought to whether the AdSense program is working for them--or to whether there's anything they can do (with links to "ad magnet" subtopics in their navbars, for example) to get more AdSense ads and fewer PSAs/blanks/"Related searches" links on their pages.
Side note: The "Related searches" link may be Google's hedge against advertisers' unclicking the content-ads option when bidding on AdWords. That's good insurance for Google, and it doesn't put any extra money in publishers' pockets, but it doesn't mean that Google doesn't want AdSense to succeed.
