Feature Request Thread for Google Adsense

An ongoing thread for posting feature ideas for AdSense.

[brycen]

I intend this thread as a place to post "new ideas" for improving Google AdSense. Someday someone from Google might read it :-)
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Idea 1) I'd like to specify negative keywords. Sometimes a word may appear on my content pages, but not be relevant to AdSense:

 <script type="text/javascript">
 google_ad_client = "pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX";
 google_ad_width = 120;
 google_neg_keywords = "scanner, sex"; 
 ....

Idea 2) I wish the AdSense bar had its own "more..." button. People who want to see more related advertisements currently reload the entire content page. I'd rather they just reload AdSense.
(The "more..." button is better than reloading the page, since Google would serve unique new advertisements...).

Idea 3) Full URL tracking would be great. But, failing that, I'd at least like to have a few different tracking buckets. Four buckets would be enough:

 <script type="text/javascript">
 google_ad_client = "pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX";
 google_ad_width = 120;
 host_tracking_bucket = 3; 
 ....

That would let me run small tests to show the difference between, say, top and bottom placement on a particular page.

Idea 4) Some companies serve generic and untargeted advertisments. I view this as a disservice to my readers. I don't want them. For example try searching on "toaster" in Google:

Toaster
Wide selection of toaster
Free shipping avail. Aff
www.amazon.com

I don't want ads from anyone with more than, say, 500 keywords. Right now I just blacklist the ones I know of:

www.amazon.com www.bizrate.com www.buy.com www.cdw.com
www.ebay.com www.findit-quick.com www.mysimon.com www.nexttag.com www.pricegrabber.com

[birdstuff]

The ability to display 2 ads at the top of the page and 2 different ads at the bottom.

[justageek]

birdstuff - You can do what you want to do with a little programming know how. It's really quite easy to do since the call is very simple. Just call a four ad display and split it :-)

[Chef_Brian]

Ability to track different websites.... I hate how all my stats and tossed together in one lump sum.

Brian

[JollyK]

birdstuff - You can do what you want to do with a little programming know how. It's really quite easy to do since the call is very simple. Just call a four ad display and split it :-)

justageek: the AdSense TOS doesn't allow modifying the code.

[BwanaZulia]

Better stats:

- Impressions/clicks by domain
- Last update time
- Impressions/clicks by pages

BZ

[justageek]

True that you cannot modify the code but I don't remember seeing anything about being able to format the results that come back.

[fatpeter]

Ability to pay adwords bill with adsense earnings.

[John_Shaw]

It would really help me to have stats based on page:
www.widgetnews.com/index.html
www.widgetnews.com/article01.html
www.widgetnews.com/article02.html
etc.

[bumblebee]

I don't think you can modify the results of how the code is displayed either. From the TOS:

"(ii) edit, modify, filter or change the order of the information contained in any Ad and/or Ad Unit, or remove, obscure or minimize any Ad or Ad Unit in any way, except as expressly provided in the FAQ"

To me, that sounds like you can't split up ads on a page. It has to be the whole banner.

[justageek]

Perhaps you are right bumblebee.....shhhh.....don't tell anyone then :-)

[Visit Thailand]

My request is very simple speed up the 'more' targetted ads.

I have noticed that occasionally the 'super targetted' ads take a whole day or more to appear and at other times a few minutes.

I have noted that the PSA's seem to have disappeared for a more generic site wide ad but when you are adding new content every day of roughly 30 odd pages ranging in topic from A to Z but still related to B industry it is annoying when you know that those new pages attract heavy usage and yet are not fully targetted.

Today for example we added pages about F etc but the ads were still generic even 8 hours after adding them, but as they were site wide generic ads not many would click on them if however they were targetted as G does eventually it would have meant much more revenue for G and for ourselves.

I realise that of course by the time some markets wake up they will be fully a targetted but it would be nice if this process were sped up.

Having said that the speed at which ads are fully targetted seems to change. The day that the were fully targetted within minutes we did our best ever CTR and RPC.

[Jon_King]

Repeat: Page by page reports.

[brycen]

Ability to request that PSA's be rotated onto the page.
Yes, I want some PSA's. The website itself is a non-profit, and the PSA's look good.

[bzprod]

Hello

I've been using adsense for about five days now and absolutely love it. I am now able to make good money in a couple industries that don't really have affiliate programs. My numbers surprise the heck out of me every day.

What a wonderful program...a few shortcomings however...

1. The main thing that I would like to see is more detailed stats. I'm sure Google is working on this as we speak...a bit crazy if they are not.

2. This may be crazy wishful thinking but I would be willing to pay a fixed amount (say $10/month, $25/month, whatever) to get paid more often...maybe weekly. Maybe I am just too anxious, but I don't like the fact that the revenue I make on September 1st doesn't hit the bank until late October.

3. I too would like to compare my leader board stats with my banner stats, etc. I guess this has to do with the updated stats request.

4. Perhaps a custom ad size would be nice. I have one site that has a perfect location but this location is only 700 wide. I really want to serve 4 ads in this space...currently I am using the banner size...but only two ads.

I guess thats it for now. I am in no way complaining about the current status of Adsense. It is a young program and in early growth stages. I'm sure Google wants to please advertisers as well as publishers. I can't wait to see what sort of changes/additions Google makes in the coming months. This is really exciting to be in so early on.

-Julian

[RTM Communications]

I agree with many others: we desperately need more granular stats - at the very least by domain, but ideally by page. We're currently running about 5-6 wildly different sites on 1 AdSense account. It's maddening to not know which sites/layouts/colors work or don't work. We can get an idea sometimes based on the CPC (one of the sites is a pharmaceutical site with high value keywords) but for the rest it's a true mystery.

Rob

p.s. Very long time lurker, first time posting.

[loanuniverse]

I see some very good ideas and I concurr with most of them. To add something else:

How about a list of all the non-profits and being able to pick the ones that will be rotated in your site. I am sure that there are some that are dear to the hearts of some webmasters.

[brycen]

Implement [asense.google.com...] to match [adwords.google.com...]

[europeforvisitors]

The main thing that I would like to see is more detailed stats. I'm sure Google is working on this as we speak...a bit crazy if they are not.

By providing more detailed stats, Google would make it easier for publishers to create the AdSense equivalent of affiliate sites--i.e., sites that existed purely as collections of "doorway pages" for AdSense ads. This wouldn't be good for the Web, and--just as important--it wouldn't be good for Google, which would then have an even greater volume of SEO spam to deal with.

IMHO, Google would be wise to simply tell publishers, "You focus on your content, and we'll focus on providing relevant ads."

[ideavirus]

1. Ability to serve ads in custom dimensions along with some standard formats what they currently have.

2. Adsense on SERPs also!

Cheers

[brycen]

By providing more detailed stats, Google would make it easier for publishers to create the AdSense equivalent of affiliate sites--i.e., sites that existed purely as collections of "doorway pages" for AdSense ads.

I would be OK with very limited tracking. If I could run just one test at a time, that would be enough. A limited test facility does not threaten pollution of the AdSense space with doorway or keyword only pages.

Right now I could do this, but only by signing up for two separate AdSense accounts.

[Visi]

Default to website theme targeting when pages for ads not available, rather than PSA's.

[Clark]

Justageek,

You could probably take it a lot further and analyze the urls being shown on each result page and then serve them up as redirected links in a menu and show unlimited ads. (unless their unique string is different each time an ad is displayed). But I wouldn't suggest what you are doing because they will catch you sooner or later. Just a matter of time. If you get any decent traffic, your page will be viewed by users and someone will report you if Google's filters don't...

[justageek]

Clark - You're right about taking it further. Problem for all of us is there is a program that does exactly what you described with the links but it seems to have been designed for the end user to use so no revenue is generated because the click from a user goes directly to the real url. On the flip side it's great for the advertiser because he is not charged.

[europeforvisitors]

Default to website theme targeting when pages for ads not available, rather than PSA's.

I see that happening on my site, to a large degree, probably because Google is picking out keywords from my navigation and affiliate links and using those to serve ads when it can't find a suitable ad for the specific page topic.

[firstmark]

Why isn't custom default ad capability to be used instead of public service announcements, the number one feature request for adsense?
This feature coupled with an ability to deselect adword ads that pay less than a given net cpm would make the program much more flexible.

Also being able to place more than one instance of the adsense code is something to consider.
A banner above and below the scroll is not going to be that cluttery and if adsense can provide for both spots thats better for those that use them.

[devlin]

I hope that Google is monitoring this thread (are you listening, GoogleGuy?).

The need to be able to monitor at least different domains, if not individual pages, seems to be a clear call from us.

I experimented with changing colors on one of my sites, but not on the others. Not really a good experiment, since I can only guess at implications of the resultant changes in the stats.

Since Google encourages us to manage all sites through one account (and it seems that most of us have complied with this), site or page monitoring seems a reasonable reaquest.

[kittykat]

Okay, here's an idea which might be better positioned in a thread on Adwords.

What if advertisers were able to limit their exposure to a specific U.S. state?

The value in this would be, for example, for concerts. Say you are in California and you are on a site about Steely Dan.

The Adwords you would see would advertise the Sept. Steely Dan concert in Chula Vista, but would only be seen by people in California -- thus avoiding exposing your ads to people who could not realistically attend the concert.

There are any number of applications of such a feature that would benefit local advertisers, as well as content providers.

[loanuniverse]

IMHO, Google would be wise to simply tell publishers, "You focus on your content, and we'll focus on providing relevant ads."

Nice idea, but ad revenue has been an important factor in influencing content since the first ad was sold on a newspaper. Site specific stats are a must IMHO, anything beyond that is gravy.