Multiple ad units a bad idea?

Why not limit to X number of *ads*, not ad units, per page?

[berto]

I can see how Google's decision a few months back to allow multiple ad units per page would:

--generally lower CTRs, CPMs, etc.

--lower advertiser conversion ratios

--encourage the growth of scraper and made-for-Adsense sites...

--make space for low-bid, spammy ads

--induce more ad-blindness

And so on.

That's a lot of negatives.

Having said that, I can also see situations where it would be "legitimate" to post multiple ad units on a page--multiple button ads blending in with a long page's article content, to give just one example.

Instead of allowing 3 *ad units* per page, why not x number of *ads*, where x is, say, 3 or 4?

So, with a limit of 4 ads per page, you could use any combination of:

--a single 4-ad skycraper or leaderboard

--a pair of 2-ad vertical banners or half banners

--up to four 1-ad buttons

--a single 2-ad vertical banner plus up to two 1-ad buttons

And so on.

Any combination of ad units per page so long as the total ad count does not exceed 4 (or whatever).

This may or may not be enforceable in real time. This may have to be a TOS limitation.

Thoughts?

[JamesR3]

My thought on why that would be a bad idea is because web site browsers don't perceive the number of ads, they more perceive ad "areas". They see "banner" -- not 3 ads versus 4 ads. So, it is really the number of areas that is more relevant. I can certainly see some site wanting to run a single banner of 4 ads aobve the fold, and then another below the fold. That's 8 ads, but if you can't even see them at the same time, I don't necessarily think that's overkill.

[europeforvisitors]

I can certainly see some site wanting to run a single banner of 4 ads aobve the fold, and then another below the fold. That's 8 ads, but if you can't even see them at the same time, I don't necessarily think that's overkill.

It would be great if you could run two identical versions of a single ad unit at the top of the bottom of the page (the way banners were often served in the early days of the commercialized Web, before ads took over page layouts).

That way, users would get a chance to see the ads both before and after they'd read the text on the page, but the second ad box wouldn't have cheaper ads or (worse yet) irrelevant ads or no ads at all.

[OptiRex]

On my main widget directory site I have a 728 x 90 in my header and a 160 x 600 in my righthandside column with both of them matching the site's colour scheme etc.

They're not at all obtrusive and look great with targeting being spot on.

My earnings more than doubled immediately when I added the header Adsense on this site alone therefore I would be very reluctant to remove either of them since they do perform extremely well.

Unfortunately I have seen many sites where the Adsense has not complemented the overall design...whether this achieves more or less clicks/earnings I have no idea.

It's the blending in argument again!