Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I have the banners on most of my site.
On the banner, I saw...
[ PSA for working abroad ¦ Perfectly targeted ad ]
Now, to me, I'd have expected the most expensive ad to have been on the left, not the right; which almost makes me wonder whether the PSA I saw, for a registered charity, was actually paying for their spot? How bizarre.
Or are they just really brong ads that fill in when the pages have not been indexed.
But there seem to be only a very small number of PSAs being run - I haven't tried to enumerate them, but it might be as few as 6 and I'd be surprised if it were more than 12.
Habitat for Humanity
Peace Corps
American Cancer Society
Donate to Charity
National PTA
All, incidentally, Amerian charities, which is one of the things I've been hoping they'd improve since the program started.
What I dislike is that I don't agree with some of the goals and actions of some of the PSAs. I'd much rather be able to choose my own charities, or at least a wider list of charities... like say, exclude those from my site that are politically active in trying to restrict my freedom.
JAG
Google is simply providing the space as a public service to them.
Asian Developing Nations
The Green Guide
Pregnancy Weight Gain
Literacy Cambodia
Are you a new dad?
Etc...
They are a U.S. company, so they file taxes in the U.S. and they may be claiming the extra ad space as a "donation" on their taxes.
The problem is the extra ad space they're serving the PSAs in is supplied by the publisher, not Google. IF what you say is true, Google gets a tax advantage by giving away our ad space. We should at least have a say in which PSAs are displayed on our sites.
From where I sit it is googles ad space. You just sold it to them. I guess it is up to you whether you like what they show on the ad space you just sold to them and/or the revenue overall, by terminating the agreement or continuing on.
On the other hand it may have advantages to both to have more relevant PSA ads showing for sites with significant non-US visitors.
Yep - I thought they were extremly poorly targeted ads on my site at first. I bet a whole load of new charities are currently trying to get their webs into AdSense for the free publicity right now.
From where I sit it is googles ad space. You just sold it to them. I guess it is up to you whether you like what they show on the ad space you just sold to them and/or the revenue overall, by terminating the agreement or continuing on.
No, it's my ad space. I allow Google to use that ad space in exchange for a commission earned on each click-through (PSA ads excluded).
I'm actually very happy with the arrangement (and the AdSense terms) overall. That's why I accepted the terms. That doesn't mean that I'm happy with everything that I agreed to in the terms. And just because I accepted the TOS overall doesn't mean that it's unfair to point out specific areas that are unfair and hope for a change.
The "like it or leave it" type of response does little to help anyone. Discussing problem areas that exist within an overall exceptional program may or may not help (time will tell), but it also doesn't hurt.
At the end of the day, it makes little difference in any meaningful way to my bottom line if Google places a free PSA ad or 2 on my site. But it is annoying when the publisher who owns the space has no say on which free ads are placed. And just because I agree to allow them to do it by accepting their TOS overall doesn't mean that I forfeit my right to express my displeasure with individual parts of it.
> Yep - I thought they were extremly poorly targeted ads on my site at first. I bet a whole load of new charities are currently trying to get their webs into AdSense for the free publicity right now.
I had been getting and blocking teaching your kid to read ads, and thought that Literacy Cambodia was another badly targetted one.
I really wish we could get targetted charities.
Google is clear that PSA results WILL appear when you signed up. I agree it would be great to have less PSA's, but arguing that it is still "your" space where you want more control than your contract with google suggests, does not seem very logical.
The only thing you can do following this strategy is to go back and renegotiate the terms of your leasing space to google.
JAG
For the March of Dimes ads, it is my sentiment that if the charity isn't paying for the ad, I think it should be clear that the ad is for a charity. For the Literacy Cambodia ad, as its "trip planner" content is peripheral to its charitable activity, I would just as soon not have that content advertised on my site for free.
After all; if I think that I will charge the American Red Cross a few cents if I click on the Google ad, I might not...
Assuming that Google is not violating their own TOS then the only explanation for sites that have been spidered and did show targeted ads that suddenly change to PSA's and then back again is that the advertiser pool is shrinking.
Don't forget, supply is increasing very rapidly as people join AdSense, particularly for "hot" industries. I think supply is clearly increasing faster than the demand for AdWords in this early stage of AdSense. So naturally there are more and more cases when a valid advertiser cannot be found and a PSA must be shown.
particularly for "hot" industries
Yep. There will always be hot industries and there will always especially be the advertisers who figure out that by simply putting their name or url in the advertisement will most certainly get the 'branding' effect even if they don't get a click. Free advertising if you will.
JAG
