Adsense section targeting - hit or miss?

Or quite possibly bogus?

[berto]

On two different sites, I have two clear-cut cases where the section targeting downplay hint

<!-- google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) -->

[de-emphasized text goes here]

<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

fails to work as advertised.

On one page, I use the hint to downplay a sentence mentioning the word "woodgets", yet all the (AdLinks) ads on that page are about "woodgets". The word "woodget" appears nowhere else on the page. It's as if Adsense is interpreting the downplay hint as its opposite, the emphasize hint.

On another page on a different site, I apply the downplay hint to a section of text mentioning "Acme wydgets", yet one of the AdLinks categories is about "Acme ..." There is no mention of "Acme" anywhere else on the page.

I can see from the logs that the mediabot has visited these pages recently, yet days after the visit (and many days after applying the downplay hint) I am still seeing these anomalies.

I could mention instances where the emphasize section targeting hint is similarly broken.

No doubt some will swear how well section targeting works for them. In my experience, I will equally swear how poorly section targeting works for me.

I am reminded of some elevator "close door" buttons. You press the button, but the door only closes after several seconds of delay, seemingly no faster than if you had not pressed the button at all. Is the button broken? Purposely non-functional, but there anywhere to give you a false sense of empowerment?

Similarly, is section targeting designed to make us feel good, to create the illusion of control when in fact there is little to none?

[webnoob]

it doesn't work right away.. the bot has to re-visit before you see any changes, if any.

[berto]

As I said, the bot has visited (and more than once). There has been plenty of time for Google to process the new page info that the bot has gathered, but the ad mistargeting persists.

[novice]

Ignore this post you already tried my suggestion.

[edd1]

I get the impression this tool isn't actually that reliable. I think the best way for Google to know whats on a page is to check meta tags. I'm not saying they do or don't do that but it is probably the best way forward if they are going to go for a 'the publisher knows what their site is about' approach.

[berto]

The trouble with meta tags is that the site visitor doesn't see them, at least not directly. They are more easily gameable. Forcing the publisher to base ad hints on viewable text helps keep him/her honest.

But I agree with you: I don't think that section targeting is very reliable. Maybe in some niches, maybe in certain situations, but certainly not in my experience.