Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Do you think AdSense is hurting the Google brand?
I really think that for the program integrity and the brand issue Brett brings up, higher standards for program acceptance will need to be implemented.
Examples:
On my European travel-planning site, AdSense adds value to the site by offering legitimate services that many of my readers are looking for. (If readers were turned off by the ads, those ads wouldn't be generating the revenue that they are, and my log analyzer wouldn't be reporting a significant number of repeat visitors.)
But when I tried AdSense on my site for writers, it cheapened the site with ads for vanity presses and other sleaze until I pulled the AdSense off my pages (as I did almost immediately).
Different sites, different keywords, different advertisers, different results.
On the whole, I don't think AdSense has much impact on how quickly readers reach for the back button. As for whether the program could reflect negatively on Google, I think AdSense is less of a problem to Google's image than are low-quality spam listings in search results.
I also think that having low quality sites in the network could hurt Google's reputation with the advertisers.
Having said that, this is not really a significant problem IMHO.
I also think that having low quality sites in the network could hurt Google's reputation with the advertisers.
That's the bigger risk, I believe, especially if advertisers aren't given more control over where their ads appear.
Personally, I would rather a site earns money through unobtrusive and relevant advertising than by charging me for information that I can't evaluate until I've paid.
does AdSense cheapen a site, or does the association with the site cheapen Google - or is it mutual abuse?
I'm with EFV on this one - it all depends on the site. I think AdSense on The Economist's site, even in a premium version without the "Google" branding, does detract a little from the Economist, but it certainly doesn't hurt Google. OTOH, some of the AdSense sites out there must be hurting Google's reputation a bit.
I think the program's ubiquity is a problem here. It's like Amazon associate links, which are on so many mom-and-pop sites that one doesn't really expect to find them on "big" sites. (Says Danny, who's finally signed up as an Amazon associate himself.)
[edited by: danny at 6:54 am (utc) on Jan. 12, 2004]
I agree that it would be good to ensure that a site is 'reputable' to be accepted for the program, but I don't think this should necessarily equate to 'high traffic'.
My experience with regards to Adsense providing extra options my users value is similar to EFV, with a site in a similar niche.
I agree that it would be good to ensure that a site is 'reputable' to be accepted for the program, but I don't think this should necessarily equate to 'high traffic'.
Right. AdSense's greatest service for advertisers is being able to target niche audiences instead of being limited to users of large general-interest portals or news & entertainment sites. For example, an ad for a digital camera in Overture's Content Match network is like an ad in PEOPLE or NEWSWEEK. An AdSense ad for a digital camera on a niche camera enthusiasts' site is like an ad in POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY.
I can see so much potential for abuse here... It makes me realize that maybe the Google geeks were right in the way they implemented this program.
Will there be checks and balances to make sure that the 10,000,000 pageviews "Pokemon" site does not use high paid keywords such as those for "financial services"?
I know that 'O' uses human editors to check for relevancy so it would work there.
'K' uses human editors to fit advertisers into categories so it should work there as well.
'T' uses an algo that detects webmaster fraud so it will work there.
I'm not sure about 'Q' and any of the others but as long as there is some check in place it will work.
JAG
Agreed, and the AdSense bot does a pretty good job at at targeting 90% of the pages it crawls. But the other 10% are terrible!
I believe a good compromise would be to allow the webmaster to enter a keyword or two to "help" MediaBot determine the true theme of a page, but also have a link (similar to the "Ads by Google" link) where a user or even an advertiser can report non-relevent ads.
A Google employee could then do a quick hand-check of the page. If it turns out that the non-relevency is due to keyword spamming by the webmaster, he could get a warning to remove the keywords. Later offenses could result in getting the boot from AdSense.
I believe that if publishers had to worry aout getting booted, they would make sure they chose truly relevent keywords. I know I would. I just want relevent ads on every page.
Non-relevent ads cost me clicks, but even more importantly, they cost he advertiser wasted dollars.
A Google employee could then do a quick hand-check of the page.
Google is too much into automation though. I can see it now. Everyone starts to click on the fraud link and Google hires 1k more people next month :-)
It is easy enough to detect fraud automatically so I would imagine if Google would allow hint words it would be automated like one of the others does it.
JAG
In other words, in my article for travelers on how to use ATMs in Europe, I should be able to tell the MediaPartnerbot that the page is about "ATMs" and "automated teller machines" (keywords that are on the page) but is not about "ATM equipment and supplies."
And in my article about Munich's Oktoberfest, I could tell the Mediapartnerbot that the page is about Munich, Oktoberfest, or even German beer but is not about beer kegs, tapping equipment, or the SudsBuddy Beer Cooler (all of which were showing up in that article's AdSense ads for several months).
As for "financial services" ads on a Pokemon site, I don't think such wildly off-target ads are likely to be a big problem for Google unless they create the perception that AdSense ads are spam. After all, how many Pokemon fans are going to click on an ad for financial services? The whole point of AdSense is to deliver targeted ads, and publishers who want to make money from "financial services" PPC ads will quickly learn to create pages about financial services.
I noticed a trend the other day, that I tend to hit the back button when I see AdSense ads on a site. Evidently the theory is that they are lower quality sites than the ones I want.
I have noticed similar thing on the part of readers of websites. But also on the part of webmasters: some webmasters who run Tribalfusion consider themselves to be superior to those who use AdSense only.
Moreover Tribalfusion now rejects websites that run AdSense, even if the they have traffic 100 times bigger than some other websites that run Tribalfusion now.
So yes, you are right, there is such trend, but what to do to prevent it?
I have noticed similar thing on the part of readers of websites.
Really? How did you determine that? (I'm skeptical of such claims, if only because of my own experience with traffic and revenue growth since I implemented AdSense in June.)
But also on the part of webmasters: some webmasters who run Tribalfusion consider themselves to be superior to those who use AdSense only.
Who cares what other Webmasters think? Especially those who are ignorant or who may have been rejected or tossed out by AdSense? :-)
Moreover Tribalfusion now rejects websites that run AdSense, even if the they have traffic 100 times bigger than some other websites that run Tribalfusion now.
Tribal Fusion rejects many sites, period. Unlike Burst or FastClick, Tribal Fusion isn't interested in traffic per se (especially low-quality traffic). Tribal Fusion is intended to be a targeted banner/skyscraper/popup network, although such targeted advertising was rare when I ran TF banners on my site. (That wasn't Tribal Fusion's fault; most ad banners, skyscrapers, etc. seem to be run-of-network RON ads these days.)
There's another reason why TF might not want sites that use AdSense: It sometimes runs Google AdWords banners and leaderboards, which are like AdSense ads that pay a CPM rate instead of PPC earnings. Because AdSense publishers aren't allowed to "double-serve" Google ads, publishers who belong to the Tribal Fusion must disable those TF Google banners and leaderboards unless they remove AdSense from their pages. (And in my experience, publishers are likely to choose AdSense over the ad networks' Google AdWords banners because AdSense ads pay so much better.
Tribal Fusion is intended to be a targeted
They reject also very targeted websites with big traffic, mainly due to the fact that they know that they can't compete with adsense.
Tribalfusion is dead, welcome adsense.
Moreover Tribalfusion now rejects websites that run AdSense, even if the they have traffic 100 times bigger than some other websites that run Tribalfusion now.
Frankly, my point of view is who cares what other people think or say. Not much weight should be given to opinions about the adsense program since a lot of those opinions are the result of "sour grapes", the real measuring stick will be the success of the program as shown by the payments. Track that and make your own assesment is my opinion.
