problems of near-misses

[figment88]

I would guess that half or more of the clicks I receive on AdSense result from what I call near-misses.

For example, suppose my page is about Ferrari Auto Parts, and an ad is delivered for Chrysler Auto Parts. For one reason or another, the advertiser doesn't put the term Chrylser anywhere in the ad copy.

So, now I get an ad on my page that says something generic like Get the best quality auto parts at the lowest prices, and my visitors would naturally assume that the ad was about Ferrari auto parts and be more likely to click it than if the truth were known.

In this situation, where does the responsiblity of the publisher come in. Do I just say Google should target better, advertisers should figure out AdWords better, caveat emptor. On the other hand, I am making money off everyone else's ignorance - if the advertiser would have come to me directly I would have worked with them to better target the ad before accepting payment.

I also don't like the fact that my site visitors are being mislead through no fault of their own.

[TheNige]

Well, the advertiser may have been just targeting "Auto Parts". So, naturally the ad would come up on your site regardless of what type of auto parts you had on your site. It would be much of us to ask Google to know that there is a difference between "Ferrari Auto Parts", "Old Auto Parts", "Denver Auto Parts", or even "Ford Taurus Auto Parts".

It is really up to the advertiser to better target their ads. If they did not want to waste money with Ferrari owners clicking their ads they would make better ad copy, or only target exact phrases like "Chrysler Auto Parts".

As publishers we can't really do anything until we have the option to use negative keywords or only allow ads to show for certain keywords only.

[europeforvisitors]

I agree with TheNige. For all the publisher knows, the advertiser may have wanted to reach anyone who's interested in "auto parts." After all, Ferrari owners don't buy only Ferrari parts--they also buy waxes, light bulbs, tire gauges, driving gloves, leather conditioners, wrenches, and other items that a general auto-parts vendor might sell.

[Jon_King]

You can write all kinds of creative copy that works well on the main keyword pages but in a broad context often there is insuffucient clarity.

We need more ad copy (in AdWords). I don't remember the max word count per ad but it is too short.

[buckworks]

I think it's up to advertisers to monitor their own targeting.

I doubt if your users would think less of your site for having some near-miss ads. If your Adsense colour scheme had been tweaked so the ads looked like links chosen by you, that might be a different story. But as long as the Adsense panels are visually distinct, reasonable users will also perceive them as editorially distinct, provided by a third party, and there should be no problem.