Tired of PSAs? Try Google "Related Links" as an alt.

Adsense pushing non-paying related links units as alts for paying ads.

[ken_b]

Adsense is now pushing non-paying Google "Related Links" [google.com] units for use as an alternative for PSAs when no paying ads are available.

Interestingly they also suggest using them in rotation with paying ads. That may help with ad blindness I suppose.

try alternating between Google ads and Google Related Links in a given space on your page.

You can read about it on the Inside Adsense [adsense.blogspot.com] blog.

Setting it up is a lot like setting up an adsense adblock.

In the setup [services.google.com] you can choose up to 2 of the 4 categories, ...

Searches - links to Google searches
News - relevant news stories
Videos - relevant videos on Google Video
Web Pages - similar pages on the web

They only offer these in 768x90, 300x250, 468x60 and 180x150 sizes though.

And if you get more than 50,000 "hits" (hits?) a day, you need to contact G before installing these apparently.

Anyone tried these yet?

[LifeinAsia]

So instead of getting no revenue from PSAs, we can instead get no revenue from organic links, videos, news, etc.?

Um, thanks Google, but I'd rather continue use my alternative URL and display other ads that generate revenue.

[edited by: LifeinAsia at 6:29 pm (utc) on Sep. 8, 2006]

[Andreals]

...to keep your site fresh and interesting without any maintenance.

This may work well on some sites. It confirms my suspicion that Google wants to occupy every last unused centimeter of the web, which is ok with me. :)

How long will it be before we find sites with a title, one line of text and then just blocks of Google content and ads?

[hunderdown]

How long will it be before we find sites with a title, one line of text and then just blocks of Google content and ads?

Gee, I see those all the time....

[martinibuster]

Show YPN as the alternate ads?
:P

[SkyDiveDad]

Maybe this should also go under ..."losing quality advertisers..." What's left of the "quality" we've been blocking..LOL

[edited by: SkyDiveDad at 3:20 am (utc) on Sep. 9, 2006]

[Hobbs]

Beg to differ on the ad blindness bit,
a folded or white space would be much better towards visitors noticing the ads on other pages and clicking on them.

Someone would argue that if a visitor makes a mental note about the ad location containing relevant and useful information they are more likely to click, I am still unsure why people click ads, but if that theory was true then that same visitor is never clicking Ads by Goooogle again after his first MFA experience.

[celgins]

I use that alternative URL to show affiliate ads with the hopes of generating some type of revenue.

[ann]

Ah Yes, Free ad space...something Google needs more of. :)

Heh heh, they finally lost their little minds and with all those expensive degrees these guys have.....

Ann

[plasma]

Thx, I just integrated it.
Let's see if it combats AdBlindness on sites with regular guests like forums/wikis.
I have set it to 50% randomicity.

[david_uk]

I guess that most (including me) don't see anything in it for them.

I combatted ad blindness by not showing ads on every page - just where they worked. I combat the issue of stale content by updating appropriately on a regular basis.

Seems to me that these little additions to the page will simply lure visitors off site at no benefit to webmasters. I think most would rather they stayed around, read the content and hopefully left via a paid ad rather than this spurious content.

Anyone have any ideas as to how it might benefit webmasters?

[edited by: david_uk at 6:28 pm (utc) on Sep. 11, 2006]

[DamonHD]

Hi david_uk,

I think that it might be a good fit for a pro-bono information site.

Rgds

Damon