We all want the ads that pay the most, don't we?

[I Will Make It]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Google say here that this is the way to get rid of the low paying ads? :

By choosing to display image ads in addition to text ads, you can help ensure that you'll have all available advertisers bidding to appear on your site. Both text and image ads will compete in the same auction to display on your pages, and we'll automatically display the ad(s) that will be most effective for you on your site.

From Adsense Help Center
[google.com...]

[nonni]

An image ad often commands more attention than a text ad. It also involves publishers giving up more control over how their site looks - it can reduce credibility and traffic.

[RiverStoneX]

You are not wrong but not completely right since this is only true when you have image ads competing with your text ads. But this is a good approach because you only risk positive effect, negative consequences are not possible.

[jomaxx]

Well it doesn't say that's a way of getting rid of low-paying ads. What it DOES say is that allowing image ads should result in higher earnings than blocking them.

[shortbus1662]

I disagree somewhat.

If the image ads are related to the site, then yes.

However I have a site in the healthcare sector and I'm getting RX ads displayed that are of no relevance to my visitors.

[MThiessen]

Image ads like the notorious "fart button" really cheapen the site. Haven't seen the FB on google yet, but it runs rampant through fastclick and TF.

[BigDave]

What do you mean by "pay the most"?

If you mean that they pay the most per click, then no, in most cases I don't want those.

I want the ads that get clicked so my check is the biggest at the end of the month.

$2 X 0 clicks = $0.00
$.03 X 10,000 clicks = $300

To me, it isn't worth worrying about how much the ads pay. Sometimes I get $2 clicks Sometimes I get 1 cent clicks. What I want is on topic ads that get clicked. In the mean time I prefer to worry about increasing traffic and content.

As for whether to select image ads or text only, follow Google's selection elsewhere and do A/B testing. I usually have images turned on, but with the obnoxious HR Block ads taking over all my sites, I'm turning image ads off or rotating them in only a small percentage of the time.

[I Will Make It]

Sure BigDave.. if you have a site that has >100000 uniques every month, I agree with you. But if you are a "small publisher" with <15000 a month, I would rather have the clicks that pay the most, and the ads that are more likely to be clicked on. And I really believe in image ads from google. They are not like those blinking crazy casino banners you see everywhere...

[BigDave]

Uh, have you seen the HR Block ads (they seem to be on every site that is likely to have an eCPM of less than $5) that they are now running as "image" ads? The things are like flash animations. They are the sort of ads that AdWords was supposed to be the opposite of when they started out.

The very first site that I turned images completely off on was my 1 month old site that is getting 20-40 uniques a day. It is my larger sites where I am keeping them on for 10% of the views, not my smaller ones where I am trying to build traffic.

When they run on-topic image ads, I was fairly happy about leaving it on. But I actually care about the ads my visitors see. I don't want off-topic ads or annoying animations, even if they pay better.

<added>And high CPC ads don't pay better on a low volume page than they do on a high volume page if they don't get clicked. Worry about what you take home, not what a particular ad pays. The ad that pays $20 for real estate in Malibu isn't going to do you any good for your site about restaurants in Liverpool, even if it is high paying</added>

[edited by: BigDave at 9:11 pm (utc) on Jan. 29, 2007]

[sailorjwd]

From my experience:

image ads have lower CTR

they don't have higher EPC than text

They tend to take over too many pages with same ad.

Aside: My ctr used to be much higher when G always showed 4 ads in the large rectangle. Now I rarely see 4 ads -often two and sometimes one. If i wanted to display a single ad I would have chosen the 125x125. Therefore I vote for as much variety as possible with out having multiple or huge ads.