Site Target, Do You Allow It?

How does it Perform? Is it contextual?

[Erku]

Do you allow site targeting?

I have tried it, but performance is low and it does not seem to be contextual, but I may be wrong.

what has been your experience?

[Bddmed]

It's not contextual. As it is site targeted.

I do see them on some pages, but only on second Adsense slots. Which I use very rarely anyway.

Performance is much lower than the primary slot. But you can expect that. If you're running only one Ad/page I would consider disabling them (you need to contact G for that).

[Erku]

thanks a lot. Actually I have disabled them by contacting G, however, I thought I would enable them now and see how it does over the time, but if they are not contextual it will not help.

[Bddmed]

As they are mostly branding (CPM) campaigns from big ISPs and telephony companies, I leave them running. No clicks whatsoever but it still ads up for the high traffic pages.

[Erku]

I thought they are cpc too?

[europeforvisitors]

Site-targeted CPM ads can be a great way to earn more revenue from pages that don't perform well with contextual ads.

[celgins]

Site-targeted CPM ads can be a great way to earn more revenue from pages that don't perform well with contextual ads.

Yes, but I am currently having a problem with a large company that has site-targeted me using a high impact Flash banner of an upcoming horror movie.

The banner is great and the ad is great, but it is only relevant for one area (entertainment) of my site. My health and food pages don't need that ad.

Of course, it would be nicer if the advertiser learned to site-target using the available channels I've set up.

[inactivist]

Same problem here - they are not 'contextual' - they are site-wide or channel-targeted, and I can't easily use specific channels on my site, which means I get horribly off-topic ads on some pages, right in the prime ad slot.

[Bddmed]

Branding (CPM) campaigns are very different from CPC/CPA campaigns. If you are getting paid for clicks/buys/actions you want the ads to be supplemental to your sites content.

When you get paid by pageview it doesn't really matter it's an ad for 'Big company X'. They are branding and if it's not of any interest for the user, they'll ignore the ad and read on .

[celgins]

Branding (CPM) campaigns are very different from CPC/CPA campaigns. If you are getting paid for clicks/buys/actions you want the ads to be supplemental to your sites content.

Yes, which is why I prefer to not see slasher/horror movie banners on my health and nutrition pages.

[Bddmed]

In such a case I would put the advertiser in the filter. In my case it's unrelated but big companies advertising on Holidays/Telephony/Television.

[Erku]

Why doesn't google make Site targeting still contextual?

let's say you can target a site, but only if google system deems it contextual.

[Bddmed]

Maybe when site targeted CPC will be a fact. But for branding (CPM) campaigns I don't see any reason why they want to do that. Admitted the other big CPM companies do place your site in some niche and you're being payed accordingly.

[celgins]

In such a case I would put the advertiser in the filter.

I will eventually, but the ad is a Flash banner that doesn't reveal a URL in the Preview Tool or anywhere else.

[europeforvisitors]

Why doesn't google make Site targeting still contextual?

let's say you can target a site, but only if google system deems it contextual.

That's coming, but site-targeted contextual ads will serve a different purpose: to give advertisers the option of paying more for better-quality clicks.

To use an analogy, site-targeted CPM ads are like magazine ads that may or may not be intended to generate immediate sales or leads; contextual ads (whether site-targeted or not) are like direct-response ads that are intended to generate immediate sales or leads.

[MThiessen]

I find targeting increases my bottom line. You need (if your page design allows it) more then one ad unit *if* you are getting targeted. This way one ad will show targeted ads and the other will still show contextual.

Sometimes both ads will show targeted, but most of the time you will get the best of both worlds. Site's with only one ad per page can be somewhat hurt with targeting, that's why you wil read mixed feelings on targeting here.

[Marcia]

I took CPM off because of too many low quality ads running, but it also eliminated some big outfits going for branding. A couple of my sites are informational and very niche with low CTR, and even though traffic isn't a whole lot, I think those sites would do better with CPM so it would average out.

Several other sites had a few very steady advertisers prior to taking CPM off, and those particular sites should get clicks that convert well because they do for the other stuff on the pages. They're very specifically targeted product pages.

Now that the MFAs/arbitrage sites are going I think I'll give CPM another try.

[Marcia]

Question: Does anyone know, or have a good guess whether the targeted ads are the lower or higher paying ones on a page?

[Play_Bach]

With the new format, the 'Advertise on this site' link no longer shows. I thought ASA said you could still set your account to have that show somehow, but I'm not seeing it. Is that possible and if so, where is it in the setup?

Thanks

[Play_Bach]

scratch that - I found the info:
[adsense.blogspot.com...]

[celgins]

Question: Does anyone know, or have a good guess whether the targeted ads are the lower or higher paying ones on a page?

I would guess they're the lower. At least that is what I'm seeing on my site.

But you're right -- removing a few of them really cuts into some advertisers' branding efforts.