Forum Moderators: martinibuster
They usually show up in slot two or three of any ad unit, so I'm getting the message - it's obvious that these appear not because of high bids, but because I've got too many ad units (despite G's 'tips' that insist that more ad units are better for my site) - I've been showing two or three ad units per page. This allows G to spam my site with ads that are obviously low-paying and barely relevant ads.
I've reduced the number of ad units to one per page, placed in the prime real estate location for ads. That means less 'inventory' for G to fill, fewer opportunities for clicks, and perhaps lower revenue.
But I'm weary of trying to smack down these advertisers using the 'whack-a-mole' method of waiting until I see the ad, adding the advertiser's URL to my filter, and waiting for the ad to clear.
I'm reducing the amount of site space dedicated to AdSense inventory, until G gives me better tools to manage the advertisers appearing on my site [WFW members assure me this will never happen]. Maybe this is what G really wants me to do, after all. How will I ever know?
Who knows - maybe this will result in higher revenues overall as visitors will grow to trust the smaller number of ads remaining on my site.
but in my experience, the particularly annoying ads often appear in the first ad slots.
That's how it is for me as well. And the most annoying ads seem to cling to my pages with superglue.
So, I find it hard to believe that the off-topic ad is really out-bidding on-topic ads... Perhaps the Big G thinks that the off-topic ad is more likely to produce a click (thus generating some kind of revenue).
In any case, I find that the more ad units I show on a page, the less on-topic the ads are. Part of this is due to the site topic and traffic patterns, no doubt - it's a low-traffic site right now.
My goal is to find out if a significant reduction in 'inventory' (ad units) forces G to be more selective... wishful thinking, perhaps.
