To filter or not to filter

That is the question

[greatstart]

Lately, I've been seeing lots of spam looking ads from ebay and yahoo.

Questions:

1) I was wondering if I should filter those sites?

2) Is that something most of you do?

3) Does anyone know how much they pay per click?

[wyweb]

1) I was wondering if I should filter those sites?

Dealer's choice.

2) Is that something most of you do?

It's something I do.

3) Does anyone know how much they pay per click?

Nope. Don't care either.

[purplecape]

I filter them (and also Target) because they are often a poor match with the content. I don't want my visitors to see such stuff. I suspect that they don't pay particularly well, but of course I have no way of knowing for sure.

[Hobbs]

For to filter is to lower thy ad competition
And not to filer is to lower thy standard
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer low EPC
The slings and arrows of MFA
Or to take arms against lowballing ad scum
Makest thy choice to die or to sleep.

[DamonHD]

Hobbs:

"The slings and arrows of outrageous MFA"

Rgds

Damon

[Hobbs]

I stand corrected Damon, 'twas a Hobbs-Shake

[iridiax]

I would block them. I've clicked on those ads (on other people's sites) when shopping online, and the landing page often doesn't have what was promised, only a list of things vaguely related by keyword. I then click the back button, which may result in a discounted click for the publisher. I've learned that these sort of ads are not very useful for finding something specific online, so I never click them anymore and I'm probably not alone in this.

[greatstart]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and the funny humor from Hobbs!

I will filter those sites starting April 1st (April Fools Day) and see what happens for a month.

[Scurramunga]

when shopping online, and the landing page often doesn't have what was promised, only a list of things vaguely related by keyword

I fully concur.

[graeme_p]

Block them. If you have anything like a decent quality site it is not worth making your site look spammy for the difference in what you will make from them and the next best advertiser.

There are worse. I used to have to keep blocking various ponzi schemes on my financial site. Google seems to have cracked down on those, though.

[ken_b]

"Block them" may be good advice for a small site.

But for sites with 100s or 1,000s of pages it gets pretty difficult in a hurry, especially when you consider ads based on geo-location.

Time is probably better spent working on building content that doesn't attract those ads. Sometimes that simply means changing a single word on a page. In that case you not only solve the current problem, but learn how to avoid it in the future.

[greatstart]

Sometimes that simply means changing a single word on a page.

I wish I knew what word or words were causing those ads to appear in the first place.

For now I will block just a few of them. The last time I used the filter, I placed over 100 URL's in there, and I noticed my CTR went way down, thus resulting in a lower monthly revenue.

[purplecape]

ken_b, you don't have to look at what's showing on every page! Most sites are on fairly focused topics and have many of the same ads appearing throughout.

greatstart, one approach is to prioritize. I check may site periodically, every couple of weeks or so, to see what's up. I make sure to filter scam sites--I know of a half dozen in my particular area. Email harvesters and ebook sellers are high priority, but not as high. MFA directories and the like are a minor irritant to my visitors. It's my visitors that I see as the main reason to use the filter in this way. If they're not turned off by the ads, they're more likely to come back...