text links get arrows

[sallam]

I've just noticed that my half banner text ad unit now shows 2 arrows under it, where people can click to see the next/previous ad.
Did anyone notice it too? is it a new thing?

I was thinking, this could draw more positive attention and probably generate more clicks, don't you think?
Any feedback would be great. Thanks.

[MyNewPC]

Lots of different threads on this over the past 6 months or so. You might want to scroll through the topics.

[sallam]

Thanks. I've browsed the topics, you're right, it was discussed before. Yet, I didn't see topics that tell us whether those arrows increased CTR or decreased it. Now that its there for a while now, did anyone notice any increase in clicks?

[greatstart]

Now that its there for a while now, did anyone notice any increase in clicks?

Actually today I have been seeing more of the arrows than ever before. My CTR has decreased a bit today. Don't know if its because of the arrows or not. Maybe people just don't like clicking the ads on April Fools Day.

[MyNewPC]

Actually today I have been seeing more of the arrows than ever before.

Yep, me too. Not just on my site, but all others except for Premium Publishers where I have never seen any arrows. I've seen no positive impact on any metric as a result of the arrows.

[RibaRiva]

Yup, me too. Since yesterday I see more scrollable ads with arrows. So far, it hasn't done anything for the CTR.

[MetalType]

According to the Adsense Blog this feature has now been officially rolled-out after months of testing.

[hyperkik]

We are told that the original ads may not be relevant to the user's needs, even if matched to the content. Often, though, the problem is that the algorithm is deficient in matching text to user needs (and non-premium publishers still can't give hints). Like everything else Google does, we'll have to "wait and see" what happens.

[ken_b]

I often see a 300x250 adblock displaying only 2 ads on the first screen, and 4 ads on the next several screens.

That seems odd.

I wonder why they don't display 4 ads on the first screen when there are obviously enough ads available.

Also, I wonder how, if at all, this will affect the performance of AdLinks units.

[purplecape]

ken_b, before they introduced these arrows, I remember Google explaining the reason for one or two ads appearing when there was room for more was not lack of inventory, but a determination that those ads were the ones producing the best earnings. I guess the idea was to reduce distractions. Now that there are the arrows, it still makes sense to do that. A visitor looks at the two ads, isn't interested, clicks the arrow....

[robzilla]

My CTR is half of what it usually is, but that's probably (and hopefully) a coincidence.

Besides that, I think they're rather.. ugly.

[MyNewPC]

I don't like seeing the arrows on every ad block. It's overkill.

[Scurramunga]

Over the last couple of days I have been seeing the arrows on what seems to be a more permanent basis. Coincidently, earnings have taken a dive, presumably because visitors scroll all the way back to lower paying ads that would otherwise not show.

I would like to switch the arrows off.

[HuskyPup]

FWIW I've loved them from the first day I first saw them and now they've rolled out full-time they look great on my sites PLUS my earnings and CTR are increasing...then again, it's the beginning of another month.

What do I know?

Nothing, and I haven't known that for very long!

[JoeS]

I don't think this would help. Why would anyone want to see more ads?

[alephh]

CPC is down, but it's difficult to say whether arrows lead people to browse from $0.1 to $0.0000001 ads and click them, or end of Quarter 1 is causing this (personally I'm seeing all the same old ads, so it's not very likely).

I don't think this would help. Why would anyone want to see more ads?

Because sometimes somewhat-related $0.2 ads consume all the space, and very-very-very-related $0.1 ads are not seen because they are priced out.

[potentialgeek]

> My CTR is half of what it usually is, but that's probably (and hopefully) a coincidence.

Yeah, probably. I doubt more than 0.5% of visitors pay attention to weird "arrows." Nobody uses them for navigation or ads.

> Besides that, I think they're rather.. ugly.

They are. And they're very geeky. Look like an afterthought. Who else does it? But who would even think to click on little "arrows"?

It should be an opt in or opt out feature.

If it were a magazine, would you put next your ads at the front, "More ads at the back of the magazine"?

I'd like to see what data Google used to conclude they can generate significantly more income, and which ad sizes worked, if any, and which demographics paid them any attention, if at all.

Very skeptical,

p/g

[purplecape]

They had been testing them for the past few months, so they must have SOME data to support rolling them out.

How ugly/obtrusive they are depends on the colors you are using for ads, I think. They are not particularly noticeable on my site.

One problem I have with them is that IF people use them, they'll reduce the incentive for advertisers to bid high so as to be sure of getting into the first 4 places.....

Opting in and out would be nice.

[icedowl]

If we can't opt out of these then I'd like to see an option available that allows me to choose the color of the arrows. Right now they're sticking out like sore thumbs. I'd prefer that they were in a shade of gray or somehow muted.

[MyNewPC]

I sent the following by email to [e-mail].

Since you encourage publisher feedback, I wanted to express my disappointment with the scroll arrow function on ad units. I think it's overkill and I'd much prefer to see the ad units without the scroll arrows.

I would encourage others to express their views that way as well.

[edited by: MyNewPC at 4:22 pm (utc) on April 3, 2008]

[robzilla]

> My CTR is half of what it usually is, but that's probably (and hopefully) a coincidence.

Yeah, probably. I doubt more than 0.5% of visitors pay attention to weird "arrows." Nobody uses them for navigation or ads.

Right. It was only a hiccup, CTR is back to "normal" today.

I find these arrows to be very noticeable. They draw (unnessary) attention, and I don't think it's that obvious to users what they are there for, so they may also add confusion. I'm sure they've been tested thoroughly, but I'd still like the option to turn them off, especially if they provide no noticeable improvement in CTR, EPC or the overall usability of the ads and site.

How ugly/obtrusive they are depends on the colors you are using for ads, I think. They are not particularly noticeable on my site.

Right, so on your site they probably won't draw as much attention. On one of my sites, the background of my ads is a light grey, and the arrows are black with a white square around them. I feel like they stand out more than the ads themselves.

[mayest]

I'm not a big fan of these arrows either. However, it might be that Google discovered that people who click the arrow and then click an ad are much more likely to convert for advertisers. It seems to me that somebody clicking those arrows is probably more motiated to find a relevant ad. Is it possible that we won't get smart-priced (if we are in the first place) for ads on the second "page"?

[ArtistMike]

I want to be able to turn them off, I want to be able to make the highest bidders only get on my web page. I don't want the low bidders to have the possibility of getting a click from my page. Only the highest bidders get on my page. Now with these little "arrows" on the ads, the low bidders get the chance to get on my web page. I don't like that. I want the option to TURN OFF the "arrows".

Once again Google does not ask what we want, they just shove it on us and make us deal with it as best we can.

What a bunch of crap.

Mike

[HowYesNo]

arrows are ugly, ctr is down :(

[Scurramunga]

If I wanted more ads to show I wouldn't have scaled down to one adblock for my entire site. I would simply have placed more blocks.

Please allow us to switch the arrows OFF so that we can exersise more control over low paying scum.

[greatstart]

What if one clicks on the arrows several times, will it increase the impressions and thus lower the CTR on that page?

[DonnaJen77]

Why would anyone want to click an arrow to see more ads?

[greatstart]

There are many curious visitors that will click the arrows to see more ads. Whether or not they actually click on the ads is different story.

[ken_b]

>> Why would anyone want to click an arrow to see more ads?

AdLinks have pretty much proven that people will follow links to see ads. The arrows are just another version of that.

[marcel]

AFAIK they've been testing these arrows for about 6 months, (I first saw them every now and again back then)
They must work (for a majority of sites..) or they wouldn't have rolled them out.