What Qualifies an Advertiser for the Filter?

MFAF: Made for AdSense Filter

[martinibuster]

Without identifying specific sites, what are the hallmarks of a site that is made for the AdSense filter?

On my list:
Anything ringtone
There is nothing about my sites related to celebrities or music, but sometimes I see irrelevant ads about this topic. Totally off topic and has no place.

Sites promising free stuff
These pages consist of a sign up page where my site users are obliged to submit their personal info. I was clearing up my filter and I just could not bring myself to expose my site visitors to these sites. There was no authority to the tutorials and handbooks these sites were offering.

Weird off topic ads
I'm seeing less of these now than in years past. But these are the ones that made it into my filter. Maybe Google has gotten better at identifying the relevance.

I haven't dropped anything into my filter in maybe a year and a half. The ads I see are pretty decent. But I'm wondering what publishers feel are the hallmarks of an advertiser that is made for the AdSense filter?

[MFKaHB]

The meaning of the filter is to block competitors, not to earn more Adsense money. So I also doubt that Google has arranged the filter in a way that blocking sites will lead to more earnings.

[netmeg]

If in fact it's true the Google displays the highest bidding ads for your space, and you block some of the people that are appearing there, then in theory, it's costing you money to block.

I haven't done enough testing to know whether or not that's true, and it just got to be too difficult to swatting gnats all the time, so I gave up and let the market decide.

Oh yea, there's another class of advertiser I do have to block sometimes - occasionally the targeting gets confused about my site, and sends me passels of ads targeting the people who put on the events I advertise, rather than the people who want to go see them (which is who comes to my site) So I have to clear those ads out of the way in order to get to the ads that really fit my users better.

[Scurramunga]

Adding anything to the filter is going to get you lower earnings in a system that automatically allocates ads to maximise earnings.

If this were really true it must also follow that publishers (who report very low EPCs) have nothing in the inventory except low paying bids because Google is showing only the highest bidders. Or they are all being smartpriced.

[oddsod]

Publishers who report very low EPCs could be feeling a smartpricing adjustment. But they could also be feeling the natural effects of competition. You and I both have sites on a certain asbestos related illness. Mine is a collection of articles from article directories: low quality duplicates of semi-literate content. Yours is a highly respected medical site where people are clicking and converting on mesothelioma ads then... I could still end up not getting the best paying ads. Advertisers and the algo could both be site-targeting.

[tim222]

Ads that display telephone numbers, since they're obviously not interested in getting clicks

Ads that lead to affiliate landing pages

[Guido]

I block ads with direct landing page to affiliates, MFAs, paid surveys MLM, Pharmacy, and all.
Competitive ads filter is a total waste and I use it only if i see something gross.
I also block the big spenders, (such as other SE, and auction site) as I'm convinced they do not concur to increase the bid price on the keyword and they usually pay crap.