What Kinds of Sites to Place in Competitive Ad Filter?

[myrrh]

In an attempt to tweak my AdSense earnings some, I'm investigating which sites to add to the Competitive Ad Filter. I couldn't find any threads on the subject that were less than a couple years old and I thought updated opinions may be useful.

Should I block:

1) sites that are simply a list of "sponsored results?" (and what is the name for that kind of site?)

2) sites that have content that is, at best, vaguely relevant?

3) sites that have content of questionable usefulness (quite possibly an MFA)?

[signor_john]

Well, you could always take a hint from the filter's name. :-)

[myrrh]

Competitive ads was not one of my original questions, but I would like to know something about that. I guess I'm a simpleton, but I've not been clear on why we would want to block ads from sites that could be labeled "competitors," at least in my case where I am not selling any product.

[signor_john]

I've not been clear on why we would want to block ads from sites that could be labeled "competitors," at least in my case where I am not selling any product.

Let's say you've got a site about widgets and you're a member of the Widgetcorp affiliate program, which brings in a steady string of commissions every month. You see Widgetcorp ads on your site one day, so you block them because you don't want to risk losing affiliate commissions. (Or, better yet, you do some testing and then block the Widgetcorp ads after you've determined that the ads really are cutting into your Widgetcorp affiliate sales.)

[martinibuster]

I do this:
4. Block ads from sites that are completely irrelevant.
5. Block ads from sites that are offensive.
6. Sometimes block ads from ebook affiliates

I'm hesitant to go overboard with the filter because I want to encourage competition for the ad space. In my experience having a few affiliates in there forces the more legit advertisers to bid higher. Even with the economic downturn my sites are doing as well as or better than last year.

I'm not saying this will work for everybody, so I can't recommend everyone give it a try. There are many other approaches and this is just one of them.