Forum Moderators: martinibuster
We think we can make online advertising even more relevant and useful by using additional information about the websites people visit. Today we are launching "interest-based" advertising as a beta test on our partner sites and on YouTube. These ads will associate categories of interest — say sports, gardening, cars, pets — with your browser, based on the types of sites you visit and the pages you view. We may then use those interest categories to show you more relevant text and display ads.
the thing that i am thinking is this... a good site will try and pre-sell the product on the ad. the advertiser then gets a benefit out of the ad appearing on your site because it results in a sale at the end (or whatever). i thought that was something that google measured, and how we increased our ecpm.
but these new interest ads bypass all of that. you have no better chance of a sale at the end than any one else. the advertisers have no reason to target your site even if it did result in an action.
Since teachers and students often use my site I'm opting out of interest-based ads for fear I might get more ads like these. Since many computers have more than one user how can we be sure the ads will be appropriate?
PS. Has Google ever considered giving publishers an option that they get only child appropriate ads?
Since teachers and students often use my site I'm opting out of interest-based ads for fear I might get more ads like these.
Opting out as a site won't help.
Google will still show "interest based ads" on your site, EVEN IF YOU OPT OUT YOUR SITE.
The only way to keep this crap off your site is for visitors visitor to opt out individually.
Link [google.com]
Even if you choose to opt out of displaying ads based on interest categories, your site(s) will continue to show ads based on user interactions with an advertiser, such as visits to advertiser sites.
I really hope Google will come up with a solution on the trash ads. Remember the good old days when you could write to AdSense and actually get support on a problem like this?
even if a visitor does "opt out", they have to do so each session until they install google's add-on that "respects" their choice?
That's the way I read it too. What do you think the chances are that the average surfer will do either?
0 to zip?
Probably why Opt-In is not the way they set this thing up.
Allowing cookies only from very trusted or critical sites on an extremely limited basis would work too. But for the average surfer that's probably not goining to happen either.
Google ad service raises privacy fearsIs Google's new targeted advertising service a boon to users, or is it Big Brother in disguise?
Google’s influence over our lives is set to grow further after it anounced today that it will track millions of people as they move through the internet in order work out what their interests are. Using that information, it will then provide targeted advertising to suit users' individual tastes.The move was met with fierce criticism. MPs described the new system as the introduction of “big brother” advertising, and leading privacy campaigners said the development was “dangerous”, calling on the government to launch an investigation into the activities of the company to see whether it was becoming too powerful.
MPs described the new system as the introduction of “big brother” advertising
Maybe they should negotiate a deal with Google: "Stop tracking cookies, and we'll stop watching citizens with video cameras."
Maybe they should negotiate a deal with Google: "Stop tracking cookies, and we'll stop watching citizens with video cameras."
Honestly, I think there is a big difference between the government watching citizens for the safety of the community and a business doing the same just for the profit. But I know that we disagree on this.
Example: I am myself a webmaster lurking over webmasterworld since ages.
But now I want to search information about "ISO DIRECTIVES" or "TRADEMARK" or "PATENT".
I will have an opportunity to select right type of advertisements which will benefit me on landing pages.
This shall again benefit the advertisors, who are paying higher amounts to compete on this
But again, there is a negative aspect of this !
hope google can control the same.
[edited by: Future at 8:31 pm (utc) on Mar. 15, 2009]
whereas before you might have had ten advertisers bidding to appear on a page, based purely on the page's content, now all of a sudden you'll have ten times as many. that means the little guys will blow through their budgets quicker.
now all of a sudden you'll have ten times as many
How is that bad from a publisher point of view?
it benefits google the most, because it spreads around the advertising budget.
It really benefits two parties:
1) Google, and...
2) The publisher who doesn't get a lot of high-paying contextual ads because of his or her topic, but who may have an audience that will respond to behaviorally-targeted ads.
To use an analogy, behavioral targeting on the Web is a lot like demographic targeting in print media, which is all about the reader and not about the topic. Advertisers of luxury cars, designer watches, expensive liquors, etc. buy ads in CONDE NAST TRAVELER or THE NEW YORKER because they know that CNT and NEW YORKER readers are the kind of people who have and spend money. (If CONDE NAST TRAVELER had to subsist solely on travel advertising and THE NEW YORKER had to exist solely on local New York advertising, both magazines would be skinnier than the models in their fashion ads.)
The normal + "BUT GOOGLE IS WATCHING YOU WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!" ?
I REALLY wish this was optional.
It really benefits two parties:1) Google, and...
2) The publisher who doesn't get a lot of high-paying contextual ads because of his or her topic, but who may have an audience that will respond to behaviorally-targeted ads.
Based on what I have read, I can think of at least one more party that will benefit - and that's a publisher who DOES have a supply of good paying ads.
My site on the gizmo industry attracts a lot of good ads and a lot of attention by industry professionals.
But people in the gizmo industry also need widgets. So someone who has recently been researching widgets then visits my gizmo site creates a situation where both the widgets advertisers and the gizmo advertisers want his business.
This creates a larger pool of competing advertisers and thus the better paying ads appear on my site.
Plus, I get the benefit of having widget advertisers on my site without ever writing about widgets.
FarmBoy
I have a blog that I have avoided trying to monetize with adsense as it does not have a central theme or 'Niche'. I have always been told that having a niche is vital to attract ads that match the niche and thus have better cost per click.
Is it worth me now adding adsense to a blog that basically has random posts (quite good traffic though) as the ads shown will now be relevant to the viewers' interests and not necessarily based around any particular theme?
Is it worth me now adding adsense to a blog that basically has random posts (quite good traffic though) as the ads shown will now be relevant to the viewers' interests and not necessarily based around any particular theme?
There's no way to know without trying. Fortunately, it's easy to test AdSense, and it won't cost you anything, so why got give it a whirl?
Is it worth me now adding adsense to a blog ...
Sure it's worth a try. Just wait about a month then try it.
A lot of bloggers have tried and left AdSense for the same reason as you. This may have, in part, been developed to address some of those situations.
FarmBoy
Makes me wonder if this will cut down on the number of laser targeted niche content sites that have sprouted up in recent years purely with the aim of getting those high value clicks.
Perhaps in the long run, it will lead to more generalised, content sites with a broader subject matter. ?
Do you guys truly believe that your sites have not been displaying 'interest based targeted advertising' for years already?
These changes may mean that ads show up based on a subject that the viewer browsed for days or even weeks ago.
I know that I wouldn't want to be searching for a new digital camera and then see adverts offering me kitty litter because I searched for that last week! The irrelevance of the ads for 'that moment' would annoy me.
I'm saying that Google must have been targeting search and content ads based on interest information gathered via their search engine, tool bar and Analytics for years, and this announcement is to legitimize and existing situation, as well as a marketing move to attract advertisers. (regardless of cookie period)
What actually concerns me is trusting their algo to truly serve the ads most likely to generate the highest revenue, I would gladly let Google decide ad type, format, color, font and even size if the algo worked as advertised, but this is for another CTR thread.
What actually concerns me is trusting their algo to truly serve the ads most likely to generate the highest revenue
Don't forget that Google gets a cut of the advertising revenues. If behavioral targeting turns out to be a dud, Google will feel the pinch as quickly as you do.
I think I'll give it a go.
Just remember not to expect anything before April 8.
I don't see how it will help content based sites with primarily search driven traffic though.
It has the potential to increase competition for ad space on those sites. Increased competition should result in a higher EPC.
Makes me wonder if this will cut down on the number of laser targeted niche content sites that have sprouted up in recent years purely with the aim of getting those high value clicks.
If by "this" you mean category based ads being shown to a visitor based on behavior/history, no I don't think it will lead to a reduction in the number of nice sites. It may even lead to an incentive for people to develop more of those type sites.
Do you guys truly believe that your sites have not been displaying 'interest based targeted advertising' for years already?
I wrote about that in a previous post. It's no secret - Google said basically the same thing. What's new is interest based targeted advertising where the ads are drawn from categories.
In the past, a clown who visited sites about clown shoes and clicked on ads for clown shoes would likely see more ads about clown shoes IF those ads are available. If not, he might see some totally unrelated ads, blank space, a PSA, etc.
Suppose there aren't enough clown shoe ads to fill an AdSense display. With these category-based ads, the clown might see the two clown shoe ads that are available and two ads from the same category.
If Google puts clown shoes in the "shoes" category, the clown might see a couple of ads for tennis shoes, running shoes or whatever else is in the category. In this hypothetical example, those other shoe ads probably aren't going to perform very well when shown to the clown.
But if Google puts clown shoes in a "clown gear" category, the other two ad spots might be filled with ads for clown costumes, clown red noses, clown trick books, etc. In that case, the result could be very positive for the publisher.
As I wrote previously, a lot depends on how Google develops the categories.
know that I wouldn't want to be searching for a new digital camera and then see adverts offering me kitty litter because I searched for that last week!
Based on what I've read, you won't see kitty litter ads unless there aren't enough digital camera ads and/or the kitty litter ads have been performing well when shown to people searching for digital cameras.
...and this announcement is to legitimize and existing situation, as well as a marketing move to attract advertisers.
I disagree. I think ads pulled from categories is new and this is a straightforward announcement.
What actually concerns me is trusting their algo to truly serve the ads most likely to generate the highest revenue...
Well, you know, you've been doing that since the day you joined AdSense.
I don't distrust Google on this because I believe they want to make as much money as they can from every ad display, same as me.
FarmBoy
[webmasterworld.com...]
this type of activity that tim berners-lee has warned against will only increase, as advertising providers such as google find ways to get more people to click ads;
demographic, and psychographic information has been sold and distributed for years by research companies; it is only natural marketing evolution that this activity is facilitated through the web.
