AdSense beta testing Rad Links for regular publishers

related ad links and search boxes - and examples!

[Jenstar]

AdSense is beta testing a new style of ads called "rad links". These ads - being tested by regular publishers - appear in leaderboard and wide skyscraper ad unit sizes, although they may also be available in other sizes as well. These are being tested by regular publishers (not premium publishers).

Essentially, rad links replaces one ad unit - the one at the very right, or the one at the bottom - and instead of an ad, it shows a search box, keyword links, or a combination of keyword links and with a search box below. At the top it says "Change to Ads About" which enables visitors to effectively control the ads that are appearing.

Visitors can also change ads by using keywords completely unrelated to the site itself (ie. a visitor can generate hockey ads on a site about gourmet cooking) and once generated, even the related keywords will show ads related to the visitor's chosen keyword (hockey) and not related to the site itself (gourmet cooking).

Now for the good stuff, see the ads in action (these are images only, not clickable ads) and you can see examples of how using the search box and clicking related links actually works.

[jenstar.ca...]

What do you think of these new ad styles? I like them personally, it gives a visitor much more control over the ads appearing. And the new ad style is different enough that it might catch the eye of the "banner blind".

[Freedom]

Does this come automatically with leaderboards and wide skyscrapers or do we have to change the ad code?

[The Contractor]

If they think they had fraudulent clicks before or trust problems, wait till this gets out to AdWords users..

So I could go to a computer game site and enter Mesothelioma and then click on big $ ads...hehe

This will either damage the AdWords subscriber trust or jeopardize the content publisher with fraudulent clicks.

Searchable ad network....who would have thought...

[killroy]

well, when ads have been changed I'd also like to see "change back to ads about this page". Also, changing at themes might stick across pages , once you have hte change back link.

Also, the box to type in your own keyword. I'd leave it empy and add a small label above it. I know it takes more space, but an empty box will draw teh eye and invite typig nstuff in, while a filled box might not be noticed at all.

SN

[eddy22]

But would the publisher get paid if some visitor just searches through this search box but does not click on any advtm.?

[elguapo]

I doubt it. You don't get paid when users use the Websearch tool - same principle here, you get paid only when someone clicks

[Jenstar]

This is beta testing only - this means only specific publishers of the AdSense Team's choosing are running these ads.

The average person doesn't know what mesothelioma is. And it probably wouldn't be too difficult for AdSense to pull up a searched keyword report to see what keywords are being searched for (or say, the top 100 highest-paying searches, or sites with a significant number of searches unrelated to the site content) and to recognize a problem.

Also these kind of ad units are not something where the publisher can populate the search field with a high paying keyword phrase. With AdSense WebSearch, I have seen publisher pre-fill the search term box with all kinds of high paying keyword and keyword phrases - or just including hyperlinks directly to the AdSense WebSearch results.

Overall, the AdSense WebSearch would have a significantly higher incidence of fraud when compared with these beta testing rad links.

No, you wouldn't get paid for searches, you would still only be paid for clicks on actual ads, as far as I can tell.

Searchable ad network....who would have thought...

It is no different than WebSearch which has been around for months, or simply searching for the ads by using Google directly.

[walrus]

Its interesting, but with all the other changes to AS in such a short time I'm not keen on the timing cause i just started seeing some normalcy in the ctr and epc again.
But maybe they'll allow us a choice of wether we want to try it or not.

[skippy]

Ok I don’t get this one. Why would a searcher want to change their ads? Might as well just use overture as your search engine.

[Jenstar]

but with all the other changes to AS in such a short time I'm not keen on the timing

It is still simply for beta testers, something publishers may or may not ever see. I have only seen it on a couple of sites thus far. And if it ever did get released widespread, I would suspect this would be one of those "opt-in or opt-out" features such as the image ads.

[eddy22]

Thanks Jenstar for the clarification :)

[walrus]

Yes,
Thanks Jenstar!

[Nikke]

Why would a searcher want to change their ads? Might as well just use overture as your search engine.

LOL. Good one Skippy!

A feature for s*ck*rs. Still. There must be quite a lot of them out there, even if I doubt they are on my sites...

[rebies]

Personally, I think the more options the better. The more different layouts, colors and ad formats these companies (Google, Overture, etc) give us publishers, the less likely these ads will become "typical banner ads" that people get used to and never click on.

[adfree]

I got my doubts if this would not increase the throw-in-your-face impression. In times when we are trying to cope with all the oooooooooo's of the ad world I am not sure that I want to tell my users: "Oh yes, this is another large ad unit buddy, why don't you click here PLEASE, or if you're not happy please chose a couple of ads yourself to make me rich, it's not important what you have come here for in the first place, really..."

[crisscross]

>I would suspect this would be one of those "opt-in or opt-out" features such as the image ads.

Like the opt-out we had with "Ads by Goooooogle"?

[valeyard]

The more options the better - assuming it is an option.

That said, I have to question Google's priorities: they're working away to give surfers control of the ads yet still haven't provided a way for publishers to ensure relevant ads on their pages.

[darkmage]

Jenstar

Any idea about the following?

Do these preferences/keywords get carried to other sites across the Web or are they unique to the site where you type them in?

Do they affect Google.com's search results pages?

[howiejs]

I like new options. I just want to have an opt out of them.

[thewonderwall]

Also these kind of ad units are not something where the publisher can populate the search field with a high paying keyword phrase. With AdSense WebSearch, I have seen publisher pre-fill the search term box with all kinds of high paying keyword and keyword phrases - or just including hyperlinks directly to the AdSense WebSearch results.

is Google okay this practice? (pre-filling out search boxes?)

[Jenstar]

pre-filling out search boxes?

No, this is definitely against the TOS, and I believe they have been sending warnings to pubishers for this as well.

[wrgvt]

As both an AdWords user and an AdSense publisher, there seems to be something a little out of kilter when you're trying to make the ads stand out more than the content. I can't imagine why I would want to play and see what ads I can get displayed on a web site. That's why I have the Google toolbar installed. If I want to find something that was not on the page I visited, I enter the keywords in there and I'm off and running. I also get real SERPS in addition to the ads, which I'd only see if I played with the Rad links.