blocking amazon+ebay affiliates in adsense

good idea, or bad move?

[amznVibe]

I've grown tired of the low quality and low payout for the amazon + ebay ads on my sites.

So is it a bad move to block all the (www.)amazon.com and (www.)ebay.com urls? Will that even work in the url filter? When I use the nifty ad preview tool for IE, I see much better ads IMHO, so I hope to bring them up to the forefront by blocking the poorer quality affiliates.

Smart idea or dumb? Any previous conversations on this?

[robho]

Over time, I blocked lots of those sorts of ads and anything which seemed off target.

Then a couple of months ago, I deleted the entire blocked URL list. Revenue went up sharply and stayed up, so I now don't block anything (I don't have any competitors who advertise on Adsense).

[hunderdown]

I wouldn't block them. Those ads are showing up on your site instead of the ones you think are better for a reason. Google expects better overall payouts from them. A 10 cent per click ad will appear above a 25 per cent click ad if it is clicked on three times more frequently.

Or so I understand from previous discussions. Anyone with more knowledge of this, feel free to correct me....

[amznVibe]

Actually I now think my instinct was right. My per click amount has doubled.
I think it's a matter of watching it every few days at most and fine tuning, depending on the advertisers and their bidding ways.

For a specific topic website, the ebay/amazon ads seemed out of place most times - I don't like how alot of them are written and I don't like the affilate/(aff) stamp, and I suspect visitors get a bad vibe too.

[rubenski]

How do you know how much you get paid for an ad? I really don't have a clue. I've had Ebay ads on my site too, but I am not blocking them. Not planning to either. Just wondering how you know payout is so low for these ads.

[Teshka]

I blocked the eBay ones. The last time I clicked one, it took me to junk that wasn't even targeted for a keyword. I didn't notice any decline in revenue. I think you're safe blocking that stuff as long as you're in a niche with a lot of advertisers. If there isn't a big pool to pick from, you might be shooting yourself in the foot.

[rjohara]

The Amazon ads are often on target for me with my academic site, but the eBay ads are ridiculous and I block them. Pick any keyword and it will be filled in ("Great deals on new 'biology' - Buy 'biology' on eBay aff"). Very unprofessional and/or sleazy looking.

[helleborine]

I never thought of removing the ebay ads... might be a good idea. I'm going to try it and let you know what happens.

[helleborine]

Well well well!

CPM 40% up already, record day.

If the balloon burst, I'll update.

[amznVibe]

I am seeing a boost as well.
Not sure exactly why but it might be because the "signal to noise" ratio of meaningful ads has gone up.

[helleborine]

My theory is as follows:

People aren't curious about ebay, they already know what it is, and they know where to find it when and if they want it.

Also, if people click on an ebay ad, they tend to be taken to a page poorly targeted to their needs. People might learn not to click after being disappointed a few times.