Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Is this good or bad news for AdSense publishers? Will "fight belly fat" ads become less prevalent? Over the long term, higher advertising quality standards may be helpful to both Google and the content network, but will raising those standards cause pain for some publishers in the short term?
I think Google's main concerns about AdWords ad quality are the ads that show up in its core business of search - something they would never compromise with.
As a publisher though, it's good to see that finally someone has taken some action against the likes of "belly fat" attackers! :)
I was having several spammy ads about religion (nothing to do with my niche) and also ads taking the visitors to low quality widgets website. Yes, I blocked them but the thing is, yes, I remember seeing an increase of low quality ads and landing pages.
I've been considering the low inventory issue as part of the earnings problem and the banning makes sense.
But I kinda doubt they will do it big enough to make much of a difference.
I think Google's main concerns about AdWords ad quality are the ads that show up in its core business of search - something they would never compromise with.
True, but the thread that prompted this discussion is about banned advertiser accounts, not merely banned ads. If John Doe gets his AdWords account banned because of persistent QS problems with AdWords landing pages, he won't be able to buy AdWords or AdSense ads, will he?
As signor_john suggested, higher advertising quality standards may be helpful to both Google and the content network, but it really depends on where those quality ads are running.
Some questions Adsense publishers should ask themselves:
- Is my site being targeted by high-quality advertisers?
- If Google is weeding out questionable advertisers, will the cream of the crop rise to the top?
- Does that "cream of the crop" currently advertise on the Content network?
Most "non-thin" Adwords advertisers, who possess high-quality landing pages and promote great products, don't advertise on the content network anyway.
That's a sweeping assertion.
Where are the facts to back it up?
AdWords advertisers are speculating that Google is going after thin affiliates and advertisers who sell questionable products or services (such as acai-berry supplements and weight-loss scams)
Really? This is an an advance in science?
To use familiar olden day Australian Racing Parlance:
"They're gunna 'rub 'em out?"
We, the great unwashed masses, continue to live in hope.
What's also a positive side effect: people are getting once again alarmed about the dangers of monopolies. Google once again proves that it is just a business, in for the money. They like their near monopoly they have right now, and people are slowly realizing how bad this actually is.
1: Stop allowing parked domains to have adsense. It cheapens the brand.
2: Stop blogs from having adsense. A huge amount of blogs either have text copied from other sites, hotlinking to images, and more often than not, they talk about different subjects on the same page, therefore seldom related adverts. And others talk a lot drivel.
The thing with blogs is that anyone can have/make one and cost little-to-nothing. Doing so, opens the floodgates for all kinds of people thinking that they can make a quick buck. Again, it cheapens the brand.
I am seeing an increase in sites that use other advertising on the same page as Google adverts. These either consist of Yahoo adverts on Adsense pages (Against Yahoo TOS but not Google). Or I visit a site and am bombarded with pop-up windows. The pop-up blocker sounds like a geiger counter at times. Once that stops, I see the page.. and it has adsense on it.
Okay, I know that the pop-ups were not from Google, but the average user will think it is because they see the adsense adverts on the page afterwards and link the two together...giving Google a bad name.
So why Google cannot check for this when spidering is beyond me. If I owned Google I would do this. Okay, it may not be breaking Google's TOS, but as they are breaking the other's TOS, then - in a Gentleman's agreement with the other PPC companies - I would check for this and ban them.
I think Google's main concerns about AdWords ad quality are the ads that show up in its core business of search - something they would never compromise with.
my take on that is that googles general direction for adwords marketing is exactly this. establish adwords for search as a premium brand, squeaky clean with high value advertisers and clicks. and have a second market with adwords for content where the lower tier advertisers can place their bids and publishers have to deal with quality control.
in that context the introduction of third party ads for content fits nicely into the whole concept. advertisers who are unwanted in view of the google quality guidelines (premium market) get the option to sneak into the publisher network through the backdoor by joining the associated third party networks (junk market).
good for google: securing reputation on their own sites and transfering marketing risk to the publishers, who have to deal with the crap - still profiting big time as all transfers run over their advertising system as ever.
good for google: securing reputation on their own sites and transfering marketing risk to the publishers, who have to deal with the crap - still profiting big time as all transfers run over their advertising system as ever.
Maybe, maybe not. If Google's goal is to move the AdSense platform beyond what it mostly is now (a contextual ad network with CPM ads as infill), treating AdSense as a "junk market" is likely to be shortsighted. In any case, AdSense publishers don't have to accept third-party ad networks or display ads.
That's a sweeping assertion.Where are the facts to back it up?
I simply listen to Adwords advertisers who say they do not advertise on the Content Network. These are advertisers who would rather not subject themselves to the various niches, and would rather place their money in Google's core product, which is search.
IMHO, I think many advertisers have become frustrated with the Content Network and choose to advertise exclusively on Search. As a result, some Adsensers begin to see a decline in quality ads, which could result in lower CTR.
For the record, I didn't form my opinion, or make a sweeping assertion from simply surfing the Google Adwords forum on WW. There are thousands of advertisers who don't use these forums.
Either way, there are no concrete numbers--at least I don't have any! :) I'm simply making an observation based on what I've seen and heard.
I suspect that those "some of us" are a minority. ;)
From Googles 2nd Quarter Results [investor.google.com]
Cost-Per-Click – Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, decreased approximately 13% over the second quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 5% over the first quarter of 2009.
I suspect that those "some of us" are a minority. ;)
Quite possibly, but it doesn't invalidate my point: that some advertisers are happy to advertise on the content network and raise their bids if that's what it takes to get referrals. Those advertisers have more options than they did back in 2003 or 2004 (or even 2008), and the decisions that they make are likely to benefit some publishers while hurting others.
some advertisers are happy to advertise on the content network and raise their bids
...IF there is a link between advertisers bids and publishers earnings (EPC). And that's a big 'if'.
establish adwords for search as a premium brand, squeaky clean with high value advertisers and clicks. and have a second market with adwords for content where the lower tier advertisers can place their bids and publishers have to deal with quality control.
With more ad-filters/category-blocking/thirdparty-block options now available for us to micromanage the ad inventory, that's what it appears to me too.
Who knows, probably a tier based system for AdWords in future. Or they can introduce a more 'tolerant' AdWords variant specifically for what is known today as the Content Network.
I can't see effects one way or the other. My earnings were on the up swing before these bans hit and seem to be more or less still on that path.
