Forum Moderators: martinibuster
These crap sites pervade every subject and its getting really out of hand. Many sites use decieving methods to get people to click on the ads. People often think the ads are part of the regular navigation. I have seen alot of entire directories built around adsense with no honest content, even sites that look and feel like ecommerce sites selling large inventories of products but actually only have google ads for income.
I don't know about you, but if I were a google advertiser I wouldn't want my good name attached with this rubbish, not to mention the quality of the clicks from many of these sites must be poor. In fact, I bet alot the clicks origonate from the website owners themselves.
What do you guys think about this google adsense spam junk which is overunning the internet?
If an advertisement for my site on.... fire trucks shows up on a page about fire trucks which would be viewed by people interested in fire trucks, I do not mind, and I don't care if it is a spam site.
Bottom line, if it brings interested, relevant traffic, I am happy.
If an advertisement for my site on.... fire trucks shows up on a page about fire trucks which would be viewed by people interested in fire trucks, I do not mind, and I don't care if it is a spam site.
But what if it brings in people who:
1) are searching for information on fire trucks but have no intention of buying a fire truck; and...
2) clicked on your ad only because they got trapped on a page with no obvious way out except for ads disguised as navigation links.
Do those people represent hot, warm, or even lukewarm leads? I suspect not.
"i dont care if the ads stapled to a dead fish as long as theres a decent roi"
You're right though, it is a real concern.
I think the change in the terms that requires publishers to adhere to the Google webmaster guidlines is meant to minimize this behaviour.
if this [stuff] starts showing up too much at the top of serps, google might as well consider changing its name to altavista at some point.
Right on ownerrim. The only reason these sites exist is to generate income from AdSense and the only way they can do that is to have a reasonable level of traffic. Drop them from the SERP's and their traffic/income will also drop which, IMHO, will cause many to disappear.
But Google also needs to attack this issue from the AdSense side and enforce the TOS since it is obvious to all that these spam sits have been developed just for AdSense.
Finally, there has been a number of posts on WW from developers of these spam website and they flatly tell you that the worse their “content” is the better CTR they get, so don’t expect them to ever “improve” these miserable excuses for content sites.
[edited by: Never_again at 12:59 am (utc) on Dec. 16, 2004]
It sells luxury items and the cost per click is around 2 USD. Every time we put up an ad for the first time the click through per impression starts out at about 20-50%!
This is obviously either/both:
a) Competitors clicking on our adds
b) Spammy little #*$!s clicking our ads on their spammy little sites.
I’ve got to say I'm getting completely feed up with Google! If they didn't control the f******* market I would only use their competition.
The internet feels like a monopoly!
I had a nightmare last night where I was being chased around by a giant Google with long creepy arms cornering and trying to catch me.
This isn't how the internet was supposed to be!
What google should really do is create a second bidding sytem for adwords and adsense, that way you could bid $10 on adwords and $1 on adsense sites.
I think sites like this have contributed a lot to adsense blindness. A lot of people just don't see the ads anymore.
That probably depends on the site and the topic. On a portal or newspaper site, AdSense ads may well fade into the background, because the person who's reading about a battle in Iraq or a football game isn't necessarily interested in buying anything. However, a person who's reading a comparison test of vacuum cleaners, a review of a cruise or hotel, or an article on mail-order underwear is far more likely to be interested in relevant ads.
For what it's worth, I've been in the AdSense program for a year and a half now, and I haven't seen any indication of "AdSense fatigue" on my site. But then, I have a travel-planning site, so most of my readers looking for ways to spend their money.
What google should really do is create a second bidding sytem for adwords and adsense, that way you could bid $10 on adwords and $1 on adsense sites.
It isn't that simple, because there may be a wider disparity in conversion rates between different parts of the "content network" than there is between AdWords and AdSense.
Google's "smart pricing" adjusts for differences between different types of content and search, using the bid only as a baseline for calculating what the advertiser actually pays. If advertisers don't think that's good enough, then the smart ones won't be happy with "search" vs. "content" bidding--they'll want the ability to cherry-pick higher-quality sites or certain types of content instead of taking potluck (as they do now) when they choose the content network.
Certainly Google would be foolish to do anything that might lead to downward pressure on AdSense bids, because publishers in high-profit categories would dump their AdSense ads if their effective CPM dropped too low. For many such publishers, AdSense is just one--and not necessarily the biggest--revenue stream.
It makes google look pretty bad when the results they serve include so many sites that google itself has had a hand in creating.
Yes, and I'll bet a lot of Google Search employees wish AdSense had never been invented.
AdSense was (and is) a great concept, but the implementation obviously needs work.
Besides being a publisher, I am also an AdWords advertiser. I am not so concerned with Spam, at least for the type of site I have.
I wouldn't have a problem as a publisher if all of the advertisers though like you, but they do not.
I would not have a problem as a search engine user if I did not find an inordinate amount of sites like those cluttering the SERPS, but they do.
I might create a new search engine that only includes web pages that do not contain google ads. I bet there is a greater chance for relevant search results! In fact, having a google ad should induce a search engine penalty as potential spamming.
I might create a new search engine that only includes web pages that do not contain google ads.
Well, I guess I won't be able to look for WASHINGTON POST or NEW YORK TIMES stories in your search engine. :-)
WHY they are still conider as good advertisement techniques.
Even think of PAmplets, or TV ADS or RADIO ADS..
No Body will try to buy a thing by going to TV BOX ,RADIO or search for a vendor around the HOARDING.
They will create INTREST....Thats what google ads also..
Don't worry about the Internet is burdened..Search ENgines will take care....(may be i may not express thsi correctly...)
But Google also needs to attack this issue from the AdSense side and enforce the TOS since it is obvious to all that these spam sits have been developed just for AdSense.
I think that is the dilema Google is in. They earn a hefty chunk of their revenue from these sites. I've seen the Adsense data on a few keyword sites and the numbers are crazy. I'm talking consistent double digit CTR for mid 6 digit impressions.
They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they stop these sites they lose a big chunk of revenue. But by keeping them they devalue their search engine.
It's like they let a mutant virus go into the wild and it's replicating and morphing into something ugly.
When I see google ads on websites now I often start laughing - it's getting so that:
google ads on a site = suspsect credibility
I think sites like this have contributed a lot to adsense blindness. A lot of people just don't see the ads anymore.
Which on the other hand will allow a market regulation in itself. If Adsense ads are offered in an accompanying, complimenting manner (e.g. I have made great experience by marking the units SPONSORED LINKS for my users to know what they're up to), users gladly take on the opportunity to some healthy degree (CTR).
The same goes for messy layout (back button) and tricking users into activity traps due to lack of options (no returning visitors, no bookmarking).
I believe we all have to (and Google certainly does) allow a certain sense of market regulation too. Although some of the fraud needs to be stopped NOW. This on the other hand I trust Google enough to detect and stop themselves as the one party here with the highest stakes.
When I see google ads on websites now I often start laughing - it's getting so that:google ads on a site = suspsect credibility
If that were true, why did USA TODAY plug my site in a story yesterday? :-)
I don't think too many users judge a site on its ads, unless the ads are really scummy. If they did, the WASHINGTON POST wouldn't be running skyscraper ads for dating services.
This spammy site stuff isnt unique to Adsense, millions of sites have been designed around all the other affiliate programs as well.
Millions of phone marketers try to get to your money as well.
They seem to have given up lately, at least on my phone line. Maybe they've all switched to e-mail spam.
One thing I'll say for telemarketers: At least they don't call up to sell me Viagra, adult photos, or dates with lonely housewives. :-)
Yeah, thats all good stuff but what about the problem of cretins filling the internet with crap content.
Ummm...you're offending a lot of people here by saying by calling them "cretins".
I hope this sinks in. Adsense is a good program. it lets everyone make money. it seems all u want is a communist internet. where u type in a subject and u only get 1 site for 30 google pages. under every topic imaginable. Look at television advertising when someone makes a cheap commercial selling a product. then when the corporate commercial for that product comes out then u see that the other guy was a dealer and that this is the real companys commercial. but the company does not care cause they are bringing the company money.
Im just sick and tired of people whinign over google spam sites. Its a really neat way for people to make money but all u seem to do is want to take away that priveledge to make money. i think its pathetic. why dont u worry about you. and mind your busiess and leave it up to google.
reminds me of the movie patriot with mel gibson. "why would i trade 1 tyrant 3000 miles away for 3000 tyrants 1 mile away"
get the picture
Its a really neat way for people to make money but all u seem to do is want to take away that priveledge to make money.
And you're in favor of letting people make money at the expense of advertisers? Even if you subscribe to the theory that it's okay to rip off big corporations (which I don't), have you given any thought to the fact that many advertisers are small-business owners who are just trying to eke out a living?
If you think this is bad, wait till pay per call catches up and everyone is trying to optimize their own sites for the local plumber.
