Do you use the URL filter function?

[webmastertexas]

I've noticed a lot of sites/urls keep appearing in my adsense ads, and have begun to filter them out. It's not that they're competition, but rather becauase the same ads keep showing up, and I'd like a little selection for the visitors. One site in particular (you know, that auction one), and another, which seems to have an exclusive hold on all keywords relating to "movies" and "horror" (if you know what I mean) keep appearing on every single page with the word "movie" and "horror" in it, and it's really annoying. I'm sure my visitors feel the same way. So now I've filtered them out.

How many filters do you use?

[Jenstar]

I only have a handful - my own URLs I am running Adwords for, and a couple of direct competitors for one of my AdSense sites.

And worth a read: Use your AdSense filter list with caution [webmasterworld.com].

[europeforvisitors]

How many filters do you use?

Very few. It doesn't make sense to micromanage Google. Selling, selecting, and serving ads are Google's job, not mine--after all, they've got to do something for their revenue share. :-)

[Never_again]

We filter very, very few URLs. A specific URL would only make it to our filter list if we are philosophically in disagreement with the product or think it distracts from the objective of the site. As EFV noted, "It doesn't make sense to micromanage Google."

[ownerrim]

"It doesn't make sense to micromanage Google"

Unfortunately, sometimes you have to. I've never been in the position of blocking ads that belonged to a competitor or ads I believed to be low-paying. However, I have---because of the area my site is in---regularly been in the position of blocking ads that were not remotely related to my content.

Let's you've got a site devoted to "surveillance tips for bailbondsmen", your target audience is "bail bond bounty hunters" and the ads you'd like the audience to see relate to bounty hunter products. Well, you're not likely to get good click through if the only ads that show up have to do with bail bond insurance. Your target audience has no interest in bail bond insurance. They MIGHT have an interest in products for the professional bounty hunter...but if those ads never show because adsense cannot discern the semantics, then no revenue.

This may sound like a weird example but on my own site the difficulty has been considerable and aggravating with regard to one certain topic. And the only remedy has been the url filter, which has made the difference between good revenue and practically no revenue.

[jadebox]

Let's you've got a site devoted to "surveillance tips for bailbondsmen", your target audience is "bail bond bounty hunters" and the ads you'd like the audience to see relate to bounty hunter products. Well, you're not likely to get good click through if the only ads that show up have to do with bail bond insurance.

But ... if Google is displaying ads for bail bond insurance on your page then your page probably ranks well when someone searches Google for "bail bond insurance." So, it's likely that some percentage of your page's visitors are really interested in bail bond insurance and will be more likely to click on the ad. It could raise your click-through rate.

-- Roger

[ownerrim]

yeah, but if the site is called "Jo-bob's bounty hunter tips and tricks", the insurance ads would be less relevant and less likely to produce clicks than ads for products like mace cannons, custom handcuffs, nightvision goggles, parabolic antennas, kevlar vests, etc, etc.

Hmmm. This is beginning to sound like a good idea for a site. Wonder if I could get "Dog" to be a contributing writer.