"Visit Website"/Double Click Ads

[Cruncher]

Hi all,
I've been using AdSense as a primary monitization platform of my website for the past year. Last week, my CTRs started to drop, first on specific ads and slowly it began to spread across the whole site.
After i did my digging i discovered that my ads (i only run text ads) became those 2 clicks ads where the user need to click the arrow and then the arrow will change it's form into a "Visit Website" button. In this type of ads a user needs to click 2 times in order for a click to be counted. After 3 days like this my overall CTR dropped by 80%.
It happened both on mobile and desktop (not on tablets though).

I couldn't find any info about it on the web.
Does anyone know why it happened? is it a punishment? is it another google test? will it stay forever on the domain? is there a way to get rid of it?

Thanks

[netmeg]

There was a post here about that, but somehow it seems to have disappeared. I guess the double click option is some kind of invalid click protection. I find it odd that Google doesn't have anything about it in their support docs. You should probably contact support if you're eligible for it.

[MrSavage]

I think this is spam. If I click my own ads I might know about this. Who clicks their own ads? Second time here it's been posted about, oddly enough. Nowhere else. Also, if Google was to do this, that would really change the agreement wouldn't it? When I put up ads, I know that link units require double action. Switching me to double action "regular" ads after using code that is supposed to be a normal single click paying ad and without any communication from Google about it? I'm playing my BS card on this one. What exactly is, "after my own investigation"? Like you are clicking your own ads?

[Cruncher]

When you have a website with over 1 million page views per day and your CTR drops from 2-4% to 0.2-0.6% you do what you need to do in order to check what caused it. i've asked my users and a very frequant user send me the video showing it. before pull your BS card, give me some credit, i may be a new user here but i've been reading here for a couple of months.

[zoidzoid]

I posted in the last thread on this subject, but that seems to have disappeared.

I can verify this type of ad exists, as I've seen it on a number of sites. I DO click ads when I'm interested, although never on any of my own sites.

Its being discussed here, as this forum is much better than googles own halfbaked interpretation of a group messaging system.

Cruncher - what I have seen and noted:

1. This double click its sometimes limited to single ad units, it can and DOES seem to hit entire sites/accounts though
2. It seems to hit certain geo's, not always all
3. The sites that I consult for typically use paid traffic, and through a variety of geo and interest shaping have seen the initial drop gradually get better, although no site affected has returned to more than 50% normal ctr after a variety of experiments over a VERY short time scale.
4. The double click also effects the 'apple' variant ad [which surprisingly I've never read about here despite the level of 'expert knowledge' on display with the 'BS Card' that just got played]
5. All sites I've seen this on are 1m+ PV/M with a significant number being sub 1k on alexa/similar/compete

Lets compare notes, I love data and I dont for a second buy into the pervasive belief that Google is some mythical troll thats out to screw their publishers, theirs reason behind this, and im all in favor of improving the ecosystem, so lets talk and not call BS, its helpful to everyone.

[robzilla]

If that alone caused your CTR to drop by 80%, my guess is that you previously had a lot of accidental clicks.

[ken_b]

Apparently this has been around for a few years. Here's a Tech Crunch article about it from 2012.

Jonathan Alferness, Google’s product director for mobile ads, said the company has already tackled the problem in its text and app promotion ad formats — those ads include a blue arrow, and if you tap on the ad, but not on the arrow, it enlarges into a “visit site” button, which you have to tap again to actually go to the advertiser’s site. In other words, if there’s some ambiguity about whether you really meant to select the ad, Google will ask you to confirm that it was intentional. The format was first tested a few years ago and became more widely available after AdMob was integrated with AdWords in June.

[techcrunch.com...]

[netmeg]

I still say hit up support. If you're getting that much traffic, you shouldn't have a problem getting someone to at least listen to you.

But overall, I'm pretty sure that if it's a real thing, it's probably tied directly to ad placement and/or traffic quality.

Do you see it on all placements on your site, or just some of them?

[Cruncher]

So, it seems like this "issue" is spreading. here is another known site with millions of users (which i'm not connected to in any way) that got this kind of 2 click ads:

[s4.postimg.org ]
[s4.postimg.org ]

I seems like this is something they start to roll out now. i can send you more examples of sites i found to have it (and you can discover it with the Chrome console, no need to click on the ads)

[netmeg]

No need to send. But again, I'd ask support if it's affecting your own site, because they'll be the only ones who can really give you any answers.

[HowYesNo]

All my sites are affected with this "visit Website" ads, ctr >>> -30%. Good job G.

[MrSavage]

If this is rolled out, for those "exclusive" publishers, I would only feel slightly betrayed. As in, link units require a secondary action, we all know this. Ads that I've had up for years or even as recent, how can the terms be switched without notice? As in, I might make better use of the space on my site rather than be showing ads that require secondary action, which as anyone knows, is a great way to earn less. It doesn't seem fair in that sense. Does it say anywhere that some of the ad units "might" require second click before being counted? I suppose next it will be only clicks that convert pay publishers. A read the techcrunch article. No idea what to make of that. Unless told otherwise, why would anyone think that their "one click = pay" might change to "two clicks = pay" on a random, semi-permanent, permanent, this way, that way, only on Wednesdays, type of ad units? Some days, my unreal low earning and lack of clicks would indicate something like this is plausible, but really? If this is more common these days, then wow, at this point do I feel like a lab rat. If desperate times are near, then I can see how this testing is best done now, rather than later. For F sakes. BTW, what is a Chrome console!?

[netmeg]

For F sakes. BTW, what is a Chrome console!?

I expect you know how to Google that, MrSavage.

Ads that I've had up for years or even as recent, how can the terms be switched without notice?

Well because nobody appears to want to contact their support options, we're speculating that the appearance of these ads is actually a signal that something might be going wrong with the traffic quality. If that's true, then it's either this or just ban the publisher or site outright. Which do you think is a better option?

[ken_b]

How do you guys know these ads are appearing on your sites?

[MrSavage]

(and you can discover it with the Chrome console, no need to click on the ads)

If you're going to start a thread about this, please don't assume that everyone knows what you're talking about. Please explain that because for dumb S's like me, it doesn't explain how I'm going to see my ads or see any ads that have double click action buttons. Explain this so I or other people can do their own investigations.

[netmeg]

Like I said - you have Google, just like the rest of us. You can find a browser tool that will let you inspect the code of the site. Either the one that's built into Chrome or Firebug for Firefox, for example.

I just came across my first spotting of these ads 'in the wild'. It was on one of those photo sites that have arrows, with an AdSense ad directly underneath that can easily be mistaken for slideshow arrows. I was going for the slideshow arrow, and accidentally clicked on the ad arrow, because it was so close to the other and styled so similarly. I clicked it, and then it said "Visit Site"

So if you're running any placements that could in any way shape or form be mistaken for navigation, it's possible these ads may show up on your site. If you have an unusually high CTR, you may see these ads on your site.

Now what's unusual is relative of course, but in my experience, the more traffic, the less CTR. Me personally, if my site was getting millions of pageviews daily and had a CTR of 2-4%, I'd think that was unusual (unless it was product focused). YMMV.

I took a look with Firebug in one screen and Chrome Console in another, and one difference I noted was that the View Site click had another line that started with "data-original-click-url="; the ads on my sites don't have that. I dunno if that means 2-click or not, but you might take a look.

I'm pretty sure I don't have them on my sites; while my CTR is up over last year, it's still pretty low. Mostly because people don't come to my sites to buy stuff and so much of my traffic is mobile. But my EPC is really good, and overall I'm up over last year. Also none of my placements are near navigation or even mixed in with content. Is that a thing now? I dunno, but maybe.

[MrSavage]

Thanks for the explanation. I'm familiar and use firebug. I took a look with the Chrome Java console. I just think if the OP knows how to inspect an ad and determine that it's a double click, then there should be an explanation here for people (like me) who don't know how to do this. It's just a text ad only issue?

If I write an email to Google like this: "How can I determine if my site is showing a double click (click once, then must click "visit site") ads?" Anyone wish to speculate on a response? I might email them. I've had some pretty generic responses in the recent past, although something is better than nothing I suppose.

The only word I can use, is that it's sneaky. I put up a single action ad (done with an understanding that a single click results in revenue for me) and in an almost random nature it can (under some unknown criteria and non reported way to me) become a low click through double click action ad? I'm operate with a certain moral standard and to me, this doesn't quite measure up to what I see as being fair and reasonable. That said, who cares what I think.

[netmeg]

If you get fewer clicks, then Google gets less money. So if this is indeed happening on your site, it's not random because Google has decided they don't like you - it's because of a perceived issue that could potentially lead to invalid clicks. Google does some sneaky sh*t, but I haven't heard anything yet to make me think this qualifies. For that matter, you don't even know if this is your issue; I'd be willing to bet it isn't.

[trebuchet]

If Google is doing this because of ad placements masquerading as navigation then that's A-OK with me. I see that around a fair bit, mainly on those click-baiting "top list" sites. I've even been suckered into mistakenly clicking an ad or two, despite my experience in online advertising. I suspect those sites have artificially high CTRs and Google has had enough. More power to their arm, I say. Better for us genuine publishers too.