How Do I Get Ads in Spanish?

Page Is In Spanish

[Sally Stitts]

My website is entirely in English, except ...
I added a Spanish version of one of my very popular pages.
The Spanish version of the page is VERY popular also.
Although it is entirely in Spanish, and the header specifies "es" for language,
all ads are in English only, resulting in a dismal CTR, as would be expected.

Is there some way to nudge AdSense to place Spanish ads on the page?

This COULD be a big winner, if only Google would deliver Spanish ads.
My only choice really, up to this point, has been ad code removal, due to the negative effects on overall stats.
Thanks for any help, suggestions, etc.
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[levo]

Check your page from a different browser/computer/connection. Maybe you're seeing personalized ads.

If that won't work, paste your url to Google translate box, and see if "auto-detect" selects the right language for it.

[glitterball]

I have had this issue for years, and as far as I know, there is no solution. Google generally ignores the language of the page and browser and targets the ads based on other factors (such as location). Often a traveller will see ads in languages that they do not understand even though both the page that they are viewing and the browser language are both English.
Remember, Google knows better than you, foolish earthlings.

[lucy24]

and the header specifies "es" for language

It's been a while since this topic was covered, but in the past G has said explicitly that they disregard the "lang" tag wherever they meet it, and use their own criteria for deciding what language a page is in. Isn't there something in AdSense settings that lets you override site defaults for individual pages?

[Sally Stitts]

Thank you so much, Levo.
The page is detected as "English".
Probably because it resides in a folder on my site called "medicine".
So, maybe I must create a NEW folder on my site called "medicina", and place just that file into it.

But, then, how about the issue of my SITE'S NAME being in English. Another gotcha. Probably. Rats.

By the way, Google translate does an admirable job of translating it back into English, after I FORCE it to being Spanish.
Only a few glitches, such as translating "may be" into "is not", but that could be how Google translated it in the FIRST PLACE.

Too bad there isn't a way to just force the danged thing to show Spanish ads, and be done with it.
Too simple, it must be made more complex.
I'm about to give up. Too bad. Real good traffic.

WHOOPS. Two more posts while I typed this. I'll go read them now.

Isn't there something in AdSense settings that lets you override site defaults for individual pages?

Anyone?
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[iamlost]

Sadly, as glitterball noted, Google knows best (for some definition therein)...

Ad targeting by language [support.google.com]

Basically, language of the page is the LAST fallback for determining language of ads.
* language set by advertiser.
* language set in browser by visitor.
* language of prior pages visited by visitor.

However, (especially if you might be translating other pages in future) I'd set a Spanish subdirectory and use that to hold your Spanish page, and any subsequent, rather than just have arbitrary 'other' language page(s) within site.

yourdomain.tld/es/medicina

Google (and not just G) need to be hit hard, multiple times, with the obvious. Both algos and AI (oxymoron, more like artificial moronity) really don't handle exceptions well.

[Sally Stitts]

I give up. This appears to be an infinite time sink, for me anyway.
I simply placed this text in my ad slot -

No puedo conseguir anuncios en español en esta página. ("I can't get ads in Spanish on this page.")

DONE!
@iamlost - Your posts/votes ratio is very impressive! Makes me listen-up and double-read your comments.
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[Pixby8]

Not sure if anyone has suggested this to you or not, but Google Translator does have a plugin, I believe, that you can place on your website and allow the user to convert the content to lots of different languages. You may not want to do this for your entire website, but if you add it to that Spanish-language page and set Spanish as the starting default, I'd be curious to know if that would do the trick. Being that adsense and translator are both Google products, the algorithm might weight this appropriately. Then again, maybe not. Google probably considers a user's browsing history, time of day, and geographic location above all else.
I don't speak a lick of Spanish, and yet I'll be on an English language site and sometimes see ads in Spanish anyway. It's pretty dumb that Google doesn't have a better handle on this stuff.

[Pixby8]

Also, make sure you are testing all of this in developer mode in whichever browser you are using. You don't want your history, etc, messing up your tests. You need a clean slate, or a history of looking at everything translated into Spanish, in order to know if Spanish language ads are showing correctly.

[not2easy]

It is entirely possible that your visitors who might have an interest in seeing ads in Spanish are already seeing them in Spanish whether you do or not.

[Sally Stitts]

It is entirely possible that your visitors who might have an interest in seeing ads in Spanish are already seeing them in Spanish whether you do or not.

I seriously doubt that speculation, due to the non-existent CTR.
If it is true, I would think that at least A FEW Spanish speakers would click.
The page in English runs around 2.0% CTR, and is my most popular page (out of 470 pages).
The page in Spanish runs around 0.0% CTR, and is my 4th most popular page (out of 470 pages).
.

[lucy24]

Open a browser you don't normally use, and change its default language to Spanish. Heck, temporarily change your whole computer's system language. Now go to the relevant page. Are the ads in English or Spanish?

[glitterball]

Open a browser you don't normally use, and change its default language to Spanish. Heck, temporarily change your whole computer's system language. Now go to the relevant page. Are the ads in English or Spanish?

Apart from that - and more importantly - use a VPN/proxy for a Spanish-speaking location.

But, as you already said, this is most likely a huge time sink. I gave up after wasting a great deal of time on this. I have no doubt that it cost me a huge amount of money over the years, but I think that we have to accept that Google shows the ads that it wants to, and we have very little influence on what is displayed.

[not2easy]

My personal experience shows that Google Ads do not respect your browser or computer language settings at all and determine what language to serve you based on your ISP location. Same with any Google services.

[Sally Stitts]

The page is entirely in Spanish. ANY and ALL ads on the page should ALWAYS be in Spanish. PERIOD.
THERE IS NEVER ANY REASON NOT TO.

"Try this, try that, try the other."

NO.
And yet, the Google genius has contrived 27 different ways to NOT put the ads in Spanish.
I simply don't have the time, nor the inclination, NOR THE LOVE OF PAIN, to try and deal with this STUMBLING, BLUNDERING nonsense,
by being forced to try to TRICK Google into being LOGICAL, COGENT and CORRECT. $crew it.

The word "overthink" comes to mind. "How many ways can we avoid and deny the obvious?"

Good Lord.
.

[LifeinAsia]

Perhaps that on this page, you should heed the words of a wise Jedi master: "AdSense is not the monetization stream you're looking for."

[Sally Stitts]

Some are gluttons for punishment (me?).

Today, I am implementing the suggestion @iamlost -
Creating a new directory for /es/medicina/spanish-file-name.htm and /es/medicina/spanish-file-name.pdf
I don't think it can hurt, unless I screw it up somehow.
Thank you @iamlost. So many little changes to make -
--- index, sitemap.txt, sitemap.htm, htaccess redirect, interlinking, etc. All need fixing and testing.

I will report back here with the result - spanish ads or no spanish ads. And any other anomalies.
Juggling so many balls in the air, including all the must-dos, is not my favorite thing, but it is the nature of the beast.
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[Sally Stitts]

OK. Done.
After about 5 reloads, I get "Start Download" (PDF), in English, of course. Yea, I lose!
Followed by "pool equipment repair" and "free writing tool" ... in English. Yea, I lose again.
Looks like I live in "Garbage City".

I'll give it a day or so, before I execute it, once and for all. I anticipate ZERO click-throughs.

In any case whatsoever, when the CTR is zero, I pull the ad, because G is saying, "No, no and NO."
OK, I get it. I will stop banging my head against the wall. And seek other places to fail. I can find more.
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[iamlost]

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration (Edison)

If at first you don't succeed, fail fail and fail again (iamlost)

I apologise for offering hope in the face of Google's blindness. On the positive side you now know just how Google's algorithm logic matches the parable of the blind men and the elephant. A lesson and a mindset few webdevs/SEOs seem able to learn.

Best wishes going forward:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
...The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Sally, her site, and Saint Google!
---with apologies to WS
---

[Sally Stitts]

Here I am drowning, and I get Henry V, Act III, Scene I.

Just kidding. I LOVE IT. Without humor, we are truly doomed.
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[Sally Stitts]

Bingo.
I got my first ad in Spanish.
The middle ad of a vertical 3-pack. 1/3 good. That has to be progress, using any micrometer.
I'm going to take a wild guess here, and suggest that this improvement may be due to the es/medicina/ filename change I just made.
Many thanks for the tip.

Also, my first click. A little low, but better than many. Perhaps learning.
I'm wondering if the selection algo... will get better at ad selection and value over time, or ...
Wait and see, or try some more stuff?
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[iamlost]

In my experience AdSense can take up to six weeks to 'adjust' to change although typically from a couple days to couple weeks.

As a general rule I like to give change time to be noticed so as not to confuse which might have caused what.

Congrats and here's to the poor algo getting with the program.

Added: and with time that Spanish page should accrue Spanish back links which should be a reinforcing kick in AdSense's buttocks.

[Sally Stitts]

Started out good. Turned into p00p.
No more Spanish ads. Mostly giant green download buttons.
Changed my ad balance to 50% fill, after seeing an increase in revenue vs. 57%. But no help here.

I wonder just how much ad balance helps. It helps wipe out your impressions, THAT part is for certain.
Getting better ads, getting APPROPRIATE ads, I don't think so. ZERO evidence of that.

Yes, I'll wait a little longer, but I feel like an idiot. Too much, "Maybe I'll get lucky. if I just wait."
The last time I got lucky was 2013.

My es/medicina change DID help my # of visitors, though. So that's a positive.
But it hasn't affected the brain-dead ad selection.
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