The Experiment

Auto ads showing without approval

[mcneely]

I looked around at some of the threads looking for the topic of how Google suddenly decided to do an experiment with the adsense ads that I didn't approve of.

Opened one of my sites up the other day and a rather large Google ad folded down from the top of the page covering the site menu and the first 3 or 4 topics and short of refreshing the page there was no way to fold it back up or remove it.

Logged into adsense and discovered that this particular site had been chosen by Google to run a so-called experiment -- Couldn't discover what the experiment was and had no idea why this particular site was chosen so I went in and shut the experiment off. Google might not have liked it much that I shut it off but in my defence I had no notice from Google before hand.

I don't have *auto-ads turned on as I place all of the adsense ads myself in areas of the pages I select in order to maintain a decent flow and appearance.

There's a place for ads and a place for content and I really wish Google would understand that.

[not2easy]

That must be something new. If you had not clicked through to see that unfolding thing you'd never even know they were toying with your site's ads. Is there any way to know when they started, and have you seen it on other sites?

[mcneely]

Out of all of my sites, this was the only one.

The notice I got when I shut the experiment was that the experiment was half way through - Don't know how long it was - a day? a month? - no explanation at all from Google about the length or the reason for the experiment - all I know is that Google is getting a bit too handsy with internet properties that it doesn't own.

I don't do auto-ads with adsense

[tangor]

Would be nice if they offered an opt out on experimentation. Accept the denial if you aren't going to ask permission.

Er... wait. This is g... never mind.

[mcneely]

So I caught this next experiment an hour after it started (same site) -- This experiment involved a full page ad with no clear way to close the ad on the desktop and no way at all to shut it on mobile.

Google is running the experiment on one of my more trafficked (medium range) magazine sites - when the experiment starts, the traffic drops precipitately (90%) - According to the experiment, Google seems to think I might make more money if I allowed a full page ad to appear for the first 30 seconds on page load.

I'm thinking that Google is wanting to make more money for Google - traffic be damned

As an aside - I did learn that this particular experiment instance was supposed to run for 90 days (an eternity in internet speak)

[engine]

As a user visiting a site like that, I'd find the full page ad an extreme annoyance. I'd probably leave immediately.

[shadowlight]

I'm thinking that Google is wanting to make more money for Google

Nothing new there then.