If Adsense hid the URL would CTR increase?

I remember how I used to surf before Adsense

[bumpski]

When I used to surf the web before I used Adsense and Adwords, etc., I rarely clicked on an ad. I right clicked, got the properties and pasted the URL into the address bar. Or I typed it in. Obviously I wanted to see what the ad was about, but I didn't want to take any risks. Parents may emphasize this to children as well.

I've talked to many people, and many still surf this way today. Given a choice they'll type in the URL, but if they weren't given the choice, they probably would click on ads they were truly interested in.

So what would happen to CTR if Adsense hid the URL; 2X increase?

Is it still safer today to type in the URL? Even with the high quality of Adsense ads? (hehe)

Anybody out there bend the TOS and experiment, how'd you make out?

[mhhfive]

interesting idea.

[Visit Thailand]

The url's also appear on google.com so one would hope they would know what works best.

For me personally I would vote to get rid of the url's as I think it would increase CTR at least a little.

[mzanzig]

I think URLs and telephone numbers add credibility to an ad, and I guess that it's not the "typical behaviour" to type in the URL. As Adsense publisher I do this all the time when I want to see who/what *might* be behind an ad. But Joe Surfer? Joe Surfer will simply click the ad if he's interested - it's much easier to click than to type-in the URL or to place a phone call.

[inbound]

I vote for keeping the URLs (being an advertiser)

I know through stats that your worry is not a major concern for the average user. On this site, there are the most advertising-savvy people around so it's difficult to put ourselves in the average users shoes.

Heck, plenty of people don't read past the title of the ad before clicking (I know this because I purposefully wrote test ads which had 2 meanings in the title but explained in the body, people still clicked looking for the wrong one)

URLs can help increase CTR in many instances, they can also hinder if they are not relevant. Consider an advert for red widgets that has the url red-widgets.com or something similar, compare that with the URL nonsense.com, your average user would click (all else being equal) more often on the better URL, it's kind of reassuring for many.

I can see where you are coming from but such a small percentage of people do what you state that the benefit of having URLs there probably outweighs any downside. As was said, Google will know what works.

[bumpski]

I agree with Mzanzig, Google maintains the URL to maintain credibility. I believe Google shows it on their SERPs for this reason, but I don't believe they've ever experimented with eliminating the link, so they really have no apparent data, and we all know Google likes to run its experiments LIVE! (Sometimes I'd swear my chair shocks me, oops, Google didn't like that response)

I believe the address bar used to show the actual URL but now Google has added the code for the text "go to Display URL". So I think even Google was concerned about displaying complex URL's in the address bar, (reduces credibility).

But unfortunately now some of the links that are predominently displayed are not credible. I've heard it over and over again, "I hate those Ebay links they never lead to anything decent", but here I guess we're getting into Adsense quality and credibility, which for me is becoming a concern.

I believe many surfers still feel that if they shop through these types of links they will not get the best deal on their ultimate purchase, so again the "type it in response".

I certainly agree many are confident and click away, but do they convert?

Finally I'm pretty sure there are those that have experimented with hiding the URL, and I'm sure Google is watching, not only from a TOS perspective, but from an earnings perspective too.

[elsewhen]

there are several ad formats that do not include the URL:

[google.com...]

although removing the URL may have a slight increase or decrease, i dont think that the difference is in the range of 2X.

[semiprofessional]

I have tried to make my URLs blue on a yellow background - to match a blue ad title. Sometimes the URL will not show at all, and other times it will. So I wonder whether in fact google changes it on the fly sometimes.

I'd rather have it there as it does add some credibility, and regular visitors can see that it is new and click on it for that reason.

[topr8]

>> I rarely clicked on an ad. I right clicked, got the properties and pasted the URL into the address bar

come on, i don't know a single 'normal' internet user that would do that!
most wouldn't even know how

[bumpski]

topr8

Your right, most type it in instead of clicking!

Yes, and I've always wondered why some of the Ad units didn't have URL's, but I haven't been able to work that format successfully into my site(s).

Hmmm, now that's interesting. On the Google search results ads you can highlight the URL and paste it into the address bar, but on the Adsense ads on a website you can't.

I think people do think they are losing something when they click on an ad, and they're basically right, but there's nothing they can do to do better. This habit may have started before virus protection software kicked into high gear. People may be slowly getting more comfortable with just hitting ad links, article links never seem to bother people.
The observations I'm sure vary widely with regard to age and whether the individuals have encountered a virus "event", or cascading out of control windows, etc.