i have reported this to the adsense team.
extremely annoying, because:
a) many webmasters don't recognize that there is something wrong, because they have ebay ads turned on and these ads disguise exactly as ebay ads in the complete texture.
b) it's right before weekend, so the adsense team won't do anything about it before monday at the earliest.
why doesn't google make sure, that an advertiser cannot use a landing page that is different from the domain in the ad? is it so hard to implement? this really bugs me, i tell ya..
Content sites are the worst return on investment anyway for most advertisers, useful for some markets useless for most.
Most CJ traffic comes from natural traffic, not direct linking in adwords. The large networks using redirects wont be changing because a few adsense publishers dont understand how integral and STANDARD redirects are. Dont blame CJ and redirects, blame adsense.
(made so deliberately by CJ?)
Adsense and the publishers are frankly insignificant for CJ and most CJ merchants and affiliates.
Prevent people redirecting links through tracking / affiliate services (eg CJ and Clickbank) and you kill millions of dollars of legitimate (and high paying) advertisers overnight.
Excellent point.
Adsense and the publishers are frankly insignificant for CJ and most CJ merchants and affiliates
If that is so, why do CJ affiliates use Adsense? I guess to those who use the combo CJ/Adsense, Adsense IS fairly significant.
If that is so, why do CJ affiliates use Adsense?
My point is CJ isnt really geared towards direct linking using adwords, so the use of redirects isnt (and shouldnt be) affected by some adsense publishers confusing attempted fraud with an industry standard tracking method.
the reason for the various URL's is not to circumvent Adwords. But, there is a reason for it. These affiliate links are sometimes blocked by third party software, Norton in particular was blocking regular affiliate links in regular old web pages.
ok, so these randomly generated various redirect pages are to circumvent third party software like norton. interestingly enough, this practice also happens to circumvent the adsense blocking lists.
it's naive to think, that cj (and some of its rather clever affiliates) don't know this pleasant side effect by now.
i'm not sure what googles position is on this.. but it's worth to disclose the vulnerabilities of being able to only block by tracking domain.
Content sites are the worst return on investment anyway for most advertisers
ronmcd, that's the lamest argument i've heard for a long time - and totally off-topic, too. how do you think google generates 40% of their overall revenue with the content network? get real.
Prevent people redirecting links through tracking / affiliate services (eg CJ and Clickbank) and you kill millions of dollars of legitimate (and high paying) advertisers overnight.
i think the current situation is more like this:
because you aren't able to effectively block people redirecting links through affiliate services, you get a bunch of unwanted low quality ads on your website and cut down your earnings.
To suggest CJ and their affiliates are using redirects to get around your attempts to block them is wrong, you as an individual publisher arent even on their radar.
individuals needn't be on their radar. it's the total of adsense publishers. with a set of weird redirecting domains, i'm able to get through most of all adsense filters, because every individual publisher will have to block every single redirect domain to have a specific ad blocked.
again, nice side effect for cj and its affiliates, but it's googles' turn to change it. obviously they won't.
[edited by: moTi at 2:41 pm (utc) on Jan. 24, 2007]
again, nice side effect for cj and its affiliates
You're missing the point. You are seeing attempted fraud and manipulation, but thats not whats happening. Redirects are THE standard way to handle tracking, both for affiliate networks and independent tracking services.
... long before ADSENSE EVEN EXISTED.
Before your site had adsense on it people used redirects to track - and the CJ links arent randomly generated anyway, they are static, but CJ uses different domains to handle the redirects over time. I've been using the same CJ links for years on some of my sites and they've never changed. As new links and creatives appear they often use newer servers. Thats the way it works. CJ's links arent even designed to be used directly in adwords, direct linking didnt exist and many CJ merchants dont allow it. Why should it be changed now just because adsense has a problem handling it?
it's naive to think, that cj (and some of its rather clever affiliates) don't know this pleasant side effect by now.
.....with a set of weird redirecting domains
If you have a problem with redirects, invent a new standard tracking method and convince the world your way is better - or better yet convince adsense to allow you to filter in a way that better fits with (Im repeating myself I know) the STANDARD method of redirecting links for tracking. Your problem lies solely with adsense.
Do you see what I'm saying?
ronmcd's point - Tracking is necessary, because otherwise you can not reliably track stuff. I agree.
However, i tmust be allowed to ask the question, why is CJ using multiple domain names? Interestingly enough, they are using these redirects for shady affiliates (be it unwanted or not). If they wanted to use different servers, they still could go by subdomains, e.g. server1.cj.com server2.cj.com - that would add credibility to their program and would allow to filter them easily for those who want to filter for whatever reason.
40% of their overall revenue with the content network?
Sure. But they are just generating 40% x 25% = 10% of the PROFIT of Google, because they are giving 75% of the revenues to the publisher (figure out of the head without looking it up). The content network inflates Google's revenues, which has sort of become a problem for publishers (they won't drop us, but they do not put as many resources into the Adsense program as they put into, say, the search network).
Redirects are THE standard way to handle tracking
redirects being part of a tracking procedure has never been a disputable issue.
but CJ uses different domains to handle the redirects over time.
with respect, but this is rubbish. cj takes this approach in the first place to circumvent ad blocking.
Why should it be changed now just because adsense has a problem handling it?
even though cj doesn't really add credibility to its network with this practice, i've never suggested it ought to be changed on cj's side.
its a relatively small number of domains. If you want to filter them, go ahead, theres not that many
glad to hear that.
Your problem lies solely with adsense.
that's what was also my conclusion.
Sure. But they are just generating 40% x 25% = 10% of the PROFIT of Google
mzanzig, you are right about the content network being relatively more expensive for google and the implications it probably brings along. but the 40% was to counter the persisting belief of many advertisers, that the content network share in this advertising market is negligible.
moTi's point - Why do CJ use a bunch of weird domain names for tracking? Why not go along with just one domain. The reason is clear: to circumvent existing filters, be it Norton or Adsense or whatever. I agree.
I just take issue with the idea of "weird domain names for tracking" having anything to do with adsense at all, theres simply no intent there. Norton, thats another matter, if we all accepted Nortons default settings the web would be an odd looking place.
The share is continuously decreasing after 2004...
