Do not track and Opt out

website owner using do not track

[dougwilson]

How does using "Do not track" and "Opt out", from the website owner using adsense ads point of view, effect me?

I've always used adsense on my site. I don't make much money from these ads but I do make enough to pay for domains and hosting.

I do not like being tracked and served preferential ads. I really want to see what everybody else sees. Then I know what ads are being shown on my site, and on other sites.

A week or so ago I added (on) the "do not track" Firefox plugin. Instantly hundreds of companies previously tracking my movements - were blocked.

Among these were Add-This and adsense. My adsense ads disappeared and so did my bookmark icons. I can unblock them for my site and they come back.

My question is, how does using this service effect my status with adsense or add-this? I'd like double-click and G. Analytics blocked. Ads still show when I block them but what the side effects of blocking them are - I don't know.

I've been looking for any knowledge on this issue. Including asking add-this and Do Not Track but can't get to the answer to the actual question (Yet).

Lots of opinions across the net about everything else surrounding do no track but not my specific question.

Of course I'll keep digging but wanted to post here too.

[phranque]

in most cases visitors with "do not track" would be similar to visitors with javascript disabled.

[dougwilson]

I guess I'm not wording my question right.

I understand the effect of "DNT" on sites. My question is:

"...how does 'My' using this service effect 'My' status with adsense?"

There may be no data on - adsense publishers who use do not track.

[phranque]

i misunderstood.

so you mean is there a hypocrisy penalty?
=8)

[dougwilson]

Maybe (hypocrisy penalty) something like that

A "No Mining" penalty

"If we can't profit from selling your profile we're not interested in putting top notch ads here..."

On the other hand I realize it's just me opting out so they still have thousands of innocent people to pillage

[phranque]

technically google could profile you and the urls you visit and see that the ads are being requested but not analytics when normally both would be referred requests from a url.
not sure why google would tie that to your adwords account and penalize you.
google really wants to maximize income and <cough>the best visitor experience</cough> so serving low quality ads just to spite a publisher for his browsing behavior isn't a good business plan.

[dougwilson]

I still don't know much but I'll tell you what I've got so far. By blocking all ad agency, social trackers and companies - except - google and add-this (which are the only two I use) the ads on my site are reflecting the content again.

Likewise ads on other sites are reflecting their content and not targeting me with personalized ads. So maybe it's less google and more the hundreds of other companies.

BTW, don't pay for adwords, so maybe publisher is wrong term for what I do. I have adsense ads on my site - that's it.

There is a drop in clicks for ads on my site, flat line actually, since around the time I started using DNT. That's the part I was questioning. We'll see what happens now that I've "Allowed" most google stuff.

[dougwilson]

Settings:
Blocking all ad networks
Allowing tracking companies: Google and Add-This

After some time with these settings - Google is still throwing an occasional handful of nickels at me and Add-This analytics is working.

Also seeing ads based on content. Not personalized
I'm happy with service (Abine-Do Not Track) to date.