Joel Comm
08-14-2006, 01:10 PM
It’s always worth keeping an eye on Google’s AdSense betas -- whenever you can spot them -- and Jennifer Slegg over at Jensense has pointed out a couple. They both relate to the format of the ad units and may (or may not) be the taste of things to come for AdSense.
The first is very simple. Google is experimenting with dropping the line that says “Ads by Gooooogle”. In these ad units, there would be no way to tell that a properly-blended ad isn’t part of the site.
Sounds good, right?
Too good, I think.
While anything’s possible, I’d be very surprised if this is anything more than an information-gathering exercise by Google. They’re just too well focused on ensuring that their advertisers get the sort of users who are actually interested in their services. Removing the ad line is going to generate a lot more clicks but only slightly more sales for the advertisers. That means those sales are going to be a lot more expensive.
If Google does decide to roll this out across the network then, I think you can expect a major change in the Smart Pricing algorithm. Advertisers are going to want to be compensated for clicks that don’t generate sales and that means alterations in your click prices. Make sure you’re following the value of your clicks closely so that you can spot any change should it happen.
The second beta is much more interesting. Google is putting images at the top of vertical ad units. Below the image is a line that says simply, “See more sponsored links.” The images are linked to an Ad Links page in the same way as a link unit.
That sounds very promising to me. If the images are attractive, people will click them. And if the links they see are intriguing, they’ll click those too.
One good strategy to use with AdSense has always been to put an eyecatching image next an ad unit. These units could take the headache out of matching the right image to the unit.
It’s interesting though that Google is experimenting both with removing the line that identifies their ad units as ads, and with adding a new one. It will be interesting to see which -- if either of them -- makes it to the roll-out.
The first is very simple. Google is experimenting with dropping the line that says “Ads by Gooooogle”. In these ad units, there would be no way to tell that a properly-blended ad isn’t part of the site.
Sounds good, right?
Too good, I think.
While anything’s possible, I’d be very surprised if this is anything more than an information-gathering exercise by Google. They’re just too well focused on ensuring that their advertisers get the sort of users who are actually interested in their services. Removing the ad line is going to generate a lot more clicks but only slightly more sales for the advertisers. That means those sales are going to be a lot more expensive.
If Google does decide to roll this out across the network then, I think you can expect a major change in the Smart Pricing algorithm. Advertisers are going to want to be compensated for clicks that don’t generate sales and that means alterations in your click prices. Make sure you’re following the value of your clicks closely so that you can spot any change should it happen.
The second beta is much more interesting. Google is putting images at the top of vertical ad units. Below the image is a line that says simply, “See more sponsored links.” The images are linked to an Ad Links page in the same way as a link unit.
That sounds very promising to me. If the images are attractive, people will click them. And if the links they see are intriguing, they’ll click those too.
One good strategy to use with AdSense has always been to put an eyecatching image next an ad unit. These units could take the headache out of matching the right image to the unit.
It’s interesting though that Google is experimenting both with removing the line that identifies their ad units as ads, and with adding a new one. It will be interesting to see which -- if either of them -- makes it to the roll-out.