Youve probably noticed by now that Google has started to automatically change the number of ads in your ad units. If they see that most people are clicking on just one ad, theyre going to take out the others and leave you with just that one highest-earning link. Now that sounds like a great idea and Im all in favor of focusing on whatever earns the most. Its the second part of the process that bothers me: once theyve taken out the other ads, Google expands the one remaining ad to fill the space thats left. Why does that bother me? Because it breaks one of the golden rules of successful AdSense advertising: that your ads have to blend into the page. Google provides a whole range of tools that you can use to make your ads match the rest of the page. If youve been using them and you should be using them then all your hard work is going to be ruined. The same goes for any images or anything else that youve been putting next to your ad units to draw the readers eye without them noticing that theyre being pulled towards an ad. In Googles new system, your ads are going to be blown up like balloons. That might work for blimps, but online we dont get paid when people look at ads; we get paid when they click on ads and I think that fewer people are going to be clicking when your ad units scream Im an advertiser! I could be wrong thats happened and Google say theyre only going to use this system when they see that it increases CTR. But in the meantime, I think its a good idea to keep a close eye on your site as well as your stats to make sure that all your pages look the way you want them to look, not the way Google makes them look. From The Horses Mouth You can read all about this new change on Googles blog at adsense.blogspot.com. If you havent checked it out already, I recommend it. Its a great resource. You wont just get the news but unlike user blogs (which are certainly worth reading too) you can be confident know that any changes you read here are the genuine article. No rumors and no stories. The facts straight from the horses mouth. Make it a part of your AdSense news browsing. |
