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Google AdSense Test

27 Jun 2003 by

So, yeah, we’re testing out Google AdSense text ads in the sidebar.I’m blown away by the simplicity of the service. You just paste about 7 lines of code into your site, and it serves up contextual ads — no configuration required. It’s really brilliant. Hopefully they’ll allow people to change the look of the ads (and the number of ads served up), but until then, they’ll look like they look. Click away!

21 comments so far (Post a Comment)

27 Jun 2003 | fajalar said...

I should finish signing up my Google Ad, then I might show up to the right.

Eh, I'll do it tomorrow.

27 Jun 2003 | Andrerib said...

How strange can it be to advertise your own competitors?

Of course, you can your earn money and you make them spend money each time a person clicks the ad. But people actually go there so isn't advertising their business dangerous?

Andre

27 Jun 2003 | JF said...

Google actually lets you block ads from your competitors (which we've done for a few). But, I don't consider the ads that are showing up to be competitors.

27 Jun 2003 | Andrerib said...

Ah ok. Thanks for the answer.
So you can block some ones. That's better.
It wouldn't be nice to be advertising other ones.
The ones you are advertising are even good because we can see how good your work really is!
Bye
Andre

27 Jun 2003 | Joshua Kaufman said...

I'm amazed and disappointed by the number of personal blogs that are "experimenting" with Google's new ads. I can't get past how ugly they are, let alone the fact that they're ads.

27 Jun 2003 | JF said...

Joshua, we're experimenting so we can understand the system (for our clients and other internal projects, mainly). Trust us, no one here is getting rich off this!

27 Jun 2003 | Tim said...

I was just reading up on this over at Sitepoint.com...looks like one of the (current) problems with these ads is that they don't rotate very much:

"One key issue with the system is that Google seems to be doing very little in the way of ad rotation. If a certain ad is highly targeted to your content, it might be shown every time. This means that if you attract a large number of return visitors, or generate a high number of page views per visitor, you may experience declining click-through rates on the ads over time."

27 Jun 2003 | JF said...

you may experience declining click-through rates on the ads over time

Yeah, this is one of the things I wanted to investigate (as well as placement). Out click-through rate us around 6% so far, but I can't imagine that holding up.

27 Jun 2003 | dave said...

Boxes are too small on Mozilla/Firebird system (Linux). URLs on the bottom are cut off & they do not go the full width alloted your left hand bar.

27 Jun 2003 | JF said...

For the time being, the ads will only show up on the comments pages. They should begin filtering in shortly.

28 Jun 2003 | Mac User said...

Good lord, Google is polluting the 'net!

Thank God for the miracle ad-blocking powers of PithHelment.

30 Jun 2003 | p8 said...

textads.biz seem pretty nice although they don't seem to match the content of the page to the ads.

You can customize how they look.

I also like the advertise here link which takes you to a simple form.

30 Jun 2003 | Joshua Kaufman said...

Adrian Holovaty: Targeted ads way off the mark.

Is this one for Design Not Found?

01 Jul 2003 | Pablo Impallari said...

Well... seems that Google have tons of people publishing ads.

08 Jul 2003 | Paul Terry Walhus said...

I just signed up yesterday and it was an outstanding day. First days, I hear are like that. Today, the second day, will be more telling and the weeks to follow.

So far it's very promising, I'd like to see a lot more ad rotation though, they seem to be stuck on some of the same ads.

13 Jul 2003 | bah said...

"Click away" ?????

You havn't read the Terms and Services yet, have you? You know.. the terms you legally agreed to? The terms that say you are not allowed to encourage visitors to click on ads? You know.. the reasons google is going to come back at you and say "Sorry, you violated the TOS, no check for you!"

think about it.

17 Nov 2003 | Susanna K. Hutcheson said...

I think these adsense ads are great. And hey, as far as advertising competitors on your site --- here is my thinking on the subject.

At first I had reservations. Then I thought, I get a ton of visitors daily as I have a very high ranking and good popularity. Now most of the people who come to my site can't afford my services or are just looking or are there by mistake. I don't want and couldn't accept every visitor as a client.

They are going to click on another person anyway and probably from google as that's where I get most of my traffic. So why not let them click on that person on my site and I'll make some money?

So your competitor pays you to get a hit. That's cool. If a person wants someone well known and can afford it, they'll hire me. If not, they're welcome to find someone else.

So I don't see it as a problem but rather as a cash machine.

SK

13 Oct 2004 | Maciek said...

O! It's very useful site! Congfratulations. Modelki

04 Nov 2004 | Modelki said...

NIce site! Modelki rulez!

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19 Nov 2004 | Prace magisterskie said...

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