Is site content relevant with adsense anymore ?

[dee]

This is based purely on personal observation, but is content still relevant for adsense these days. I've noticed that no matter where I am on the web, the ads served seemed more relevant to my own personal browsing history rather than the site im on. Obviously adsense is probably cookie/browsing history based, but has been for a while . It just seems to me to WHOLLY cookie based to me at the moment. So.... with that in mind is it purely about traffic and placement position rather than the site your on these days ? So for instance is it pointless building sites for high CPC search terms like mortgages/ loans if the person on the site is getting served ads for fishing equipment based on ther personal browsing habits ?

 

[Skinner]

Only as far as google demand a level to pick out thin sites (in my obs).

 

[Adam H]

The more remarketing is taken advantage of the less likely you will see relevant ads on specific topics on some sites.

 

[dazc]

Although your point is valid, as are comments above, not every visitor will be seeing ads based on their previous browsing history so the content is still relevant.

Also bear in mind, if someone is visiting a finance/mortgage site it is likely they will have been on other similar sites and google are trying to optimise as best they can; in this respect content is indeed relevant.

 

[Adam H]

Agreed, although there must be a huge amount of remarketing which squashes content related ads even if remarketed ads cost the advertiser a little more to run there must be some downfall for adsense users. Since refurbishing the house regardless of the type of site, whether it be financial or web hosting ( two reasonable value niches ), I still see remarketed ads for screwfix and B&Q which im never going to click because ive already been and purchased what i wanted from those stores

Obviously thats just me though, remarketing is a wonderful tool

 

[dazc]

It's not just you, there is an awful lot of wastage. I guess the holy grail is to predict what you are going to buy next rather than what you may have already bought?

 

[Admin]

@dee yes remarketing has grown in prominence over the last year or two and has pushed out contextual ads. They still appear though in my experience, so its not wholly pushed out. I tend to see a mix on here between remarketing ads and domain stuff, theres nearly always one pushing one of the new tlds e.g. .shop or .fun at the moment. Don't give up hope, the balance could shift back. One final point, I find you get more contextual ads if you use adsense text links (theres more coverage from their advertisers). Try some text ad links .

 

[martin-s]

You have to know what you're doing with remarketing. Partly there's a brand reinforcement element - even if you don't click you're still associating.

But a good campaign will set the remarketing window as tightly as possible too.

 

[dee]

Thank @martin-s and @admin . Will definitely try text ad links, thanks for the heads up.

 

[ausername]

Are these "remarketing" ads the reason that people seem to get paid more for just impressions these days?

Adsense when I was making bank back in the day used to be mostly made up of money made from actual clicks, but I seem to be able to reach $1 with like 800 to 1000 impressions without any clicks these days. I'm sure it used to be something pathetic like a few cents for impressions and you'd only make any money if you actually got clicks.

Presumably the move towards "brand reinforcement" means brands now willing to pay Google more for impressions?

Also noticed some ads recently where the URL is by far the most prominent feature of the ad, as if the advertiser is trying to get people to type the address in the URL bar instead of clicking the ad!

 

[dee]

Also noticed some ads recently where the URL is by far the most prominent feature of the ad, as if the advertiser is trying to get people to type the address in the URL bar instead of clicking the ad!

Seems like a clever idea to me if you're in a high cost niche.

 

[marcuscmikula]

Yep, I saw Crocs ads for at least three or four days after I bought them. I never once clicked on any ads while originally looked either, just went to Amazon and Crocs. It's annoying alright. But useless to whine about it. (And my clicks are way up, so if it's because of this, annoy away)