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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by rrival on Thursday March 06, 2008 @11:44AM (#130629)
Seriously? No Effort > Effort. Relevant to context > irrelevant to context. Or you can use adpinion.com instead of adsense.

You've been asking a lot of fundamental adsense related questions - have you seen wolf-howl.com or digitalpoint.com's forums or seobook.com?

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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by amichail on Thursday March 06, 2008 @11:52AM (#130633)
If a user does not specify targeting keywords, then it could revert to content-based targeting. Giving a user control over what advertising he/she will see might make him/her more interested in those ads.
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by rrival on Thursday March 06, 2008 @11:56AM (#130635)
Do you like ads? Do you click on ads? Do you pay attention to ads?
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by amichail on Thursday March 06, 2008 @11:58AM (#130638)
If they were more accurately targeted, I might be more interested in checking them out.
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by rrival on Thursday March 06, 2008 @11:59AM (#130639)
Why don't you click on ads? Why don't you like ads?
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by amichail on Thursday March 06, 2008 @12:00PM (#130641)
I don't like ads in their current form. However, I can't say I will never like ads in any form.

I suspect that most people don't care for ads because they are not really relevant.

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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by rrival on Thursday March 06, 2008 @12:03PM (#130644)
Did you notice the huge CTR rate drop when Google changed the clickable area from the entire ad unit to just the link?
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by amichail on Thursday March 06, 2008 @12:05PM (#130647)
Do you have a reference that this is the cause?

In any case, the future of ads is seamless integration with a site so that you have no idea it's an ad at all before you click it.

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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by rrival on Thursday March 06, 2008 @12:15PM (#130655)
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2007/11/accidental-clicks-fade-i...

A large % of the traffic to adsense was accidental clicking, a large amount of effort was expended on tricking users into accidently clicking on those links by making them look like they were same-site links. Of course that became a TOS violation.

On a CPM basis I can see some value in having a brand associated with a flash game, or having websites sponsored by something. I think you're trying to build a faster horse. Sites that turn margins and backgrounds into advertising, which exist, are more likely to gain traction than another "pin the tail on the donkey" "click here to shoot the monkey" flash/js ad.

Of course this would be far better addressed by someone from AdPinion.com as their entire business model appears to rely on giving people the ability to view more relevant ads.

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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by csmajorfive on Thursday March 06, 2008 @12:08PM (#130648)
It does target to the user based on your searches and other things (assuming you're cookied). It just doesn't ask for explicit input from the user which is counter to the "google way" of abstracting that kind of control away from the user.
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by amichail on Thursday March 06, 2008 @12:10PM (#130649)
Do you think if you were explicitly asked for what ads you would like to see that you would pay more attention to those ads?
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by Electro on Thursday March 06, 2008 @02:42PM (#130769)
Personally I would. If it peaks my interest I will look, I'm not interested in "low rate mortgages" or "win a free(*) iPod". I own an iPod and I have no interest in owning a house, which is why I now own Adblock Plus and Flashblock. I hardly see any adverts anymore because they annoyed me by not targeting me.

Context ads are good, except when the ads aren't in the context of the site. Just because sex gets mentioned in an article, doesn't mean I want adverts for sex pheramones and when I read something on bargains on HDTVs I do want Bestbuy, FutureShop or eBay adverts popping up as I'm actively looking to buy something.

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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by rrival on Thursday March 06, 2008 @02:39PM (#130768)
Ads I would like to see: none. If I can't have that option I'm going to cast my vote with Adblock on FireFox and you're not going to get an option. Find a better way to monetize pls kthx.
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by amichail on Thursday March 06, 2008 @03:49PM (#130811)
What would the web look like if everyone used Adblock? Not much free content I would guess. Would you like that better?
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by pchristensen on Thursday March 06, 2008 @04:07PM (#130827)
I'm pretty sure there'd be a ton of free content. How much of the content one the internet earns its creators more than they spend on coffee?
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by amichail on Thursday March 06, 2008 @04:13PM (#130832)
Anything good enough to become popular. .
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Re:Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web... by redorb on Thursday March 06, 2008 @02:05PM (#130739)
best use of ads I've ever seen is on Kingston.com (Ram)

- you select your pc model then the ram size, then click on the you see a ad that compares the perfect ram on 3 different sites.

- I think most comparison sites are just big ads, and that is ok as long as there is a vaule ad.

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