I've Disabled the "Advertise on this Site" Link

I may have missed something somewhere.

Can people still target my site if I have the "advertise on my site" link removed?

 

Yup, the "Advertise on my Site" link is just a shortcut. They can ask Google to site target you. To completely remove this option, you must ask Google to opt you out of site targeting. I used one of their online forms. They emailed back in hours, did the usual "But you'll make more money this way!" line, and ask you if you're sure. When you reply that you're sure, they'll opt you out of the site targeting. You can always opt back in later, so don't worry if you want to opt back in.

 

I emailed google last night to opt me out. Thanks for the info.

 

I am curious to see what kind of change I experienc with the removal of site targeting, the advertise on my site link, and filtering two annoyng sites.

 

no, you are missing my point:

"Fact: All ads served by AdSense – whether image or text, contextual or site-targeted – go through the same auction process..."

http://adsense.blogspot.com/2005/09/distorted-images.html

so the only ads that got "shoved aside" were ads that paid you less than the site-targeted ads do.

that situation could change in a heartbeat, depending on how much is being bid at any given moment.

i agree that untargeted ads are not optimal, but if they pay more, it'll drive up the bidding from the targeted advertisers who want the top spot... you just screwed yourself out of that possibility.

by the same token, tho, your claim that site targeted ads are showing up on pages that aren't relevant is interesting... is that idle speculation, or does google admit to actually doing it?

EDIT: i just answered my own question: "So although the ad campaign may not be targeted directly to your site's content, it will be relevant to the specific or general interests of your readers. AdSense has always been, and will always remain, a targeted advertising system -- we're just implementing new targeting approaches to help you monetize." http://adsense.blogspot.com/2005/12/site-targeting-refresher.html

so site targeting abandons the contextual approach entirely, but claims to be relevant in other ways... not unlike what happens with, say, magazine, newspaper, or tv advertising.

 

Everything I've posted here are real-life results. Take it or leave it, bub.

 

same here, bub... lol... i posted real-life facts about how you are cutting your earnings, and misleading others into doing the same thing.

i do understand your concerns about ad targeting, tho, thanks for pointing that out... since i started doing ypn, i've been looking at that subject in a different light.

 

@danimal,

Please stop posting in this thread. The whole point of the thread is to chronicle my experiences with disabling site-targeting, and there are others who find it useful and wish for me to continue. It is clear you do not, so please go elsewhere to troll for a fight.

 

Something you don't seem to be understanding. These "site targeted" ads could pay twice what other ads pay "per click". But if nobody wants to click on their crappy ads, they are doing you no good.

And there is nothing misleading about this thread. The actions have been made, and the results are being tracked.

 

google is taking their sweet time removing the site targeting and the link on my ads

 

You have to take into account that "site targeted ads" pay by impression, so you do not have to care if someone clicks them or not.

 

This is true, but if site targeting CPM ads are replaced with even more relevant ads, it would lead to more clicks, and in theory, higher earnings. I have noticed a very, very high increase in clicks since disabling site-targeting. The results of more targeted ads in more areas, I believe.

 

I would focus in the final result: the high increase in clicks after disabling site-targeting, was consistant with a higher income? According to Google, it shouldn't, since CPM ads compete with CPC ads in an auction scheme.

 

Very true. It's only been about 2 weeks since I opt out of site targeting. I need at least a month or two to fully gauge the difference. Right now, I'm seeing a higher number of clicks, and earnings seem to be fluctuating a bit, although as mentioned, even on my lowest paying days, I'm still making slightly more than the average of my site-targeting days.

 

I got my email back today from google telling me I should keep site targetting, and gave my response to remove it. I will see how this does for me as well.

 

I had a look in my Admin. Where do I disable this? Plus, can I disable the link for all ads at once, or do I need to do this for every single ad and link ad?

 

To disable the "advertise on this site" link:

My Account --> Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up

But to opt out of site targeting, you need to email Google to ask them to do so. You can disable the sign-up, but advertisers can still ask Google to site target your site.

And it's across the board for your account.

 

ok, I am very early into this, but something is striking me as very peculiar.

Today is my first full day with no site targeted ads. This "shouldn't" be the case, but my CPC has went up. It is up across the board on every channel that I track, on both of the sites that I am running adsense on.

Again, too early to draw any conclusions, but interesting to me regardless.

 

What about your number of clicks/CTR? Has that gone up as well?

 

i have filtered nothing at all and today also appears to be a much higher than average day with CTR some .5% higher than monthly average ( today 5.6% site average CTR )

there are so many factors having an impact on $ and CTR such as national / internatinal holidays like recent valentines day, coming holy week, mothers day etc as well as week days vs weekend-days

IMO a final conclusions only can be made after many weeks or even months of careful observations
in addition settings of colors or ad-types may have additional influence on surfers click/purchase behavior