Hi everyone, A personal opinion but I think AdSense is not appropriate when it comes to directories. Sure it brings some extra revenue but the layout, design and visitor experience are often compromised. I would like to hear your opinion on this one.
Google AdSense is the only high-quality revenue for some people with directory sites. Most other ad networks forbids putting their ads on directory websites to begin with...
Whether or not it compromises visitor experience depends on the placement of the ads. If well placed, it won't affect it.
It just depends on the type of directory. I've found it works well for niche directories and can often enhance the directory listings. I know of a few directories where the local/geographical targeting of adsense enhances some of the pages because it shows ads for businesses local to the user while the page often has businesses from all over the world. On general directories where the categories aren't well defined and edited, the ads are often simply clutter on the page with no direct relationship to what the user is looking for.
Or maybe he's been banned by Adsense But seriously there are so many things which can spoil the look/user experience of a site, why pick on Adsense?
So true. And are we saying all banner/text ads are bad and shouldn't be used on directories? If not, what makes adsense worse? IMO it can be used in a good way.
No I wasnt banned by AdSense! And I am not picking on AdSense either. I just never tried it!! All I wanted was opinions...Is this forum still a place where people can ask simple questions without getting crapped on(?) I wonder!
No, but it seemed you were making a statement and not a question. Still, I don't think you were being crapped on, but just be aware that no matter what your opinion is someone else is going to have a different one I think syted was asking a legitimate question (despite his joke ). Why is adsense any worse than other design flaws? It can be used in a way that doesn't cause problems, and in fact can enhance listings in some categories. There are a lot of junk directories, and junk websites for that matter, that use it. Just because it's being used in a bad way doesn't mean the whole scheme is bad.
I put them in the hope that Gaygle does not consider me as hetero......al and penalize my sites -- thus keeping them in SERP
IMO - adsense is tough to make work on a directory. I don't feel like it should be used anywhere near categories or on details pages. Basically not anywhere near actual site listings because it minimizes the impact of the listings themselves. After all a directory is there to contain editor reviewed listings of resources. The primary purpose is not to contain adsense... Even taking that into consideration I do think that adsense can work and be beneficial in some cases on a directory - when it is used properly. IMO - the primary purpose of adsense is to add resources / information to content. However I do not consider listings eligible content in this case because adsense can also distract from content. A directories primary function is its listings so adsense should not in any way distract from the listings. (frankly adsense does not work on a directory when set up that way anyway). Most directories don't have the resources to make adsense work well. One just needs to ask themselves the question - Where does adsense usually work well? Well it works well within content. Works well on blogs - works well on some article directories. So if one wants adsense to work well on a directory it needs to be set up properly. The directory needs to have a load of unique content. Not in the form of listings but in the form of informative and unique articles. The reason that most will say adsense does not work on directories is that a typical directory owner will pop up a directory and place adsense everywhere on it. They may place it on category pages, detail pages and all that will do is detract from the listings which will make people not want to submit there. If a directory owner goes real crazy they may pop up 5 or 10 articles on the directory. Well the problem there is 5 or 10 articles on a directory is not near enough content. That is hardly even a token effort if you want to use adsense. The problem with adsense on a directory is that it actually takes a lot of work and effort to make it work well. Most are not willing to put in the effort needed to make it work well. Most would rather not do the work needed with content and place the adsense in the wrong places. Doing it that way not only does not work effectively but also reflects poorly on the directory itself.
i hate when shady webmasters put adsense right near the submit button as if they want you to accidentally click the ad instead of submit. but i bet some people do click the wrong thing by mistake.
I agree that Adsense does not work well for directories. All my general web directories (except my free web directory, which I plan to remove soon anyway) do not have Adsense on them. From my experience, Adsense just does not convert well for directories, not to mention that it doesn't look really appropriate on them. I have Adsense on my niche web directories (e.g. my travel directory) and I have tweaked it to make it look suitable to the overall layout, but I am not getting as much as I had expected. I probably would need to remove those from my niche directories, too.
If you have a very high traffic web-directory which is properly categorized and monitored then you may get good returns from Adsense.. Ads placement is most important point which is to be considered for getting more revenue.