When Google adsense makes no sense....

I have intentionally chosen not to use Google Adsense on my blog. I have done so not because I don’t have the highest regard for Google, but because I don’t need or want people to take what little time they have to waste reading the ads that might otherwise generate a few nickels and dimes for me.

I also haven’t made much of a study of how their advertising model works. But I do know that if I were to participate in their revenue model, and wrote something say about my friend Ernie, formerly of New Orleans, now of Lafayette, LA, that Google, might choose to advertise something about New Orleans in the right margin.

Earlier today, my friend Des Paroz posted a very timely essay on the lack of sense in adsense.

In his post, Des very correctly and thoughtfully notes that neither Google nor others are putting any thought into their advertising engines, and are instead relying on their historicly successful, but non-thinking algorithm that would link mention of New Orleans to and ad for say a hotel in New Orleans.

Best I can tell, their is zero chance of tourist activity in New Orleans for a long, long time, notwithstanding the four ads for hotels on Ernie’s blog.

If someone was awake at the switch they would immediately switch the algorithm to advertising say donations to the Red Cross, which would make all the sense in the world, and earn all kinds of good will for Google at a very critical time.

But machines don’t think and someone at Google should be.

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Comments

[Des Paroz]

Buzz, thanks for picking up on this theme. I hope that the guys out there at Google and others do put thought into this message.

Best regards

Des

[Terry Porter]

Great article, but I can't get past the typos. Ad is short for advertisement. Add is a math term.

[Out4Blood]

Enough belly-aching, people!

People secretly bemoaning the fact that their click-through rate on adsense has gone down should be thankful that adsense is there to begin with.

Maybe if those with adsense on their blogs wrote ABOUT the "Red Cross" and "donating" and "disaster relief" they might get more context sensitive ads.

[Jay Cross]

Buzz, yesterday I posted a nostalgia piece on New Orleans. A friend commented that,

When I read your bloglet entry in my Gmail, the following came up as the first Sponsored Links:

New Orleans Swamp Tour

Exciting & entertaining swamp tour! Discount tour rates available here CajunPrideTours.com

[Matt Casey]

While you're right that they don't do a good job monitoring it, as the example shows, they are well-aware of the problem:

"Sensitive content filters. At times, certain ads may be inappropriate for some pages. For example, Google automatically filters out ads that would be inappropriate on a news page about a catastrophic event."

https://www.google.com/adsense/afc-online-overview

[Enrico Schaefer]

Amen Brother. I'll never put ad sense on my sites. I can't imagine it generates enough revenue for the space it takes up anyway. It doesn't ADD up.

By the way, people who are distracted by typos are more into form than substance. Keep up the good substance Buzz/

[Stuart Bruce]

Quite right. The simple logic behind AdSense means that it far too frequently displays ads that are totally inappropriate.

For most people the damage that this could potentially cause your reputation is simply too great a risk compared to the amount you are likely to earn from AdSense.

I can't see how the filters can ever be sensitive enough to understand the frailties of human nature.

In the words of Socrates: "Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of."