Today is the final day for Adsense publishers to update their Privacy Policy in response to Google’s new initiative called Interest Based Advertising. I had mentioned that I don’t recommend opting out of using Interest Based ads and a few readers seemed concerned about this. I thought a short post to clarify my thinking was in order.
(note – this site is not associated with Google.com or Google Adsense and you are encouraged to visit Google directly for more information.)
The idea behind Interest Based Ads is to increase CTR and conversions in regards to Adsense. The current Adsense model is based on Targeted Placement ads and while it has helped Google keep their Advertisers happy in the sense that they save money by not paying for poorly converting clicks (smart pricing) it has not had the effect of increasing Google’s revenue or in increasing the advertisiers overall sales. Ultimately Google needs to increase revenue without loosing advertisers in the process. Moreover Google wants to increase it’s advertising inventory and the best way to achieve this is by getting advertisers to buy more advertising. To do this they will have to provide better ROI to the advertisers.
Hence… Interest Based Ads. The premise being that a large portion of adsense page views are shown daily to untargeted visitors who may be reading any given site for any number of reasons but not necessarily because of any particular interest in the subject matter. Think of people who follow links from one article to another and end up on a site that has little to do thematically with the site they began their journey on. In most cases these visitors are never going to click on an ad and for the few that do they are unlikely to lead to a conversion for the advertiser. The question is – what if such users were presented with ads relevant to their search history rather than ads relevant to the current page they are browsing? Could Google entice more clicks and could this lead to higher conversions for the Advertisers? We will find out…
As for Publishers this should not be viewed negatively as there is a potential upside and especially for those publishers who don’t drive primarily targeted traffic to their sites. Given the fact that Google will decide whether to show targeted ads or Interest based ads to any particular visitor means this should reduce the likelihood of a publisher being smart priced as G can’t hold the publisher accountable for poor performance of Interest Based clicks. (or it shouldn’t as the performance or lack thereof is not in the publishers hands)
To put it simply Google is trying to increase CTR where it feels it can and is not likely to penalize Publishers for poorly converting ads that Google displays on their sites beyond the publisher’s control. The real upside is that publishers may see a nice increase in CTR and earn more revenue even from low paying CPC ads without being smart priced in the process.
Whether this pans out or not I recommend everyone at least take part and test it before opting out. There is nothing to be gained by not giving it a shot. It may not work for some and one can always opt out later.
For those of you driving mostly social traffic this is what you have been waiting for – Google like everyone else is trying to convert social traffic. It is a huge market and so far has proven hard to monetize. Will Interest based ads work? Who knows but if it does publishers will see much better returns from their Adsense accounts. If it doesn’t then publishers are no worse off than they are now. And that is why I recommend everyone give this a trial period in order to evaluate the results. If your earnings tank – opt out but at least find out first.
Cheers
Griz
Man I have been your great fan since the time I read your blog for the first time. I gather that Google has penalised you due to which you are very much depressed and aren’t writing any posts these days. Man budding bloggers like me are in great need of some great tips from your site. So please keep updating your blog and writing great content. If there is some latent reason for your passiveness these days, please write me, I am excited to know.
Cheers…
@Philip,
.
Thanks. That’s a new site for me to read up on
I haven’t been making as much from my Google adsense but I’m about half way to payout. I don’t mind though because I prefer to always do things the legit way. There are so many people that ask me to click on their ads and they’ll click on mine, but I always refuse. I always think that no matter how “smart” you think you’re doing it.. Google will catch you.
Great post!
I’ve been away from adsense for a while and I was quite interested in this post of interest based ads. I’m very anxious to see how it will affect my adsense income.
Great post,
Drikus Botha
Hello Griz,
I’ve been reading your other mmo blog since the lis sbi thing and at the time was an sbi user. I’ve since left sbi and have been reading your blog, vics blog, signed up for court’s keyword academy, bought seo elite (i think through your link) signed up for connect content and backlink solutions. What I’m noticing with backlink solutions is that there are a lot of the sites where my post end up that aren’t indexed in google. I’ve read all of your backlink articles on your other site but since the articles are a little old a lot of the options mentioned aren’t available now–Brad Callen’s link exchange is closed to new members, backlink solutions isn’t offering full membership any more. Since getting backlinks is the most important thing you can do, what is the best strategy for getting back links and where do you think is the best place to get back links.
Thanks for your help.
Bill
BTW, I have an SBI scam article in the works highlights from some who has used the system for a year why sbi is a scam. I might be late but I’m here.
@bill
hey man, use BMD to bookmark those non indexed posts (no matter what site they are on or where you got them from). It will get them indexed.
Always “stack” your links !
AL
Bill are you using the backlink options available thru the KWA membership? I know they are new but they are going to grow to something very powerful in a few months
Grizzly! No May Post?? Whatever happened to 1 per month?!?!?! How dare you! Haha…hope you well and thanks for all of the good information!
I think you can set a timestamp so it archives your post as a May post, and just post twice in June.
why even have a Blog if you are not going to update it in over 2 months ?? Geeeesh !!
Hey Grizz,
I have a same question like morleys.
You run too many blogs but don’t update weekly or even monthly. why?
Any secret there?
@morleys and Saiful
Griz is not a blogger, he is an internet marketer…and a very very very good one. Go over all the posts and comments in this blog as well as his other make money blogs and you will learn why blogging and internet marketing are two entirely different things. It would entail a whole lot of reading and sifting through those labyrinth of post pages and comments though, but I assure you, they are pure goldmines and it would be all worth it.
…and btw, Griz does not have to put up another post unless he is targeting another set of keywords.
Hope this helps guys.
Thanks…It makes sense now. Haha…he is an internet marketer that blogs…Thanks though!
Im new to blogging and im gathering as much infomation as i can about anything. Not sure where to put this so ill be relivent to the post as well! This site is really helpful to newbie bloggers like myself. Sometimes i feel a bit out of my depth, but its good quality articles like the ones on grizzly that help the new guys like myself.
Im not sure what my target traffic is at the moment. I am covering alot in my blog which has already been a pain trying to put myself out there. There is not a one category i can put myself under.
kye.
This post made my head spin lol. Btw i found that Using yahoo and msn (thought they don’t generate the same volume of traffic) is alot more profit bole what about you pps
Cheers
Wow, this guy has tumbled for this Site in the SERPs !! I guess when you haven’t posted in 2.5 months that will happen.
Good grief some people are lazy and dont appreciate what they have !!
Morleys,
Why are you complaining? Grizz has given us all the information we need to rank well. It bothers me when Jerk’s like you call him lazy and unappreciative. You are the one who doesn’t appreciate Grizz. If he never posts again Grizz will have provided more information about IM than most for “FREE”. Quit complaining and start reading.
That’s all I have to say about that.
It’s a fair point morleys however Grizz is probably earning a boatload of cash elsewhere. Money vs site updates – I know which I’ll take.
I think the complainers are a testament to the quality of Grizz’s content and wisdom. They’re just salivating for more. LOL
First and foremost, those of you who are new to the site need to understand one thing…if Grizz hasn’t posted, there is a reason.
Sure, it could be that he is busy working the lodge, or playing with the kids, but odds are he is working some proof of concept. If you will review his material, you will see that he is very methodical in his approach.
He makes money because he has patience and vision. He can drive this blog back to the top…if that’s what he wants.
If you are needing something new to read, explore some of the links he provides here. This community is full of people that are currently making money online…thanks in large part to this man.
So, chillax, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy
This is also a busy time of year for his offline business…or should I say his…real business…LOL…I doubt he has little free time to come and post more helpful articles so a few others can try and screw him over again or complain about not making money online
Also, just as a follow up to the original post back in April, I think interest based advertising has treated me well.
I know the uptick in earnings is mostly due to my diligence in building sites and getting backlinks, but my CPC seems to be higher.
How have y’all faired with this new aspect of G?
I need to know if somebody real earn money on Google?
I tried several time. No money only a lot of expense.
Please tell me? Why. What are you people discuss about
Natalia
Natalia,
I can assure you the methods you find here will work. I have increased my online income over 600% from June of last year. Take the time to read Grizz’s stuff, and apply it. It takes time and patience, but it can be done.
LarryG
hey where is griz now??
Hibernation
Hey all,
One of the things I am missing with Grizz’s absence is the sense of community that the exchange of ideas on this site brings.
Grizz, I have stood up a social network of sorts that we could use for discussions and link exchanges. I am not going to post the address here unless you give the green light, as I do not want to step on your toes. I can send you the link if you are interested.
It is not a highly polished product, but I think it would meet the needs of the folks.
Just let me know.
hey Griz, I noticed on the MMO beginners blog you have a search box powered by G on the sidebar. I couldn’t find that exact same one available in my adsense account. Is it an old widget? Anyway, My intuition would say putting G’s stuff on the blog wouldn’t help. I’m guessing it is just a test? Thanks again. You rock!
Thanks for this information.I will have to take some time and read more of what you have to say.Hopefully make some money out of it.
Adsense very difficult for me, but i still learn
I am really new to all of this and have signed up with the Keyword Academy. I am plodding along with it and am very dedicated to sticking with it and learning how to make good money with it. In the meantime, does anyone know of a way to make some pocket change. I see that Grizz advertises Project Payday, but his last post on it was a couple of years ago.
Nice Theme
I am also using this on a new “authority” attempt blog.. It seems to be quite popular these days.
WTF? You making pretty blogs now Griz??
t
WTF you stole my theme LMFAO – what’s up here Griz – its a crap theme for Adsense placement I could have told you that! You building a pretty site? I am totally intrigued …
Very High-tech looking. I don’t see any ads though! Still testing? Very cold theme. I never knew how much the other had a warmth to it, because of actual picture of the cabin and trees in it. Is this for seo or just eyecandy?
Griz,
Nice theme! I see this theme used a lot.
I am wondering what results you are getting from the Interest Based Advertising?
Really looking forward to updates on this make money online blog. It seems you have some ideas in the making.
Wow…talk about a surprise. Is this your new project?
Nice look
Cheers.
What happened at your blogspot blog’?! Did you brake it with 200+ comments? I lost all your posts from setptember. The last one is “write something I can link to”…
Adsense very difficult for me, but i still learn
@Tracey, my thoughts exactly. haha
Hey, nice theme. I assume you’re running a test on purty vs. ugly themes . . . .
Hello my name is Sharingan a new follower of Griz and I am new to this Google Adsense stuff but I think its awesome and fun. I was wondering if I can get some back links for my site and If anyone was interested in a trade. My site is a MMO that talks about the free ways to make money online. I’m not sure how this goes but just in case here is my anchor text html code: (Removed by Griz – put your email on the niche support page in the comments with the nich you are targeting) I made the site and I’m indexed Yay. Please contact me if you can help out with some backlinks thanx in advance!
hey griz, any word on when you might be updating this site?
Hello to all of you, I am looking to obtain backlinks in the following general areas,
Make Money Online, Make Money Blogging, Niche Marketing, Self Improvement, Internet Markeing, Adsense, Adwords, Affiliate Marketing, Work At Home, Full Business Training, Mentoring And Support, Residual Income, Muliple Streams of Income, Resale Rights, Master Resale Rights, Online Offline Marketing, Complete Business Package, Blogging Tips
my email is trevor@click-for-digital.co.uk
I look forward to hearing from you if you can help.
Many thanks
Trevor
Wow excellent article. It has inspired me a lot.
Thanks for a great article.I´m a adsense publisher and wondering how this interest based advertising will affect adsense earnings in the future? I think it is a good idea to have several income streams.
Hey competent Info. It is much of use Soon you Apply it. Much obliging. Mahalo.
What’s the name of this blog theme Is it free or paid? Which site did you get it from? Thanks in advance for your response!