Adsense and AdChoices

AdsenseOne of the deliberate design and conceptual choices I made for Darn Office, was removing Adsense ads entirely about four weeks ago. Google’s Adsense program is a genius and effective revenue model, which has not only helped Google to grow as a company at an unbelievable rate, but also helped so many individuals with online revenue. Just think about YouTube, niche sites and blogs. Adsense has fueled the transformation of the internet and allowed the general user to enjoy a plethora of free services.

So, while I am quite confident, my readers are able to distinguish content created by me from Adsense ads, I grew quite unhappy with the randomness of the ads displayed.

Adsense Ads Are Targeted

Generally, Adsense ads are content driven. Yet, not only the context from Darn Office counts but also the interest of its readers determine the kind of ads that are displayed (How ads are targeted to your site). Interests based means depending on their recent online reading and search behavior.

Therefore, it is not surprising, when makeup banners flank my posts on my wife’s computer. Although I find it weird, and a bit annoying when ads don’t match my content at all, I do see how great it is when the ads match my readers interests. After all, this will increase your willingness to actually click on an ad and eventually increase my revenue.

However, I realized the bigger problem can be when the ads actually match my content. For you, it is certainly good if I write about Dropbox and a Dropbox ad shows up. How about a Google Drive banner? You are looking for cloud storage, find my post in which I review Dropbox, and Adsense offers you another option. That is certainly okay for me and useful for you.

Even better if I review a paid service and Google offers you a free alternative. There is nothing really to lose in these cases, is there? (more…)