Google's Past Week

...that the deal will not go forward. This came to pass after the US Department of Justice decided it would file an anti-trust suit if the agreement was implemented.

Many thought this would be a disastrous alliance and the effects it would have on the industry were very difficult to predict. Well never know, but I for one am glad we wont have to find out.


Adsense Publishers Blocking Ad Display


While searching around for article content, I came across this forum thread and its a real eye opener. Some advertisers are jamming in last minute political ad displays that are getting placement on completely irrelevant sites. While this isnt exactly new, what most incenses site owners is the controversial, issue based advertisements that are not relevant and could offend large numbers of visitors to their sites. More information can be found in this article.

Google is aware of this and has posted on their blog the means to block unwanted ads, but apparently, the ads get displayed well before the AdSense publishers can review them to block.
This delay in the system has caused many site owners to turn off AdSense altogether as it is the only means of getting unsuitable ad display off immediately.

I am not really surprised by this, as Ive always been pretty skeptical about how effective an automated system is at determining relevancy. The wide variety of sites that are complaining of this reinforces my opinion of general content display.

Regardless, the time lag involved is something Google really needs to take a look at.


Quality Score Change is a Go


Google has been doing a lot of work on overhauling how their ad ranking system works and last week they announced upcoming changes to QS. This has been made live as of Monday.

There were two major changes made:

1. They have adjusted their algorithm to take into account the effects of ad position on click through rate. Presumably this means if your ad is not always in a high position or on the first page, you will not be penalized for a low CTR (Click through rate).

2. They have also made an algorithm that allows promotion of lower bidding ads to the top slots on the basis of meeting a certain (unspecified) Quality Score threshold. The use of the term threshold implies that it may be a fixed score point i.e. 8/10 QS, but they havent made this clear.

Ill be interested to see what effects these changes will have on existing campaigns.

Google says, Keep in mind that these enhancements may cause changes to your ad position, spend, and performance. While we don't believe that any immediate changes are needed on your part, we encourage you, as always, to watch your key metrics and to make adjustments as appropriate.

You betcha! Im going to have to plow through all my accounts over the next little while and make sure to compensate for this.

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