You may have come across AdSense ads that promote Google products like AdWords Builder, Google Analytics, Chrome Browser, etc. but here’s a new Google ad for Web Search that may even raise some eyebrows.
Google is using AdSense ads to promote (or rather advertise) their search results pages specific queries. The ad campaign is currently live on a couple of health related blogs in India but I won’t be surprised if this is extended to other domains like technology and entertainment. See screenshot:
These AdSense ads are in the form of a gadget (see source) and includes links to eight different search pages on Google corresponding to popular medical queries like "How to avoid pregnancy" or "How to get pregnant". There’s also a Google Search box in the AdSense banner itself that will again take the visitor to the Google page.
These ads appear CPM (none of the outgoing links include tracking code) which is fine but I think there are two potential issues with such a format:
Issue 1: Regular AdSense ads have one exit point (the advertiser’s website) but this new format has 11 different exist routes – 8 search queries, 1 Google Search box, 1 Google logo and 1 Google text link – all pointing to the advertiser’s website which in this case is Google itself.
Issue 2: This is a not one and some web publishers may get the impression that Google is practicing some form of reverse AdSense arbitrage. That’s because when a visitor clicks a link on this gadget ad and lands on the Google search page, he’ll again be served with AdSense ads and these search ads could potentially be of higher value as they getting displayed on a page for a "popular health query".
But issues apart, such AdSense ads would be a blessing for web publishers who rank on the front pages of Google for these search queries.
Update 1: Here’s another version of the same ad for technology blogs. It includes search queries like "How to create a website", "how to create a blog" and so on.
Update 2: Here’s another set for Ads for Bollywood celebrities (entertainment) related search queries.
Related: Google AdSense Sandbox
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/google-advertising-search-on-adsense/7750/
Tags: exclusive, feature, Google Adsense, Internet
Reader Comments
ya as you said it would be blessing for web publishers who rank on the front page.
Written by sri on 03.04.09
Oh, thats funny. I don’t know where you get this kind of information, but google has been displaying such ads on my site for topics related to various terms on my site for over a couple of months!
Written by Mohan on 03.04.09
If I click on one of these search queries and land on Google’s site and from there if I click on an adsense ad, will Google share the ad revenue with the original site from where I reached Google? I think they should. Will the site where this widget gets displayed paid if a user clicks back to Google but doesn’t click on any ad there?
This looks like a ploy on the part of Google to minimise the payment to AdSense partners. They can easily show the ads that they might be showing on their site on the original site and in that case they might have to pay a bigger chunk of the revenue to the AdSense publisher. If the ad gets clicked on Google’s web page then no cut for original AdSense publisher or it will be surely be a lesser cut.
This lloks like an advanced version of AdSense link units.
Written by Yash on 03.04.09
The image posted under Update 2 is ‘truncated’ on the right-hand side because of the column width being used for content. Please use a smaller size thumbnail and link to the larger version. Scaling can be done easily by choosing to edit image properties in WordPress.
Written by Ankur Banerjee on 03.04.09
If it’s a CPC, then I’m pretty sure it’s going to generate more clicks than a pure AdSense ad :D
Written by Michael Aulia on 03.04.09
This is unlikely to be a CPC ad because if some uses the Google search box to navigate out of the publisher’s website, that action is not tracked.
Written by Amit on 03.04.09
Agree, it appears truncated here though it will display in full inside a feed reader. I didn’t resize it because if an image includes text, the characters often become unreadable after resizing.
Written by Amit on 03.04.09
Raising eyebrows? not really if anyone observes Google the way they promote their products it’s not a surprise to me,there is specific marketing stratergy behind every move from Google.
Written by venkat on 03.04.09
I don’t see a problem here. If Google is using AdSense to promote a product or service, and are paying fair value for use of AdSense inventory (I know they are, because I have run internal campaigns at Google India), there is no issue here. We had a specific mandate to never use site-targeting (no CPM) and serve ads on very limited numbers of keywords. Also, every one of those actions on a Gadget Ad can be tracked and reported. Otherwise, it is pointless for advertisers to adopt such a format (and it is very popular for lifestyle and entertainment products/services). You might have seen Gadget Ads for films such as A Mighty Heart and The Bourne Ultimatum, and also for a Honda-sponsored rock tour.
Let’s not get too jumpy about Google screwing over publishers, as I noticed someone doing in another comment. It’s not in their interest to do so, as it would result in publishers moving to other monetization services.
Disclosure: I left Google in 2007 and work at Microsoft now.
Written by Sumant on 03.05.09
@Amit: Uhm, at least link to the full image! Not everyone will bother to do right click + view image.
Oh, and a small suggestion – it’s about time to mod this blog’s template to allow threaded comments which WP 2.7 supports. There are loads of comment of your blog and it’d be really helpful for users leaving comments to have logical threads of replies. :)
Written by Ankur Banerjee on 03.05.09
I think Yash has nailed the critical question:
“If I click on one of these search queries and land on Google’s site and from there if I click on an adsense ad, will Google share the ad revenue with the original site from where I reached Google?”
I highly doubt the publishers shares in the click revenue coming from the landing page. Here is where the potential arbitrage comes in. What CPC rate is Google paying to advertisers when it places its own ads on the website of an adsense publisher? How is that determined as there is no competitive bidding? The issue is whether google is placing its own ads on pages it perceives to be low revenue in attempts to redirect users to a page with higher revenue to google. Question: is google hurting the publisher by engaging in activity to redirect the user to high revenue pages? Only google has the data to evaluate that question … which is troubling.
Written by Joe on 03.10.09