Don’t Block Low Paying Ads
Trying to increase earning by using the AdSense Competitive Ad Filter to block low paying ads doesn’t make sense. Google’s algorithms automatically display the ads that will make you the most money. This is in Google’s best interest because the more money you make, the more money Google makes. Trying to outperform Google’s algorithm is next to impossible. Google has much more information on the ads themselves and what works and what doesn’t work.
Let’s say you do some research with a click tracking script and you manage to identify an ad with a low CPC and you block the URL of the ad from our site. What could be wrong with that? Lots:
- What if this ad has a fantastic CTR? If this ad pays half of the other ads on your site put has a 3x better CTR, it would have made you more money than other ads.
- What if other ads from the same URL have a better CPC? Advertisers often have several campaigns going, each with different ads and CPCs, but the same URL. You could risk blocking a higher paying ad without knowing it.
- What if the advertisers change the bid price of an ad? Advertisers often change the bid price of an ad. They may find an ad was more effective than they thought so they are willing to pay more for it.
- What if there is a drop in ad inventory? Having blocked URLs could cause you to start displaying PSAs.
Miha Said,
September 21, 2005 @ 12:48 am
We should be happy for every cent we earn so blocking low paying ads is a very bad idea.
My Other Side of the Stories Said,
September 22, 2005 @ 10:25 am
Should We Block Low Paying AdSense Ads?
An interesting article from AdMoolah, “Don’t Block Low Paying Ads“, covers the cons why you should not take advantage of AdSense Competitive Ad Filter feature and just leave the low paying ads intact. AdSense Competitive Ad Filter it…
The ProBlogger Network » Don’t Block Low Paying Ads Said,
September 25, 2005 @ 8:23 am
[...] nd eBay.com ads from showing up on my Adsense ads. Now I stumbled across this article from Admoolah.com. It actually makes a little bit of sense. I guess maybe I sh [...]
Toivo Lainevool Said,
September 25, 2005 @ 6:41 pm
Google’s Inside AdSense Blog just had something to say about this on a post from Sept 24th
“Tip 2: Don’t believe the myth about blocking ‘low-paying advertisers’
Our auction system automatically selects the best performing ads for each page to help you earn the most possible money. This is especially true with our new expanded text ads. By filtering ads you think are low paying, you could actually be cutting out the most optimized ads and decreasing your revenue potential. Each ad that is filtered is one less bid in the auction, lowering the price for the winning ad on your site. You benefit most when there is a larger pool of advertisers competing for a place on your site. Additionally, when we calculate the auction, we take ad clickthrough rates (CTR) into account – an ad with a $0.25 cost-per-click (CPC) with a 5% CTR is more valuable than an ad with a $1.00 CPC but a 0.1% CTR.”
mhhfive Said,
September 27, 2005 @ 1:52 pm
What about blocking “crappy” search ads?
http://crappysearchads.blogspot.com/2005/09/adsense-black-list_19.html
Toivo Lainevool Said,
September 27, 2005 @ 3:07 pm
mhhfive,
That site seems to list ads based on their opinion that the sites are selling products or services that are questionable in terms of business practices. This has nothing to do with the earning that one would get from these ads.
If you want to ban ads from your site on ethical grounds you are welcome to do so. I think this is closer to what Google had in mind as the proper use for the ad filter.
jopz Said,
May 2, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
how about if CPC only 0.01 $ ??? should I block it?
Toivo Lainevool Said,
May 2, 2007 @ 6:33 pm
jopz,
What if that $0.01 ad has a 20% CTR when the rest of your $0.02 ads have a 1% CTR. Remove that $0.01 ad could be a very bad thing to do.
Neale Said,
July 9, 2007 @ 11:22 am
Thanks nice to hear the other side of the coin
Erick Aqua Said,
November 6, 2007 @ 11:30 pm
Hi all,
This was a great usefull post. It seems the propaganda of blocking lower rate ad is started by people who want to sell lists about these low rate domains and make some money out of people trying to make money of adsense. Its a rip out watch out
.
VMguru007
tori Said,
November 11, 2007 @ 1:34 pm
Do you block CPM bidding?
Though site targeting is useful as an Adwords avertiser, it sucks when you’re on the other side:)
Toivo Lainevool Said,
November 13, 2007 @ 11:33 am
I don’t block CPM bidding. For most of my sites, the CPM rates are only slightly lower than the CPC rates, for some channels it does much better.
Dragos Said,
December 9, 2007 @ 10:41 am
Google will show the highest payong ads,it’s in their advantage. Filtering ads is a bad idea. Better go now and empty your competitive filter
___________________________________________________________________
http://www.factscollection.com
iwebie Said,
October 13, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
Hello All,
Does anyone use Ads Blacklist even now. Does it work the expected way.
Regards,
Hemanth
http://www.iwebie.com
The web feed Said,
March 17, 2009 @ 3:52 am
Just when I was looking for a way to filter out low CPC ads, I landed here. Now what should I do?
Alvin Lim Said,
April 8, 2009 @ 5:31 am
I block websites that are suspected to bring harm.
kesseff Said,
January 14, 2010 @ 5:26 am
I don’t block low paying ads, I do move high CTR ads up.
Xperiaman Said,
December 8, 2010 @ 1:14 pm
I also don’t block low paying ads. As you said, if I get more money, Google get more and showing the right ads is for Google priority No1.