Publishers Don’t Like Google’s New Feature

Interesting. After much publicity and fanfare talking about Google’s new “Advertise on this site” feature for AdSense, it seems as it perhaps it is not as great an idea as they all thought. Webmasters are getting upset over it, some for perceived issues, and some for real ones. Some of the issues revolve around misconceptions that you cannot opt out of the feature. This is an error, as I have tested the process and have opted out of the feature.

A smaller problem is the landing page itself. It is very limiting and is the only one you get. For those who own multiple sites, this is an issue because they really should have one page per site. With a 100 pixel graphic and 384 characters to describe your site, it is tough for a single site to really sell a placement, let alone five or ten sites.

The real issue, which many sites share, is that Google is not the best source of revenue for site advertising. It works well, but in no way can it match site targeted advertising for your site and your site only. Most sites either sell or want to be able to sell their own advertising. Just look to the right and check out the ADVERTISE link four down in the right navigation. So why would a publisher want to distract advertisers and send them to AdWords where they will “have the opportunity to place ads on your site” and “compete for your inventory”. What does this really mean? It means that “advertisers will bid for your inventory on a pay-per-impression basis, and the ads they create will compete against all other Google site- and content-targeted ads relevant to your site”

To illustrate this further, check out these answers:

How do I know if advertisers are bidding on my site?

At this time, we aren’t able to provide details about how many advertiser sign-ups are made through your links. However, if advertisers are bidding on your site, you may notice more CPM ads appearing on your site and/or an increase in your earnings.

Can I customize the landing page for each of my sites?

No. At this time, we only offer the ability to customize one landing page for each account. Advertisers will access the same custom landing page from ad units on any of your sites.

For this feature to really work, you need competition for your site or your rates will not rise much, if at all. Meanwhile you will be distracting from your own site advertising efforts. Instead of getting order of magnitude jumps from placements bought for a large number of impressions on your site, you will potentially get incremental increases from advertisers who pay to just beat out your existing rates on AdSense. Any publisher worth advertising on really is better off selling their own advertising or else they will be letting the advertisers set the rates and minimizing their revenue, not maximizing it.