Written on February 25th, 2007 at 12:02 pm by Darren Rowse
AdSense Testing Another New ‘Related’ Ad Format
Update – Thanks to Amit and siong1987 – this is just the latest version of Google’s Related Links.
Speaking of Google testing new types of AdSense ads – Dave from DaveDevelopment just emailed me to show me a new type of ad that he’s seen Google experimenting with. Here’s how it looks (click to enlarge):
It’s a 728×90 banner ad with pictures inset into the ad next to the text of the ad and with tabs along the top that seems to be titled ‘related’ with some tabs after it under the headings of ’searches’, ‘web pages’ and ‘video’.
I’m not sure how these ads work as I’ve not seen one live in action – but they seem to be another ad format that lets readers of a site choose what they want to see (similar to Chitika’s eminimalls).
This will be an interesting one to watch!
32 Responses to “AdSense Testing Another New ‘Related’ Ad Format” - Add Yours
Avinash
February 25th, 2007 1:02 pm
wow! The new ad format looks great!
Jason Pedersen
February 25th, 2007 1:03 pm
Well this is something new. I would think that CTR would initially increase because just from curious visitors.
Jeremy Steele
February 25th, 2007 1:14 pm
Seems like it would bring in higher CTR rates… A little more eye catching than plain text or banner ads.
The Pandora Effect
February 25th, 2007 1:29 pm
happened to stumble unto the site. i gotta say this place is good! nice stuff you have. will be checking back. =)
regards.
Ashish Mohta
February 25th, 2007 1:30 pm
Wow this will will be good.Better than link units.Moreover you can just remove the ads after posts and use this.Superb
feedbuzzard
February 25th, 2007 1:47 pm
They kind of look like Omakase ads from Amazon. I expect we’ll see more like this from all the competition eventually.
Amit Agarwal
February 25th, 2007 2:20 pm
Darren – I think that’s a Google Related Links unit, not an Adsense ad.
Nicholas
February 25th, 2007 2:42 pm
I have to agree with everyone, It does seem as if it will be have better CTR than the current leaderboard style.
this is exciting to see google so keen in improving their ad styles, and really taking initiative.
qianbloger
February 25th, 2007 3:39 pm
it’s much better than the currrent style
hope to see it soon
Darren
February 25th, 2007 4:17 pm
you could be right Amit – although they seem to be being run in AdSense unit blocks too.
siong1987
February 25th, 2007 5:37 pm
Amit, you are right. That is Google Related Links unit. To get more infos on this, readers can visit http://www.google.com/relatedlinks/faq.html.
Anyway, if you are interested in putting such an “ad” in your blog, you can register one here – http://www.google.com/relatedlinks/.
siong1987
February 25th, 2007 5:40 pm
The links I provide above may not work. Just delete the “.” at the end of each link.
Sorry.
MattL
February 25th, 2007 6:37 pm
This really goes to show how far Google are ahead of all their rivals. Thanks for the heads-up Darren.
Nick
February 25th, 2007 7:41 pm
I don’t understand they disallow pictures in the ads and then they allow them back again .Using Pics helps alot the CTR like *4 the income without pictures
Hoboken411
February 25th, 2007 7:52 pm
It’s a nice feature, but other than making the site “a little more useful”, what incentive is there for webmasters to add more javascript and overhead to their site, without any monetization?
Shirlene
February 25th, 2007 7:56 pm
Interesting to see…. I do wonder if it will be like everything else though – good in the short term – until ad blindness sets in. For example, look at banners (some of which are quite similar to the new adsense ads – ads with actual products) – yet people get used to them, and they end up having a lower CTR than the text ads.
Yeast Fighter
February 25th, 2007 8:44 pm
They look good. Click throughs should improve just like when we was allowed to put pictures next to the text ads.
I wonder if you get more money for the clicks though.
Psycho Dude
February 25th, 2007 10:43 pm
Those new ads are looking nice, definitely more appealing than just text ads when it’ll come to CTR.
Reed Bailey
February 25th, 2007 11:54 pm
The new ad style makes me wonder two things:
1. How long will it be before readers, our customers, get upset at amount of bandwidth we use? (Remember, bandwidth for a customer is a relatively fixed item and determines how long a page takes to load.) Personally, I am already at my limit. Google analytics combined with all the other redirects already causes noticeable delay in page loading. (I have 1.5Mbs satellite link.) Bandwidth is not infinite for any one. Pages are becoming such big “mashups” with long load times we are giving readers an opportunity to lose interest before they can read page.
2. Yes, ads are an important part. How long will it be before the quality of reader diminishes as result of “ad intrusion.” You, as blog owner, must start choosing which end of supply chain hyperbola you want to be on (i.e The Long Tail and related ideas). The one you want or the one Google and other “non-blog owner entities” want you on?
(Note: This is not an attack on any particular method, including Google.)
Ryan
February 26th, 2007 12:47 am
Yeah that doesn’t look like an Ad.
Andy Merrett
February 26th, 2007 2:17 am
Nick: I’m sure Google always knew that images drew attention to their ads – it was always recommended by the AdSense ‘experts’ as a way of increasing clickthroughs. The difference is that this is within Google’s ad itself, and they can do pretty much what they like with their ads. What they are averse to is site owners putting their own design elements around Google ads that encourage people to click on them. This isn’t ‘allowing them back’, it’s an addition to Google’s ad layout, not how they can be used.
brody
February 26th, 2007 3:14 am
Thank you so much. Ads are very important. It dosent look like an add. Check out my website. http://www.jsstudios.com. I wonder if you get more money for clicks though. They end up having lower text ads. The button ads people repeat clicking. They think its fun. Then it gets more popular.
Ian Feavearyear
February 26th, 2007 3:28 am
Those are Google Related Links, as someone else posted, not AdSense ads at all. Someone else posted about this recently thinking they were AdSense ads.
See http://www.google.com/relatedlinks/
Ian
Amit Bajaj
February 26th, 2007 3:58 am
that’s surely not adsense though it would have been great if it had been..else i don’t see why someone would someone want to put it up unless one is really struggling for content
Edward
February 26th, 2007 4:44 am
CTR should be improved since Google put image beside the ads
James
February 26th, 2007 5:08 am
This is the second time in a week I have seen someone mistake the Google related links for Adsense. Does this mean if I place it near an Adsense ad it would be against Google TOS? :)
Tina Silva
February 26th, 2007 9:28 am
The new ads look good like that.
Side-Line
February 26th, 2007 10:14 pm
This is a ‘related links’ Google banner for which you don’t get paid. Though it would be nice to see Google turning this into a paid option pretty soon.
Dave
February 26th, 2007 10:59 pm
I wonder if the change in Google policy regarding images being shown alongside ads has come about because google are intending to roll out their own ‘all-in-one’ format that does just that.
At least this way the format of the ad and the images shown should all match up, which wil be an asthetic improvement and will probably see a rise in CTR.
I think its great tha tgoogle are constantly looking to improve their advertising methods, meaning that we get to see fresh presentation and a reduction in ad-blindness.
mbm
February 27th, 2007 5:21 am
So, apart from getting a few related links placed on our web sites, do we benefit somehow from placing these Google related units on our web sites?
Side-Line
March 1st, 2007 12:25 am
@ mbm: you actually do not benefit from this related units. I have tried them out just to check what they could deliver as extra for my sites and teh result was 0. Unless you really don’t want to earn cash that is better avoid using it.
But if this gets monetized then there is a future for it.
Richard Quick, Esq.
March 4th, 2007 5:16 am
Google adsense is still a waste of time for most bloggers. T the easiest and most profitable way to earn money from your blog: Demand a cover charge from every visitor.
On my FranWorst.com site, I charge $1.00 per day cover charge. Of course, my visitors get access to wealth-building secrets that put them on the road to unthinkable wealth. Many are millionaires within six weeks. No one has ever complained or asked for their $1.00 back.
How much do I make? Check my daily counter on the bottom right sidebar.
See you on the veranda!
Richard Quick, Esq.
http://www.franworst.com
Comments will be closed off on this post 90 days after it is published. Apologies to those this impacts but it's a regrettable and temporary measure to combat a growing comment spam problem. See our most recent posts where you can comment here.