Written on December 12th, 2007 at 04:12 pm by Darren Rowse
AdSense Testing New ‘Slider’ Ads
I’ve just had emails from a number of readers who are reporting seeing a new type of AdSense ad appearing on their blogs - ads with little arrow buttons on them which rotate ads.
Here’s how they look (buttons circled):
When you click the button the ad ’slides’ up and down. I’ve also seen some where the ads slide sideways back and forwards.
Thanks to Alex and Collin who were the first to alert me.
Update - see them in action with the following video screen cast of the ads:
Lastly - they seem to be split testing on some blogs between this type of slider ad and a ’show more’ link at the bottom of ad units. Both effectively do the same thing - ie show your readers more ads.
40 Responses to “AdSense Testing New ‘Slider’ Ads”
Vishaal Bhat
December 12th, 2007 4:37 pm
Yep.. I’ve noticed them too. Actually new ads turn up once we click on the arrows. Also in some ads i get a “Show more” link, which when clicked takes me to a new page featuring google ads only.
Darren Rowse
December 12th, 2007 4:42 pm
yes - on my blog they are rotating the ’show more ads’ link and the slider buttons. Looks like an A/B split test.
DefogMyBlog
December 12th, 2007 4:51 pm
I clicked and clicked and nothing happened but I get the gist. It is all change before I get to the starting blocks.
Vishaal Bhat
December 12th, 2007 4:53 pm
Yep.. Thanks.
[IMG]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i208/whiteguardian/showmoreads.jpg[/IMG]
I am getting both at the same time. Guess the Google guys have been busy this past month.
JEMi
December 12th, 2007 5:01 pm
I was wondering what on earth was up with my adsense ad.. I should’ve known I should have checked here first ;)
thanks for the heads up
don’t know how I feel about it yet
I didn’t get the arrows..
hmm..
Leigh
December 12th, 2007 5:02 pm
I have just noticed them turn up on my site too.
Could they be replacing link blocks? I have a 468×60 with a link block directly under it, and when these ads are showing, the links are not.
Stephanie
December 12th, 2007 5:03 pm
Very interesting - I see them on my sites too.
It’s pretty subtle. I wonder how many users will actually notice.
Eli
December 12th, 2007 5:18 pm
I just noticed on my website, interesting feature, but the arrows make the ad look ugly as.
Neil Duckett
December 12th, 2007 5:29 pm
And apparently there’s more changes on the way too.
Tom Hanna
December 12th, 2007 5:43 pm
I just spotted them and headed right here to see if you had the scoop. Of course you do!
I suppose it might be too subtle for some readers but it has some potential to increase CTR slightly. I noticed the arrow almost immediately, but I was specifically there to work on the ad layout.
Moses Francis
December 12th, 2007 6:02 pm
Yea, just noticed that 5 minutes ago and came here straight away knowing that there’s bound to be a post about it here..lol
Bruce
December 12th, 2007 6:32 pm
agree with eli, not only does it make them look ugly but it actually looks like a logo for a company with the initials A V
Needs to be more intuitive and less time trying to be cute.
Joe
December 12th, 2007 6:58 pm
I actually don’t mind the arrow. It makes things stand out, and I suspect could incrase CTR. I may be wrong, but they stood out really well to me.
PlasticPilot
December 12th, 2007 7:01 pm
Do you have any idea how impressions will be counted with this new feature ? One more impression each time a user clicks one of the arrows, or the “see more” button ?
Joe Tyroweb Design Fischler
December 12th, 2007 7:04 pm
Dear Darren,
just had the same experience in Austria and wrote about it in German
CU, Joe
Yana
December 12th, 2007 7:37 pm
I noticed them too this morning, and I think I like this new feature.
Weird Blogger
December 12th, 2007 7:44 pm
I guess if people started playing with the arrows they would be more bound to click on an ad link.
Mike Smith
December 12th, 2007 8:02 pm
I agree with Weird Blogger, I think if someone goes to click the arrows, they’re more likely to want to click an ad, or at the very least, accidentally click an ad :)
CompuWorld
December 12th, 2007 8:11 pm
AdSense has few of such kind of changes in there ad formats before also. I remember once I used to see a link Click for more ads sort of text. It was at the place where those arrows in these ads are.
It isn’t new for them to test for more such kind of styles and then finally implement the one which is most successful.
They should be publishing reports as to which format favored them the most .. it would be interesting to read such reports. It will help us know how much readers are interested in ads.
PureWordPress
December 12th, 2007 8:36 pm
I haven’t noticed this on any of my websites yet. However, I think it looks pretty cool and have no problem with it. Might hopefully increase CTR, too.
Steve
Michael
December 12th, 2007 9:26 pm
I don’t have any problem with the arrows on the ad but I don’t really think that it will help make anyone any money, except maybe Google. The people who are clicking on the arrows most likely would have clicked on an ad even if the arrows aren’t there, but the only thing that this helps is Google.
I highly doubt that any websites will see any jump in revenue from adsense because of this but undoubtedly Google will.
BW
December 12th, 2007 11:11 pm
They have not made it to my sites, so I’m off to check them out elsewhere.
Not sure how often users will click to see more adds though.
Jeffrey
December 13th, 2007 1:34 am
I saw the new slider ads on my blog, The Fun Times Guide to Living Green, but to be honest, wasn’t even intrigued enough to simply mouseover the new icon…ha.
Sly from Slyvisions.com
December 13th, 2007 1:37 am
Those things actually look pretty nice. In my opinion, they should actually increase “real” clicks on the ads, which benefit both Google and the publisher.
Deb - Mom of 3 Girls
December 13th, 2007 1:55 am
That’s interesting, I haven’t seen any yet but will have to keep an eye out.
Sangesh
December 13th, 2007 2:51 am
Ok,
Thank you Darren for the update. But I haven’t seen them or been reported seeing them at my blog.
Cheers.
DansNetwork
December 13th, 2007 3:01 am
Just saw them for the first time today on my site and then read this post. Wasn’t too sure about clicking on them though!
Fake Rake
December 13th, 2007 3:36 am
I saw this briefly on a 160×600 ad unit on one of my sites, where the arrows didn’t look as ugly as the ones in the sample above. I was actually nervous about clicking on them because of the “don’t click on your ads” commandment, but eventually gave in and scrolled through a few of them.
Now when I check the same page again, the arrows are gone (and it wasn’t replaced by a “show more ads” link, it’s just back to normal.)
UltraRob
December 13th, 2007 4:03 am
A lot of people ignore ads. It seems the ones that don’t aren’t less tech savy so I wonder how many people will use the slider. I don’t know how we’ll know though. I guess if Google keeps the slider they are finding it works and if they go away it didn’t.
coolthought
December 13th, 2007 5:54 am
I agree with CompuWorld. If report on how these different ads from adsense are doing, we can be better informed of making a better choice for the type of ad for the blog. Of we should still continue our “old” way of monitoring to opitimise the ad.
It is interesting though to see that Adsense is continuously finding small incremental ways to improve on its ads.
Cindy S
December 13th, 2007 6:20 am
In messing around with my adsense ads on Blogger, I seem to have jiggled something and now my ads are just a search box that says Search for Google Ads on_________________
It’s supposed to be a text link box and I can’t get it to go back.
http://achingdebts.blogspot.com
Suggestions? I have tried tweaking it but can’t seem to get it to change back.
Dean Taplin
December 13th, 2007 6:22 am
I’ve had the Show More ads feature appear on my site a few times this month. I have my doubts though about whether anyone would actually notice them let alone click on them.
The Opinionated Blogger
December 13th, 2007 7:16 am
It is just another attempt by Google to make their money and not share it with the publishers. Google is truly a buly of the internet.
plonkee
December 13th, 2007 7:17 am
I can see this working well on product type ads - like the cameras above, but less well on say financial services ads. One loan company text ad is much like another - the people wanting to see more are probably just a small subset of the people that will click on the ads.
Collin LaHay
December 13th, 2007 2:34 pm
Thanks for the citation. =)
As for my opinion, I don’t think visitors will purposely scroll through ads to find something they like… but only time shall tell.
Dan @ goforAds
December 13th, 2007 6:18 pm
I too noticed it. Its good it must increase the earnings for publishers. :)
Shafiq Rehman
December 14th, 2007 5:17 am
I just noticed these two arrows appearing randomly on my blog and hoping that this new feature will add more $$$ to publishers.
Phillip Molly Malone
December 14th, 2007 5:03 pm
Damm, I saw these on FanFooty site and just thought I must of missed this news. Could have had the scoop on this!
Molly
trmanco
December 18th, 2007 7:32 am
I don’t really think this is going to be a good idea…
Artur Kim
December 21st, 2007 11:45 am
I wonder how much these two tiny arrows will help.
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