Google AdSense Testing “Advertise Here” Link on Sites
Google AdSense is marketing its site targeting service by testing an “Advertise on this site” link in its AdSense contextually targeted advertisements. Darren Rowse of Problogger.net picked this up after seeing the Google AdSense test on Tim Carter’s Ask the Builder website. Once a user clicks through on the link in the ad, they are taken to a nifty AdWords generated site profile page with basic information on the Ask the Builder site and Google suggests to the reader to join or use AdWords to purchase advertising targeting the website.
This is a rather interesting method of marketing the Google Site Targeting option and one that is reminiscent of the BlogAds “Advertise Here” option where advertisers can purchase an advertisement in a site’s BlogAds strip without needing to go through the hassle of negotiations and paperwork with the site publisher.
This also makes me wonder how in-depth the advertising information which published on individual site profile pages will be. Will Google show traffic, impression and average click-thru for such placements on these profile pages so the media buyer will instantly have such numbers to crunch at their fingertips? With Urchin under their wing, I’m sure they will be able to set up some sort of stats reporting for these pages.
Will Google incorporate some sort of user profiling tactic to break down the publisher’s site demographics and target audience? Who will set the prices? I’d be comfortable with Google suggesting a minimum price to the advertiser, but not selling a “fixed spot” or maximum impressions on my site without me having the final say.
That is, if Google will continue to sell their Site Targeting on a CPM basis. BlogAds has a similar permission factor in its purchasing decision where the publisher has the final say on whether or not an ad will be run. Hopefully Google will incorporate something similar.
Personally, I’m all for the ability to sell advertising on my websites without having to go through any haggling back and forth with media buyers and without having to keep a running file of Insertion Orders. Of course, the media reps of the world who bring home the bacon from negotiating and selling ad space on websites may have a different story.
Your thoughts?
