Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web page content rather than to the user?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=130606

by amichail • 18 years ago

5 17 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Why not ask the user to specify what sorts of ads he/she would like to see while using a site?

rrival6• 18 years ago

Seriously? No Effort > Effort. Relevant to context > irrelevant to context. Or you can use adpinion.com instead of adsense.

You've been asking a lot of fundamental adsense related questions - have you seen wolf-howl.com or digitalpoint.com's forums or seobook.com?

amichail7• 18 years ago

If a user does not specify targeting keywords, then it could revert to content-based targeting. Giving a user control over what advertising he/she will see might make him/her more interested in those ads.

rrival6• 18 years ago

Do you like ads? Do you click on ads? Do you pay attention to ads?

csmajorfive• 18 years ago

It does target to the user based on your searches and other things (assuming you're cookied). It just doesn't ask for explicit input from the user which is counter to the "google way" of abstracting that kind of control away from the user.

amichail7• 18 years ago

Do you think if you were explicitly asked for what ads you would like to see that you would pay more attention to those ads?

rrival6• 18 years ago

Ads I would like to see: none. If I can't have that option I'm going to cast my vote with Adblock on FireFox and you're not going to get an option. Find a better way to monetize pls kthx.

Electro• 18 years ago

Personally I would. If it peaks my interest I will look, I'm not interested in "low rate mortgages" or "win a free(*) iPod". I own an iPod and I have no interest in owning a house, which is why I now own Adblock Plus and Flashblock. I hardly see any adverts anymore because they annoyed me by not targeting me.

Context ads are good, except when the ads aren't in the context of the site. Just because sex gets mentioned in an article, doesn't mean I want adverts for sex pheramones and when I read something on bargains on HDTVs I do want Bestbuy, FutureShop or eBay adverts popping up as I'm actively looking to buy something.

redorb• 18 years ago

best use of ads I've ever seen is on Kingston.com (Ram)

- you select your pc model then the ram size, then click on the you see a ad that compares the perfect ram on 3 different sites.

- I think most comparison sites are just big ads, and that is ok as long as there is a vaule ad.

Ask YC: Why does adsense try to find ads relevant to web page content rather than to the user?

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