Rubbish Content = Adsense Success?

[IndigoJack]

THIS IS NOT A TACTIC I USE. But....

If your content is great and suits your visitors, why would they want to leave your site by clicking on your ads?

Is making your content a bit rubbish a valid Adsense success tactic?

Here it is: So.....the visitor is driven to your page via your fantastic SEO pushing & shoving efforts, but once they arrive you are much less than what they hoped for. BUT....because of your ace keywords & titles etc. etc......your Adsense ads contain appealing links to other places that may satisfy them! And so they click away.......to your success!

I'm not being flippant. If you want to succeed and make money using Adsense, what is the point of making startlingly good content?

Surely the two aren't mutually compatible?

[Tom Goodwin]

Its sort of 2 competing problems.

(1) you are right, then generally the worse the content, the higher the CTR. i don't think there is much doubt about that.

(2) If your site does happen to get a "manual" review by Google (perhaps an angry competitor?), the site might not last long in Google.

Tom

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

If your content is great and suits your visitors, why would they want to leave your site by clicking on your ads?

Is making your content a bit rubbish a valid Adsense success tactic?

Here it is: So.....the visitor is driven to your page via your fantastic SEO pushing & shoving efforts, but once they arrive you are much less than what they hoped for. BUT....because of your ace keywords & titles etc. etc......your Adsense ads contain appealing links to other places that may satisfy them! And so they click away.......to your success!

I'm not being flippant. If you want to succeed and make money using Adsense, what is the point of making startlingly good content?

Surely the two aren't mutually compatible?

Well, for me. I enjoy writing good content and on all of my Adsense sites the focus is on providing high quality relevant information. Most of them maintain a good CTR, some better than others. I guess it just makes me feel better about myself to write good content, I don't know. My content isn't the kind that gets people following me. More just really informational. Kind of like the Britannica or something. Like I'd read if it I was looking for an answer to that question. But I wouldn't read it when I was bored.

However, after reading several of Crew Chief's posts, he talks about 'social-engineering'. Basically he talks about how he learned from a very successful Adsense Publisher who taught him that creating 'rubbish' content worked very well with Adsense.

Crew Chief does very well with Adsense I believe, and he has in several threads touted the 'rubbish content' route of Adsense monetization so I do believe that it is a viable road to follow.

I haven't tried it myself, but I do trust the man's words and logic on it. Who knows, maybe if I went back and got rid of all my nicely written articles and changed them to crap, I might get an even better CTR.

There is always a happy medium between the two I think as well. I spend a lot of time on my content but I'm not a English major or a 'funny guy'. So most of my content comes off as really informative. My thinking is that visitors to my sites find the answers to what they were looking for. After they find the answer from my 'good' content, they see an ad that goes hand in hand with what I wrote about so they click it.

[IndigoJack]

Originally Posted by Tom Goodwin

(2) If your site does happen to get a "manual" review by Google (perhaps an angry competitor?), the site might not last long in Google.

Tom

________

(I AM NOT USING THIS TACTIC!! Just so you know, this is a genuine query about rubbish Vs great content in terms of AdSense success!)

The key would be to not be soooo rubbish as to be deemed misleading by Google?

[bgmacaw]

You'll find that writing passable keyword targeted content is the best course for Adsense sites. But, you don't have to have Pulitzer Prize winning content or anything like that. You can just ramble around in a natural and conversational manner for 1000+ words if you want as long as you get in your keywords. Use bolding or bullet points to get your main points across. Most people will only skim the article anyway. Typically 10-20% will have an ad catch their eye and click it as long as nothing else is distracting them from doing it.

You can use lower quality content. Many people are successful with that. However, it is a lower risk approach to use more natural content.

[Tom Goodwin]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

________

(I AM NOT USING THIS TACTIC!! Just so you know, this is a genuine query about rubbish Vs great content in terms of AdSense success!)

The key would be to not be soooo rubbish as to be deemed misleading by Google?

It is certainly about finding some middle ground between the two I think. But note that Google can zap a page even if they don't find it "misleading". Basically, if they think it is just a crap site and doesn't help the visitor experience they can just zap it.

[evanlambda]

They may be more likely to click off your site to an ad or somewhere else, but remember that the content quality affects your per click earnings.

[lisaann]

I think it's a personal choice, but for me I have quality standards now for the content and the look of my sites.

I'd rather build a site like this:

Medical News Today: Health News

Than one like this:

George Foreman 360 Grill

Neither of these are mine, but I think they really offer a good comparison of the world of becoming an Adsense publisher.

They both have Adsense on them, if you'll notice I think the first one I grabbed off my list of 'sites to be like' also has other monetization methods on it too so you might not consider it an Adsense site. Building a site for more than just Adsense is a really great way to make sure you keep your income (and that Google doesn't pull the plug on you). So that's what I've been doing and the money and feeling of security has been great.

For me I like that I can earn a lot AND have something to offer, so that in the end I may even feel a bit proud of the fact that it's mine.

But I can understand just trying to earn some extra money and the rubbish content way definitely seems to work for many people for now. A number of years ago I did some pretty black-hat stuff so I get that mindset ... it just wasn't for me, but it seems a lot of people are still doing well with it.

Lisa

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by evanlambda

They may be more likely to click off your site to an ad or somewhere else, but remember that the content quality affects your per click earnings.

Incorrect!

Targeted visitors and conversions for advertisers affect your per click earnings.

How could Google judge quality of content to determine click pricing?

[Suka]

For me its about "good ethics"

If i were to search for "4 slice toasters" and i came to a site full of unreadable spun content i would think that "this is a JOKE" and close the site emidiatley!

If i went to a site that was clearly trying to monotise with adsense, but atleast had some readable interesting content, than ill be more than happy to click on that sites adds..

I would feel Like SH1t knowing i have a bunch of sites on page 1 full of rubish content.. Thats just not cool

[IndigoJack]

Originally Posted by lisaann

I think it's a personal choice, but for me I have quality standards now for the content and the look of my sites.

I'd rather build a site like this:

Medical News Today: Health News

Than one like this:

George Foreman 360 Grill

Neither of these are mine, but I think they really offer a good comparison of the world of becoming an Adsense publisher.

They both have Adsense on them, if you'll notice I think the first one I grabbed off my list of 'sites to be like' also has other monetization methods on it too so you might not consider it an Adsense site. Building a site for more than just Adsense is a really great way to make sure you keep your income (and that Google doesn't pull the plug on you). So that's what I've been doing and the money and feeling of security has been great.

For me I like that I can earn a lot AND have something to offer, so that in the end I may even feel a bit proud of the fact that it's mine.

AGREED!

I would want to be behind the 'Medical News Today' site!

However, which is making more AdSense money? Probably 'George Foreman 360 Grill'. That's the rub.

[Kael41]

Exactly, that is the rub! But what kills me in particular is the amount of stupidity that some of these marketers are doing when they use horrible, horrible spun content and just throw it up and see what it nets them, like this:

Cuisinart 4 Slice Toaster | 4 slice Toaster

L.O.L you could drive a grammar truck through that!

BUT, if I didn't care either, I could execute a keyword domain search, target those keywords that net me 2k > month, and dump spun content on over 20,30,40 sites and see what sticks.

And there are a bunch of you out there that do that. I know, I've spoken to plenty of you

Yes, you'll make money. That's a fact. And yes, at some tier'd point, you'll get a manual review- some same $100/month and others say when Google sees a drastic bump in income, either way, you may or may not be banned. Just be prepared to leverage your sites for a plan B mechanism when that moment comes. No use in letting 40 domains go to waste

[lisaann]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

AGREED!

I would want to be behind the 'Medical News Today' site!

However, which is making more AdSense money? Probably 'George Foreman 360 Grill'. That's the rub.

You're kidding right?!

[IndigoJack]

Originally Posted by lisaann

You're kidding right?!

No, I'm not kidding. Why would anyone click away via AdSense ads from a quality site?

______________

Quote Kael41- "Exactly, that is the rub! But what kills me in particular is the amount of stupidity that some of these marketers are doing when they use horrible, horrible spun content and just throw it up and see what it nets them, like this:

Cuisinart 4 Slice Toaster | 4 slice Toaster

L.O.L you could drive a grammar truck through that!" End Quote

_________


The Cuisinart 4 Slice Toaster | 4 slice Toaster site is full of the sort of tosh I am talking about. Who knew there was so much to be waffled on and on about toasters?

But they're not selling the toaster, they're selling the ad.

[daalle]

If you make rubbish content they i agree will get you a higher CTR but if you make good content people will link to you and you will easy rank on more competetive keywords = more visitors.

(rubbish content) 100 visitors = 20 click
(Good content) mayby 500 visitors for a 5% ctr = 25 click And you site will could go for a manual review

Just my point of seeing this.

[Kael41]

Ok, some valid points were made in this thread, but this is getting out of hand I will only take you for your word if you can provide empirical evidence to what you are claiming, unless your presupposing conjecture in that statement?

Do you have x number of sites that are a combination of the minisite/authority design and thus can lend some credibility to your statement?

At the end of the day it's all about traffic. Typically your authority sites should be in the LARGE amount of traffic per day when compared to your minisites. I've got an authority site right now, where today i've had over 30k impressions. It's an authority site that's been built out and is searched a BUNCH of times. Oh, and there's GREAT content on there as well. My adsense earning for today? FAN-F'ING-TASTIC

Originally Posted by daalle

If you make rubbish content they i agree will get you a higher CTR but if you make good content people will link to you and you will easy rank on more competetive keywords = more visitors.

(rubbish content) 100 visitors = 20 click
(Good content) mayby 500 visitors for a 5% ctr = 25 click And you site will could go for a manual review

Just my point of seeing this.

[lisaann]

[QUOTE=IndigoJack;2658667]No, I'm not kidding. Why would anyone click away via AdSense ads from a quality site?[\QUOTE]

I make pretty good money from some of my quality sites. Just yesterday I earned $85.89 from Adsense alone from one of them that I started about 9 months ago. That site also generates a nice sum of money from CPA offers daily as well.

I'm just warming up with it.

People still click on your ads even if you have a quality site. It just means you get a lot more referral traffic as well as people who keep coming back ... and seeing your ads and potentially clicking on them, which works great for me.

I'd guess that BBQ site makes about $30 a month because it was actually hard to find and that the medical news site brings in about $50,000 - $100,000 per month (might not all be from Adsense though).

If you're really ambitious just go look at the traffic stats on it and you may or may not want to trust me on this, but from my stats I can easily earn between 10 and 25 cents for every visitor to my site (not great, but still for every 10,000 uniques per month that's $1,000 - $2,500 a month in income). Those are my stats and not theirs so I can't say for sure what they earn.

So yeah, you go ahead and take the BBQ site and leave me with the other, I'll take it!

Lisa

[L41db4ck]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

Who knew there was so much to be waffled on and on about toasters?

You can't waffle on a toaster, can you?

[Intrepreneur]

Someone could search..

Symptoms of Rosacea..

Then they see and ad saying... Best Rosacea Treatment and click on it.

That's how it works.

[L41db4ck]

Originally Posted by lisaann

that the medical news site brings in about $50,000 - $100,000 per month (might not all be from Adsense though).

That's worth owning!

[L41db4ck]

Originally Posted by Intrepreneur

Someone could search..

Symptoms of Rosacea..

Then they see and ad saying... Best Rosacea Treatment and click on it.

That's how it works.

Ooookay, and the toaster?

[Intrepreneur]

Originally Posted by L41db4ck

Ooookay, and the toaster?

Well that's just someone stupid enough to listen to someone else's teachings without knowing they are actually putting effort into something that will turn out a major waste of time.

[IndigoJack]

Originally posted by Lisaann -

I'd guess that BBQ site makes about $30 a month because it was actually hard to find and that the medical news site brings in about $50,000 - $100,000 per month (might not all be from Adsense though).

If you're really ambitious just go look at the traffic stats on it and you may or may not want to trust me on this, but from my stats I can easily earn between 10 and 25 cents for every visitor to my site (not great, but still for every 10,000 uniques per month that's $1,000 - $2,500 a month in income). Those are my stats and not theirs so I can't say for sure what they earn.

So yeah, you go ahead and take the BBQ site and leave me with the other, I'll take it!

Lisa[/QUOTE]


TRAFFIC - High traffic sites aren't necessarily the earners - from my experience it's the other way around.

[lisaann]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

TRAFFIC - High traffic sites aren't necessarily the earners - from my experience it's the other way around.

So why again did you ask the question as to whether rubbish content is better? I thought you were being genuine and wanted some pointers, but it seems like you're not into gaining any perspective other than your set mindset that small, rubbish filled sites, with low traffic are the only ones earning much money with Adsense. So just go do it then!

Believe it or not, some of us do quite well with good content though! Kael sounds like he's really doing well with it and I know from my own income that it works and it makes me feel great about my business. Best of luck to you...

Lisa

[IndigoJack]

Originally Posted by lisaann

So why again did you ask the question as to whether rubbish content is better? I thought you were being genuine and wanted some pointers, but it seems like you're not into gaining any perspective other than your set mindset that small, rubbish filled sites, with low traffic are the only ones earning much money with Adsense. So just go do it then!

Believe it or not, some of us do quite well with good content though! Kael sounds like he's really doing well with it and I know from my own income that it works and it makes me feel great about my business. Best of luck to you...

Lisa

You have got the wrong end of the stick and misunderstood the gist of a genuine 'throw it out there' query.

None of the above is about what I would personally do - so lay off attacking me personally.

[Fraggler]

It is easier to promote your site through means other than organic traffic if you write quality content.

It is easier to get natural quality backlinks with quality content - guest posts, referenced articles etc.

It is easier to get return visitors and implement other monetisation methods with quality content.

Being tagged as MFA isn't an issue if you write quality content.

A good layout will still get you a good CTR if your content is compelling. If you find pages aren't performing under Adsense you simply change the way you are monetising it.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

No, I'm not kidding. Why would anyone click away via AdSense ads from a quality site?

Because the ads are targeted and capture the visitors attention if the advertisers are writing their ads well.

I would consider all of the content on my Adsense sites of higher than average quality. Like I said, it's not really funny (meaning I don't really put my own personal spin on it), and it's not mind-blowingly good...but it's very informative and answers the users questions perfectly.

So in conjunction with my informative content are some highly targeted ads, it only makes sense that they will get clicks.

Like Fraggler said, if you use the right placement, colors, blending, etc you will get clicks no matter what.

And having good quality content does protect you from trouble with Google for webmaster guidelines.

However, Crew Chief preaches 'rubbish content' and I believe he's a premium Adsense publisher which doesn't come easy, so he obviously has a valid way of doing things with poor content.

[vikramd]

I see an option to use domain parking - doesn't that pretty much give you the highest CTR?

Do SEO and back linking to a parked domain and send people there?

What are the drawbacks to this approach?

-Vikram

[Kurt]

Again, it's not either/or. Both types of pages have their place in an IMer's tool box.

Create high quality content sites to get SE "respect and authority", to build your brand and loyalty.

You create Adsesne pages with lesser content, as it's faster and not everyone is looking for content. Some people just want to buy a grill.

Then, build links to the high quality health content site, and use it to pass a little "link juice" to a George Foreman Grill page focused on selling a grill that cooks food with less fat.

And...If the Adsense/Amazon site doesn't make money after 6 months, but is indexed, start using it to link to your authority pages, as it still has value as a linking asset and didn't take long to build.

[Dellco]

I don't think Crew Chief is a Premium Publisher. You need 7 million impressions a month at the very least and it is Google that invites you in the first place. I seriously doubt Google would approach people whose portfolio is largely made up of a ton of low quality sites, even if they are making money for Google.

Most Premium Publishers are companies too, and many have big Adwords budgets (it's a closer relationship, I figure).

As for rubbish content, it may get higher CTR, but it may also get a higher chance of poor conversions. Take for example, a 3 page rubbish site plastered with Adsense to make it look like links. I'd be willing to guess that there will be some visitors who will accidentally click some ads but not be really interested in those ads in the first place. That would equal to low conversions in some cases. Of course, this also happens with high quality sites all the time, but the chances of this happening could be more frequent for some low quality sites.

Now if that happens too many times, you could get smartpriced at best, or banned at worst. That is when you could get the "significant risk to advertisers" email. I'm very sure your "conversion score" matters a lot, even if Google never tells you anything about it. It's along the same line with CPA companies like CJ; make sales or you get the boot....

At any rate, having a site with great content makes it much easier to get links for, be it directories, having your blog comments approved, or getting natural links from others. Plus, you sleep easier at night.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Dellco

I don't think Crew Chief is a Premium Publisher. You need 7 million impressions a month at the very least and it is Google that invites you in the first place. I seriously doubt Google would approach people whose portfolio is largely made up of a ton of low quality sites, even if they are making money for Google.

Most Premium Publishers are companies too, and many have big Adwords budgets (it's a closer relationship, I figure).

As for rubbish content, it may get higher CTR, but it may also get a higher chance of poor conversions. Take for example, a 3 page rubbish site plastered with Adsense to make it look like links. I'd be willing to guess that there will be some visitors who will accidentally click some ads but not be really interested in those ads in the first place. That would equal to low conversions in some cases.

Now if that happens too many times, you could get smartpriced at best, or banned at worst. That is when you could get the "significant risk to advertisers" email.

At any rate, having a site with great content makes it much easier to get links for, be it directories, having your blog comments approved, or getting natural links from others. Plus, you sleep easier at night.

I'm going off of what I've read and I have no reason to doubt him. And even if your site is loaded with poor content, if you're getting all of your traffic from targeted search terms it wouldn't convert any worse than good content.

Someone searches for pontoon boat seats for example. They arrive at an Adsense site that has poorly written content about pontoon boat seats. They see a Google advertisement for Pontoon boat seats. They are going to arrive at an advertiser who is providing exactly what they were searching for.

Same situation, but the content is good. The searcher is still being presented with exactly what they were searching for.

You are correct that good content is much more linkworthy but I really don't think that poor content would affect conversions if the site is getting the majority of its traffic from the SE's.

[Dellco]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I'm going off of what I've read and I have no reason to doubt him. And even if your site is loaded with poor content, if you're getting all of your traffic from targeted search terms it wouldn't convert any worse than good content.

Someone searches for pontoon boat seats for example. They arrive at an Adsense site that has poorly written content about pontoon boat seats. They see a Google advertisement for Pontoon boat seats. They are going to arrive at an advertiser who is providing exactly what they were searching for.

Same situation, but the content is good. The searcher is still being presented with exactly what they were searching for.

You are correct that good content is much more linkworthy but I really don't think that poor content would affect conversions if the site is getting the majority of its traffic from the SE's.

I just happened to think of eBay Partner Network 2 years ago. If not mistaken, they banned a lot of accounts for poor conversion, even though the majority of the traffic was search engine traffic. Even that was not good enough for them.

So, many things can affect poor conversion, and as publishers it is out of our control (no doubt), but if there's something we can control, it is our content....and that is what a reviewer looks at when our accounts come up for audit.

Poor content may work for product sites, which is why the entire X-Factor premise is mainly made for product based sites, if you notice. At any rate, low quality MFAs are a glorified version of parked pages (which have very high CTR, usually) but we know what happened to parked pages about 5 years ago - Google dropped them all from the SERPs. Previously, domainers were making a killing from their parked domains ranking high.

So will low quality MFAs go the way of domain parking, in the future? That's the question.

[cagliostro]

I think it all depends on how long-term is your website.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

THIS IS NOT A TACTIC I USE. But....

If your content is great and suits your visitors, why would they want to leave your site by clicking on your ads?

Do you stay on a site all day long? What is the average time spent on a website?

I visit weather.com, maybe 5 minutes. Where else should I go now?

I visit google news for about 4-6 minutes. Where else do I go now?

I'd say most people surf the internet. That is, really surf. Give them a choice
as to where to go.

But you cannot insult their intelligence. Chances are, they will surf out.

You want to provide a valuable visiting experience. One that whets their
appetite for more. When they are indeed done with your site, give them
a reason to click on an ad. Put an adsense ad at the end of an article.
See how that goes. Or a search box. You'd be amazed.

I don't like website parlor tricks. Anyone can give a crazy example, and
say, look...this site is crappy but rocks adsense-wise. I would never want to
do that. I want a valuable visitor experience.

If people are enticed, begged, or whatever, up front, with an in your face
adsense ad, and that's the only thing that gets their attention because the
whole site is crap, IMHO you are close to breaking TOS.

I mimic ezinearticles, for the most part, just long enough and worth it to
read, but then one is enticed to dig further. Actually, I make blog posts
like that. Articles on my sites are a tad better.

However, I would argue that there is a lot of crappy articles on EZA.
But maybe not to people who are really searching for info. It's a starting point.

You search for ways to lower cholesterol. You find a decent article that has 2
or 3 good ways. Then you see an ad that says lower your cholesterol in 3 weeks
naturally. What might one do?

Paul

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Do you stay on a site all day long? What is the average time spent on a website?

I visit weather.com, maybe 5 minutes. Where else should I go now?

I visit google news for about 4-6 minutes. Where else do I go now?

I'd say most people surf the internet. That is, really surf. Give them a choice
as to where to go.

But you cannot insult their intelligence. Chances are, they will surf out.


Paul

Yep, that's why they are called "visitors". If they stayed forever, we'd call them "in laws" or "unwanted house guests".

[TristanPerry]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

No, I'm not kidding. Why would anyone click away via AdSense ads from a quality site?

Why wouldn't they?

You think that when a site has quality content, the average visitor instantly becomes enthralled and reads every single word of the content, ignoring every ad, and then they leave the site?

Sure the CTR might be lower, but a quality site would still get clicks...

(Mine - with 750+ average word articles and can be very useful, no waffle etc - have a 10% of thereabouts CTR)

Originally Posted by daalle

If you make rubbish content they i agree will get you a higher CTR but if you make good content people will link to you and you will easy rank on more competetive keywords = more visitors.

(rubbish content) 100 visitors = 20 click
(Good content) mayby 500 visitors for a 5% ctr = 25 click And you site will could go for a manual review

Just my point of seeing this.

Originally Posted by Fraggler

It is easier to promote your site through means other than organic traffic if you write quality content.

It is easier to get natural quality backlinks with quality content - guest posts, referenced articles etc.

It is easier to get return visitors and implement other monetisation methods with quality content.

Being tagged as MFA isn't an issue if you write quality content.

A good layout will still get you a good CTR if your content is compelling. If you find pages aren't performing under Adsense you simply change the way you are monetising it.

Yep, these posts generally sums up my views too.

It might make lower revenue in the shorter term, although a quality site with quality content will start to get more links, more visitors (etc) over time which will naturally result in higher revenues.

CTR isn't everything. If your CTR is halved but your traffic is tripled [by having great content], that's a good thing

[IndigoJack]

This thread has been like a pep talk - "Hold it together man!"

Thank you!

The reason I posted it is because I find it a bit disheartening when I arrive at a webpage that is all ad content on the visible screen area and you have to scroll down to find the one paragraph of text content that may or may not contain the search term I was seeking. Grrr.

They are playing the rubbish content game aren't they.

Then I remind myself that even hugely successful and visitor sticky websites use Google ads - eBay. They MUST be worth it otherwise why would eBay bother?

[JackPowers]

Google is waging war against crappy Adsense sites at the moment, so probably a bad idea.

[JRCarson]

When I put together a site for Adsense, I think about making good content, but just kind of making it overwhelming. So it's still well written and will rank well, but it's a little too much for a user to ingest, so they click away, still satisfied.
At least that's what I hallucinate that I am doing. Seems to be working.

[SergeyZ]

Originally Posted by lisaann

I think it's a personal choice, but for me I have quality standards now for the content and the look of my sites.

I'd rather build a site like this:

Medical News Today: Health News

Than one like this:

George Foreman 360 Grill

Neither of these are mine, but I think they really offer a good comparison of the world of becoming an Adsense publisher.

From a visitor point of view, however, I am more likely to click on the ads on the George Foreman grill site. I'm not saying that crap content is good. However, the grill site is better from an AdSense revenue perspective in the following ways:

First off, the color scheme of the site. The medical news site is predominantly blue. It actually requires effort on my part to find the advertisements since they blend in with the page structure. The ad text is hard to read. The George Foreman grill site, on the other hand, is predominantly dark green which contrasts nicely with the blue making the ads more prominent.

Secondly, the George Foreman grill site is focused on a specific topic - grills. Thus, the ads that I see are for sites that sell... grills. The ads are more specific to what I, as a visitor to the site, am looking for. They are more context relevant. The medical news site, on the other hand, shows me ads for things such as thyroid medicines and (for some odd reason) antique military swords.

Third, ad placement. This is coupled with the site color scheme that I mentioned previously. On the George Foreman grill site, the ads are placed in their own area separate from the rest of the content. They instantly attract attention. On the medical news site the advertisements are lost amid tons of content and site links.

Finally (and perhaps most important) is the commercial intent of the visitors coming to the site. People searching for the latest medical news are looking for just that - medical news. They may be researching a specific disease or medical condition. They might be writing a research paper. They may be simply browsing around. I would expect that very few visitors to the medical news site have any intent to purchase anything. The grill site, on the other hand, is more specific. Anyone visiting the site is probably already considering buying the grill. The reason they would be looking up sites about the George Foreman grill is because they're considering buying one. So when they visit a site talking about the George Foreman grill and see ads for sites selling the grill they would be tempted to click the links and check the prices that these sites offer.

Anyway that's just my two cents. Mind you, I'm not saying that the content should be crap. In the case of the George Foreman grill I would think that the CTR would increase if, instead, the site was written with the intent to secretly promote the grill. When I say "secretly" I mean writing content in the form of a review or a report and not blatant sales copy.

[Mangozoom]

Got to say some of the content on my earlier sites is crapola ... funny enough about to get one of my first sites content completely re-written.

Anyway like a lot of peope in here I vote for quality now all day every day.

John

[MaxHunt]

I've seen this method recommended in a few places, but I don't do it myself.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by IndigoJack

No, I'm not kidding. Why would anyone click away via AdSense ads from a quality site?

Because blending the adsense to match the site theme gets higher CTR.

My goal with Adsense is to make money, I want my visitors to leave (via Adsense).

I get them to my site, give them a quick download, then hope they leave by clicking my adsense.

They are 100% guaranteed to leave your site sooner or later, does it really matter how long they stay (not to me)?

[dagaul101]

It's a well known trick amongst many successful Adsense publishers, they want you to click the ads and leave their site, so they make it that way on purpose

[IndigoJack]

Originally Posted by dagaul101

It's a well known trick amongst many successful Adsense publishers, they want you to click the ads and leave their site, so they make it that way on purpose

A few earlier posts have pointed out that you run the risk of being banned by Google if they catch you out deliberately setting your site up with rubbish content in order to inspire visitors to click away from you via your AdSense.

But there are sooooo many crappy sites - not all of them are being deliberately inadequate - so how on earth would Google be able to tell the difference between the contrived and the just plain inept?

[zigato]

Although I don't do this myself, I have seen it been done before. And you're totally right - there are so many terrible sites that even Google can't tell the difference between the bad quality content ones and the good quality ones sometimes!

[McBrett]

I mean, essentially this is the path many, many article directory sites have taken to monetize their site.

Get other people to publish complete crap content. Capture traffic for long tail searches and a certain % are going to click on the ads of those pages once they arrive.

[Steve Crooks]

Many of you are missing the entire point of why you should concentrate on producing the best content you can that is targeted to the people in the niche you are in.

It isn't the case that Google can automatically spot the difference between good and bad quality so let's dispel that myth straight away.

In fact, rather than think of it as quality content, let's say it is the difference between valuable and invaluable content or in other words, content that invokes an emotional response in your reader or not.

Why is valuable content better for Adsense? Simply because of the viral nature that this sort of content can have in the niche you are in. As we all know, we pass links all the time via social networking sites. We also constantly recommend web pages as "worth a read" all the time as well. Just take a browse through a few threads here at Warrior and you can see my point. It is basic common sense and takes a hell of a lot of the grunt work out of site promotion when it can potentially promote itself.. naturally.

It's a win.. win.. Google love this sort of link building, people love the content, you get higher rankings for your pages as a result and higher rankings = higher Adsense income. That is why in a nutshell that "valuable" content is far better than "invaluable" content for not only Adsense sites, but all sites.

[paulgl]

The thread that keeps on giving! Nice post, Steve.

Google really cares most about legal content, invalid/self clicks,
source of traffic, adsense placement rules.

If you don't quack any of those, google could probably care less.

Content greatness is probably very low on their list.

Paul