Why Does Adsense Do this?

[outwest]

How do you know what types of Ads they will display?

I guess you HOPE they will display ads about the main kws your site is targeted towards

But I have seen sites where the Adsense Ads displayed had NOTHING to do with the topic of that site, and the topic was pretty well covered on the
Titles, kws distribution

Why is this?
Not enough advertisers for that kw?

What do you do with your Adsense sites to increase
the likelihood is , that they will display ads for YOUR TOPIC

Do you guys use the competitive Ad Filter on Adsense?

[CPA_RaY]

Your content or niche sucks if your ads aren't targeted. Re-evaluate everything and backtrack to the problem.

[outwest]

When you say your content sucks, you are implying the page is not kw optimized for the kw?: right?
and that is not the case

now the niche? that might be a different story
but I have seen plenty of sites displaying adsense where the ads displayed had almost nothing to do with the kw that the pages are optimized for

my only guess is that there were not enough advertisers paying for that kw on Adwords.................
Or
There were a lot of other kws that the google algo's are picking up that are confusing it, as to which ads to display

I am also still curious on
how many times you guys go back in and filter Ads being displayed that are not targeted ........(block them ,) in order for your site to be more likely to display targeted ads

[Cyber Rankings]

Originally Posted by Daniel Wilson

Those can also be personalized ads. For example you're using Google account and it tracks every search you've made.

Google then displays ads, which are connected to your account. If you were searching for dog food all day you'll probably get more ads served with dog food content.

Daniel

I am glad I read daniels post first before replying to this as he is 100% spot on.

[outwest]

I have not noticed that happening much with Adsense

It happens I am sure to some extent, but I dont notice my other searches coming up
I am talking about ads coming up that do not match MY previous search history, and they are not related to the kws on the site I am looking at

I went to a medical website today to check some competitors
the adsense ads displayed had nothing to do with the medical topic.........nor were they related to any of my previous searches

they were totally unrelated to both
which is why I am asking. what is it about that persons site that causes this?
I do not notice this on other sites displaying Adsense, only on certain sites

This particular site was very targeted towards the main kw but that kw I could hardly find even one adsense ad remotely related to that topic

[malta]

For more targeted ads on a page, you can look into implementing section targeting on the page:

<!– google_ad_section_start –>

Content to target for ads.

<!– google_ad_section_end –>


You can read more about it here: What is section targeting and how do I implement it? - AdSense Help


In other words, just wrap the content you want your ads to be relevant to inside these tags.

[Loloy Diango]

Try using this WP plugin - Better AdSense Targeting

See if the situation improves. HTH!

[outwest]

You guys dont go in and block unrelated ads displaying on your site? with the filters?

[Cyber Rankings]

You can but the problem with this is (for example)

Joe has been looking for a new server for days but can't make his mind up.

Joe gets bored and starts browsing the net and lands on your page, Joe see's an ad from webfusion for a server and clicks on it (you earn £1+)

Can you see my point? Even though the advertisements are unrelated you can still earn well with them through the way in which google shows personalizied ads.

If your CTR for your site is less than 1% PM me your website and i'll take a look

[outwest]

What about blocking MFA ads?

[dame016]

Originally Posted by Daniel Wilson

Those can also be personalized ads. For example you're using Google account and it tracks every search you've made.

Google then displays ads, which are connected to your account. If you were searching for dog food all day you'll probably get more ads served with dog food content.

Daniel

Hey, I have noticed this. When I search in google for something, and when I check the google ads in my blogs, they are displaying ads that are related to my current searches. But, I can't click on them since they are my own Google ads. I'd get blocked. I wonder if that is also the case when other people search for something with my blog open. Will the Google ads displayed on my blog change as to what the reader has been searching on Google?

[Cyber Rankings]

Yeah basically Google will show what ever it feels is relevant to that specific visitor. For example if they have been searching all day about servers and then suddenly decide they want to know how to bake a cake chances are Google will show ads related to servers on your website and not about baking a cake Lol.

Outwest - I have never blocked any ads from showing on my website I just leave it how it is. I may be leaving lots of money on the side each month but my CTR for my main sites average around 2.8% and I am happy with that so I have never tried changing it. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful on the matter

[paulgl]

Targeting sections is crap. Google takes forever to recognize it,
and, they feel it is not a good practice. Too ripe for abuse.
Completely useless in most cases. They even admit they
may ignore it.

Problem with adsense is that google will show ads depending on
the visitor's demo.

BUT....remember google has 10+ (pun intended) years of doing this
stuff. They know what works. They are in the business of showing
ads that they think will a)make the most money. b) get the most
clicks. Sometimes this seems diametrically opposed to logic.
Our logic, that is. You could toss in the towel and let google
have a go and see what happens.

Make sure you are using a different browser than your main one,
and are not logged in to google. You might see ads that are local.
Well, forget about those ads. Nobody anywhere else will see them.
The filter is useless here, as you can block every local ad for every
city, state, country, etc. You can't turn this off. Google will always
show ads based on locale and other things.

If you see ads somewhat in the niche, global, those are the ones
to filter. But the problem with filtering unwanted ads, is that there
are 100 more to take their place.

And, you run the risk of actually getting worse or no ads.

So, what can you do?

Here's where my advice gets dicey. I do sites for adsense. Period.
However, I make such a large web footprint of links that google,
the search engine, cannot ignore them either. But I have learned
that getting ads that people will click is a different animal than
"SEO" for the most part.

Here's what I have done. I have made each and every title and
description the same. That's right. The same. I pick a a sentence
with some targeted keywords. In other words, now each page has
the same keywords I am targeting in the description and title.
Title is one thing the adsense bot will take into account.

Also, the h1 tag. You have to be careful. Choosing this unwisely
could give you bad ads.

Here's what I do. Again, it will look bad on the surface. I do
the same, yes the same, h1 tag on each page. Basically a
rewording of the title. Then, I do the h2 for the headings of
the article, looking like a subheading on the page.

Now look what we have. We have the title and h1 with nothing but
the keywords I am targeting, looking like a readable sentence for the
visitor, however.

I always have a left side menu. I use h3 and h2 headings to name
each section. BUT...they are all the same keywords as the above.

And here's the last piece. Create an intro paragraph of 3-5 sentences,
explaining what the site is about, emphasis on keywords. You could
even bold this whole thing if you want. Put it at the top of each page
somewhere. I like to put it at the top of the side menu. Something
like: "Welcome to domain.com. We have articles and resources for
keyword keyword keyphrase etc etc..."

Voila! I have a site that is geared for the adsense bot, but still looks
good to a visitor.

There's a few more things that you might not have thought of.
Negative words. Eliminate them in your title and h1, h2, etc. You want
to watch the ads to see what may be a negative word. Case in point:
I had an article on childhood discipline. I was getting dog training
ads. I had to rework the words to eliminate them. Yes, I did use
the filter, but who knew what someone else was seeing?

Oh.. Just an example. The above article would be on a parenting site.
So, the title would be something like "Parenting Resources blah blah blah"
h1 would be Resources for parents. h2 would be raising children tips.
(notice I got rid of the word discipline?)
Side menu paragraph would be We have articles on parenting for mothers,
fathers, and raising children. Being a family takes hard work blah blah.

In other words, the content of the article is overpowered by all the
other signals.

Watch what words you bold. The adsense bot may over-emphasize
these.

Watch your external links. Using anchor text for outside links that
have nothing to do with your niche may be a good ad killer.

Now the above is not for everybody and I only use those techniques
on sites that get a hodge-podge of ads.

Some sites I do have get 90% targeted ads.

If you really want to let google just do what they do naturally,
don't filter any ads and turn them all into image and text. See
what results you get. After all, like I said, they have 10+ years
at getting people to click on ads.

Paul

[outwest]

Some interesting replies so far

[outwest]

Seems to be kind of quiet in this thread now

[yukon]

I'm late to the party, to answer the OP, those sites that are displaying irrelevant Adsense Ads are doing so because they chose to use Interest-based Ads.

You can turn that setting On/Off at:

Adsense Admin > Allow & block Ads > Advanced Settings > Interest-based Ads

BTW, I don't use section targeting on my sites, I've never found it was worth messing with. If I turn off Interest-based Ads I most times get relevant Adsense Ads showing on my pages.

[outwest]

Thanks for all the replies and Yukon I will remember that too