How do the Google Ads work?

[+Miragee]

Just for fun, I have been clicking on the Google Ads and opening them up in a new page in my browser. Then I have been closing that page.

 

However, I wondered if I have to stay on the linked page for a certain amount of time before GC.com generates income? Does that page have to load completely? With my slow connection, sometimes that can take a while. )

 

Do I have to click a link on the other page to generate income for GC.com?

 

I just want to do my part , but would like to understand a bit more about the way the ads work.

[Jeremy]

You're really supposed to click on them if you're actually interested in them. As much as I appreciate the enthusiasm advertising gets less effective for the advertiser if people are just pulling money from their ad budget.

 

To directly answer your question the click registers the action. Remaining on a page shouldn't really matter though Google doesn't announce how they register clicks and revenue based on them (so it is certainly possible that it matters - all guesses on my part). There's another concept called referrals through Google that require users to actually download and install applications, like Firefox, to get a payment. I have read recently that there are partner sites that will be providing additional software to download in the future.

 

I have also heard that Google will be providing local advertising on Google Maps. That seems like one of the most appropriate ways of earning ad revenue on Geocaching.com since it's all about location. But we'll see what it looks like when it happens.

[+Stunod]

According to Google AdSense:

 

How do I get paid?

You get paid whenever someone on your site clicks on one of the AdSense ads. Advertisers can also bid to appear on your site on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis. Both CPC and CPM bids compete in our AdWords program to ensure that you optimize your ad revenue.

 

Edit: Looks like you got your answer straight from the horse's mouth while I was typing.

Edited June 29, 2007 by Stunod

[+Miragee]

You're really supposed to click on them if you're actually interested in them. As much as I appreciate the enthusiasm advertising gets less effective for the advertiser if people are just pulling money from their ad budget.

 

<snip>

Oh. . . okay. . . I'll stop clicking on the ads now . . .

[Aushiker]

]Oh. . . okay. . . I'll stop clicking on the ads now . . .

Only if they don't "interest" you

 

Andrew

Edited June 29, 2007 by Aushiker

[+TrailGators]

Clicking on them is like window shopping. Sometimes you just click on the ads to check them out. If you see something you like then go for it. I'm sure Google has already factored in the average number of clicks it takes to get a purchase (commission). They will never get a sale if you never click...

[Aushiker]

Good analogy. I just saw one and thought mmmm what is that? Click, I found out. Now I didn't take it further this time, but I easily have done so had it been of more interest.

 

Regards

Andrew

[+guiderchachi]

I find them annoying. On my PC they are in the middle of the cache listings. They divide the listings in such a way that I tend to miss a couple. This really bothers me when I am scanning the latest published in my area.

Put the ads somewhere else, please.

 

My 2 cents.

Guiderchachi

 

p.s. After reading through more forum topics, I realized that I put this reply in the wrong place. I was going to move it but on reading the proper topic, noticed it had gotten a bit off-topic and a bit personal. So I will keep my post here. If someone wants to move it, feel free.

GC

Edited June 30, 2007 by guiderchachi

[robertlipe]

Adsense is a subject that can -and does!- fill books, but Miragee's approach (click on everything cos' clicks are good) can actually be harmful.

 

Advertisers bid for keywords to bid for space on those tiny little billboards. Advertisers see results in the form of people following the links in those ads. However, in most cases advertisers don't care about building name recognition (counterexamples include companies like Nike) but they want _sales_ resulting from those clicks. There are crazy complicated metrics to calculate these things, but if you think about it, most advertisers realize that 100 page follow-throughs that resulted in 10 sales, that's a better ad campaign than 1000 empty clickthroughs from looky-loos that bought nothing. Most stores would rather have 3 people actually looking at merchandise than 500 people jammed into the store just to get out of the heat. It would be unwise to assume that advertisers and store-owners can't tell the difference and know to adjust the money transferred based on that knowledge.

 

While it's not quite click-fraud, following links in bulk with no intent to purchase usually hurts the site. It's definitely recognizable traffic. Google didn't become as successful as it is by doling out cash for empty clicks. Trying to game the system by generating empty clicks actually hurts the statistics.

 

If something is interesting, read it. Don't think you can make anyone wealthy by clicking everything you see.

 

Signed,

An Adsense User That Researched The Heck Out Of This A Few Months Ago

[+Knight2000]

Oh. . . okay. . . I'll stop clicking on the ads now . . .

Actually click away. I have found that although most of them are junk, some are fun to look at. It is nice because they usually apply more than i am used to. I am only referring to the forum ads. The ones on the cache pages so far are bizarre. But i haven't seen that many so maybe i am speaking out of turn.

 

I actual don't mind the ads and like browsing to see more cool stuff. I only hate when you get to the site and it is a search engine site with many more ads that you can click on to send the owner of that site revenue. Ugh!

[+Miragee]

Well, for some reason, I don't see any Google ads on the Forums now.

 

No more temptation to either click out of curiousity, or click to generate revenue for GC.com.

[the_fighting_mongooses]

i say keep the ads to the side, and out of my GC area list. god i see two of them now.

 

~the_fighting_mongooses