The GEM EFFECT

[Gem]

THE GEM EFFECT™ ©29 NOV,2004 J1UK

dont know how real this is...
but my forum handle seems to affect what Adsense Ads are served to
http://www.JustOneUK.com

read about it on this thread...and please let me know your thoughts...
as i now have to change my name on many forums...GGrrrrrrrrrrr.

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=5540

thanks ...erm ...... G :rolleyes:

edit: the only possible cause of 20,000 pages of G*E*M ads being served to my site is my FORUM NAME...because it is nowhere else !...
unfortunately this will have to be my last post using this name..i literally have to kill myself off...as i have started to do in other forums.

[Jenstar]

Sounds very much like a case of themed ads being shown before the pages are all fully spidered and showing targeted ads - and AdSense has decided that gem ads are themed for your site(s). I was not seeing themed ads, but targeted ads on the pages I looked at.

If you give it time and wait for the AdSense media partners bot to spider all the pages, you should see targeted ads and not the themed (gem) ads.

[Gem]

i totally agree with you....but like i posted in that other forum thread...

where in google TOS does it say .."we will serve adsense ads directly targeted at what posts you do in forums and what your log-in name is" ??

so now when you open a site...you are at risk of "the GEM EFFECT" also,,
until your site gets spidered...no-one told me that this was an issue...and i have not seen it mentioned on the web...good job i chose that name and not some of the more erm..fruity names i have seen !!!
I am systematically having to change my log-in at all the forums i post on....until google fully spiders my site...which adsense says is 48 hours????
erm....a month so far ....there are thousands of G*M ads in here..(i cant even use the word now !!)
http://www.justoneuk.com/NorthWest/NorthWest.htm

[Jenstar]

Most people are quite happy to have themed ads, since the alternative is PSAs.

AdSense does not just go and spider an entire site automatically - each page has to be viewed by a person (thus triggering the javascript and alerting AdSense that you are running ads there). After the script is triggered on a particular page for the first time, the mediabot will come running and spider the page to provide the targeted ads.

As more of your site gets indexed, you WILL see the themed ads changing to ones related to your site. Depending on how many visitors you have to your pages this could take days or weeks. IMO, there is no need to go and change your username on message boards or stop using the word gem, you will see the theming change for your own site regardless.

In other words, give it a week or two, and the problem will resolve itself. I don't think it warrants being called a "gem effect", it is simply theming ads.

[keywordseo]

thats gold changed your handle to structured settlement
or some of the other high paid keywords, visit my site for some of the good ones

[Gem]

jenstar,
whilst i respect your conclusion that the GEM EFFECT may only be a shortlived event, it still seems a significant factor (for the reasons posted above by keywordseo) and should be addressed by google. Although shortlived it has been 4 weeks so far.
I could have use the infamous cancer "Meso....." word as my log-in name and be serving possibly 100,000 meso ads across 25,000 pages....obviously this would make me the richest man on the planet :),
For someone so knowledgeable about adsense if seems strange that you dismiss what is so obviously quite an important issue, with such ease.
A solution would be for google NOT to deliver ads according to the username of my posts on forums...but use the ANCHOR TEXT in the links to my site
as an alternative, or even a total mixture of ads until the site is spidered.....instead of Just One theme only (pun intended)

QUOTE:As more of your site gets indexed, you WILL see the themed ads changing to ones related to your site.

...I hope its soon...thats why i put the Ads there in the first place..not to have 1000's all the same

[Jenstar]

Themed ads is something that is well known, it is just they themed quite differently from the site you are now trying to get indexed. FWIW, I did not see any gem related ads when I viewed a random selection of pages on your site, but targeted ads.

AdSense will pick up the highest paying ads as well - a couple posts from you under "Gems" can easily result in ads that would pay better than the ads that match the content. AdSense can't determine that "Gems" is simply a username when it spiders the page. And AdSense is known to have targeting issues when running on message boards as well (not to mention low CTR).

Everyone gets targeting problems somewhere along the lines, but they are most prevelant in a new site that hasn't been fully AdSense indexed yet.

I could have use the infamous cancer "Meso....." word as my log-in name and be serving possibly 100,000 meso ads across 25,000 pages....obviously this would make me the richest man on the planet

In theory, yes. But AdSense does quality checks on all pages running mesothelioma ads (as well as pages running other high priced keywords), and I would suspect that it wouldn't have passed the quality check if it was simply based upon your username and not the content ;)

[Jenstar]

I hope its soon...thats why i put the Ads there in the first place..not to have 1000's all the same

If you have pretty low traffic to the site, start surfing your own site to trigger the mediabot. This should speed it along.

[I, Brian]

Hm...well, if the original thread at DP is correct, then there's an important relationship revealed: that of body copy on the page linking out, being used to determine the relevancy of the page being linked to, outside of anchor text.

The presumption might be that this is employed in normal ranking purposes as well - that would certainly explain a few results I've seen elsewhere. I've heard the idea suggested before to different degrees, but never seen such an illustrative claim before.

[Gem]

If you have pretty low traffic to the site, start surfing your own site to trigger the mediabot. This should speed it along.

OK...its been a while...
and we actually get a lot of traffic
i got a friend to surf a couple of towns and click thru every category..that was nearly 2 weeks ago.....and they are still showing G-E-M ads
so triggering the media bot is outta the window...i wonder how much revenue i am losing thru not having related ads :mad:

but never seen such an illustrative claim before
i am still waiting for a thorough investigation from you ;)
Regards
G

[Gem]

not a lot has changed....4 months on....

now post on forums using the handle 'solicitors' or 'mortgages'...or both :)

the gem effect could now be described as the 'mortgage effect'.....as i now have 25,000 pages showing mortgage ads,,,,and have done for the past 3 months...since losing the g.e.m name.

i could post a thread about toy cars on a favourite forum..and the adsense on that page would relect toys..cars etc immediately and yet on my site, 8 months down the line, adsense still is not working properly
so how is it that it works immediately on forum pages? forums that contain 10's of 1000's of pages and not on mine after 8 months of being online?

TIA
erm....Solicitors Mortgages :D

[gadvisor]

I've actually established several forums, each running Google AdSense. In general, click-through ratio is low simply because the ads being shown are not relevant. And they are not relevant because Google cannot "see" into those pages of the forum that are protected by password. On non-password, public forum pages, AdSense ads are really quite relevant. I think another factor in the low click-through rate, however, is the fact that fewer people actually click on the ads in a forum context. People are usually just looking for help or information, and may not be interested in the goods or services advertised.

[Gem]

they are not relevant because Google cannot "see" into those pages of the forum that are protected by password. On non-password, public forum pages, AdSense ads are really quite relevant.

i have NO password protected pages....

let me clarify, i was getting adverts for gemstones....now since changing my forum handle on several sites...i now get adverts for mortgage related stuff.

here's an example.....
this is a page about PETS and ANIMALS (http://www.justoneuk.com/NorthernIreland/Londonderry/Londonderry-Pets-Pet-Shops-vets.htm)

the page title, the page description, the keywords, the H1 tag...the H2 tag...
and the on page words DO NOT contain a SINGLE INSTANCE of the word mortgage, solicitor, house, finance or anything like it...and yet there is mortgage ads

does anyone actually know what the cause is ?...aside from wild speculation?

<< edit>>
OK....in the last 2 minutes since adding that link to the page it shows the relevent ads !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woohoo !!!

SO ....can i therefore assume i need to get a link to every individual page?
...which only leaves 25,000 pages to get linked ~sigh~

one more test...here's another page showing the wrong ads...if you see the right ones (for hotels) then i may have found an answer :(
hotels (http://www.justoneuk.com/NorthernIreland/Londonderry/Londonderry-Local-Hotels-bed-breakfast.htm)

many thanks to all for your thoughts...lets hope at least this is an answer.

[I, Brian]

does anyone actually know what the cause is ?...aside from wild speculation?

I'd say it's a clear indicator that AdSense will use off-page factors, such as text/links around initial anchor text to page, as a variable in discerning the topic of the AdSense adverts to be displayed.

I've seen this apparent effect with my own pages, too.