Google testing nine side ads

[AdGooroo]

Hello everyone,

We have just confirmed the presence of an additional side Adwords ad which is now appearing on a very infrequent basis for selected keywords ("childrens chat rooms" is one of these - HTML of the actual ads is pasted below).

As with other recent changes, this is likely a small scale experiment being conducted by one of the in-house AdWords techs...

-Rich



<a href=\"/pagead/iclk?adurl=http://login.tracking101.com/ez/aolswprsrtw/subid%3D1-G05-SingleAND_G05_001-P-*22chat*20rooms*22%26dp%3D116169%26l%3D0%26p%3D0&sa=l&ai=BXW2YcTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD9CCjQ3-m4vCAfTHq6kB0OgMEAEYASgJMAFIiDlQ2tTiswSgAZT5yP4DyA EB&num=1\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw1\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to www.FriendsAnd.com')\"><b>Chat</b><b>Rooms</b></a><br /><b>Chat</b> &amp; Flirt With Fun Singles<br /><b>Chat</b><b>Rooms</b> - It's Free!<br /><font class=\"a\">www.FriendsAnd.com</font><br /><br />

<a href=\"/pagead/iclk?adurl=http://webcamchatrooms.net/live%3Fs%3Dllg%26mila%3DDTC1AD4q&sa=l&ai=BF2CocTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD6bjswuy7MmWAe6D_wnQ6A wQAhgCKAkwAUiWOVDSwZTN_P____8BoAGgsan_A8gBAQ&num=2\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw2\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to www.webcamchatrooms.net')\"><b>Chat</b><b>rooms</b> in your ZIP</a><br />It's free to <b>chat</b> and watch women<br />and men around. 1000's of <b>rooms</b><br /><font class=\"a\">www.webcamchatrooms.net</font><br /><br />

<a href=\"/pagead/iclk?adurl=http://1.primaryads.com/z/2932/CD3423/&sa=l&ai=BWA0vcTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD6rv2gmijOyUAa_xmQWg_g oQAxgDKAkwAUiNOVCXmq3hA6AB6dSy_wPIAQE&num=3\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw3\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to www.cupidjunction.com')\">Free <b>Chat</b><b>Rooms</b></a><br />Meet Cuties &amp; Hotties!<br />Give it a Try Now. aff.<br /><font class=\"a\">www.cupidjunction.com</font><br /><br />

<a href=\"/url?sa=l&q=http://www.hemko.com/IM_red.asp&ai=B0m6acTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD4-pxQyp05muAa_xmQWQsAoQBBgEKAkwAUiKOVDa5fXoBMgBAQ&num=4\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw4\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to www.perfectmatch.com')\">Free <b>Chat</b><b>Rooms</b></a><br /><b>Chat</b> &amp; Flirt with Singles Near You<br />Review Pics &amp; Profiles for Free!<br /><font class=\"a\">www.perfectmatch.com</font><br /><br />

<a href=\"/pagead/iclk?adurl=http://www.kidchatters.com&sa=l&ai=BdPWscTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD-Xd8grtlfGwAeiTpgbAuAIQBRgFKAkwAUiEOVD52rKV_P____8B oAGD7KH-A8gBAQ&num=5\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw5\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to www.kidchatters.com')\">Kids <b>Chat</b> Room</a><br />Monitored kids <b>chat</b> room and email.<br />Kids safe and secure, ages 8 to 13<br /><font class=\"a\">www.kidchatters.com</font><br /><br />

<a href=\"/url?sa=l&q=http://www.funpeeps.com&ai=BaYyHcTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD9etxAiT3LKgAe6D_wnQhg MQBhgGKAkwAUiVOVC-_9CkBcgBAQ&num=6\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw6\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to funpeeps.com')\"><b>Chat</b><b>Rooms</b></a><br />Free <b>chat</b><br /><b>Rooms</b><br /><font class=\"a\">funpeeps.com</font><br /><br />

<a href=\"/url?sa=l&q=http://www.gotochat.com/gg/&ai=BgZoBcTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD6f0gQav_Y-UAa_xmQWA8QQQBxgHKAkwAUiSOVC5ve-z_f____8ByAEB&num=7\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw7\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to GotoChat.com')\"><b>Chat</b>, Watch, Free</a><br /><b>Chat</b> with women and men in your<br />city area. Watch for Free!<br /><font class=\"a\">GotoChat.com</font><br /><br />

<a href=\"/url?sa=l&q=http://c.azjmp.com/az/ch.php%3Ff%3D448%26i%3D671%26sub%3Dfr2&ai=Be9xGcTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD6--gwWX0veMAZGk7HzwogQQCBgIKAlInDlQ_YnW5_r_____AcgBAQ&num=8\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw8\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to FindRomance.com')\"><b>Chat</b> Room for Dating</a><br />Find your Soul Mate - Real Singles<br /><b>Chat</b>, Meet and Find a Partner. aff<br /><font class=\"a\">FindRomance.com</font><br /><br />

<a href=\"/url?sa=l&q=http://www.webdate.com/index.php%3Fa%3Dgooglechat&ai=BHUzgcTtEQ9S8MIXk4AGgptynD-vzhQyx0OuOAa_xmQXAuAIQCRgJKAkwAUiUOVCB58jtAcgBAQ&num=9\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"aw9\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to www.WebDate.com')\"><b>Chat</b><b>Rooms</b></a><br />Free chatting and instant messaging<br />Meet people for friends or romance!<br /><font class=\"a\">www.WebDate.com</font></font>

[AussieWebmaster]

A bit odd of a search .... and I only get the 8... must be very limited.

[AdGooroo]

It's occuring about one time in every 350-500 queries, and it's not limited to that particular keyword phrase.

This seems like a good place to mention some of the other (alleged) tests we've seen in the past few weeks:

* Segregated section in middle of natural results (looks like paid inclusion, but word is that it isn't)
* 200 character ad format - we've not seen this in the US yet, despite reports that Google is testing it here.
* An additional side ad (making 9 total) - this was still going on as of Friday, October 7th.

Interestingly, we've also seen two "bugs" in Google AdWords ads as well:

* Broken destination URLs - in about 1.2% of search results, a single ad on the page has a broken destination URL. This appears to be some kind of strange parsing error, as the URL is split into two pieces, with a piece of javascript inserted in the middle. This is a transitory error, as a page refresh results in a correct URL being displayed. Clicking on the ad results in a "page not found" error. Presumably, the effect of this would be a very slight increase in the page impressions, but no additional clickthrough charges as the URL simply doesn't work.

* Improper targeting - Back in August, we recorded thousands of instances where Australian ads were being targeted at Virginia IP addresses. We re-routed our servers to get around this problem, so I can't state the current status of this problem.

-Rich

[AussieWebmaster]

The extended format is being beta tested right now...

[AdGooroo]

Hi Frank,

That's what I've heard, although we've yet to run across it.

Coincidentally, we just came across one of those broken ads. Thought I would post it here. Maybe an AdWords tech will see it and find it useful. It appeared just a few minutes ago in the top premium position. Notice how the href is truncated, and the rest can be found in the "2ce4" attribute.

-Rich



<a href=\"/pagead/iclk?sa=l&ai=B0aTxmpxKQ_fuHLqi4AH0tLz-B8SBtQviqYWsAfz4t8YG4NQDCAAQARgBQIoWSJo5\" onmouseout=\"cs()\" id=\"pa1\" onmouseover=\"return ss('go to www.plexxa.com')\" 2ce4=\"\" ukyiz4j9_____wgyac6nbqabgnlj_qpiaqe&adurl=\"http://www.plexxa.com/s/moving_emoticons%3Fa%3D216720520%26k%3D1758329980\"><b>Moving</b><b>Emoticons</b></a><br /><font size=\"-1\"><span class=\"a\">www.plexxa.com</span>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Free <b>Moving</b><b>Emoticons</b> info. Find what you're looking for!</font></div></div>

[AussieWebmaster]

They have everyone doing it under NDAs