Google Third Party Ads

[Dan01]

I wonder if this is a good thing. I don't think I want these on my site.

Here is the way I see it:

Google has the largest advertising network in the world. Who are these third party advertising agencies? Can they sell ads for the same as Google's bid system? Heck, I could go to the local Pizza Parlor and sell them an ad. But how much would they pay per click?

Here is part of the email I got from Google:

Greetings from Google!

We're happy to announce that the Google content network now
accepts display ads served from qualified third-party vendors.
During this initial release, only ads in English are eligible,
although we look forward to offering more options in the future.

By accepting third-party ads, we can attract a greater variety of
advertising on the Google content network, which we believe will
result over time in increased revenue for publishers and more
relevant advertising for end users.

What do you think?

[jasonspalace]

I especially found the part interesting:

If you choose to allow third-party ads on your site, please update
your privacy policy to inform your visitors that third-party
vendors may serve ads on your site. Please also provide links to
these vendor websites and inform your users that they may opt out
of cookies (if the vendor offers this capability).

Now unless they have changed their algorithm altogether, may this be some underlying message that Google is now giving preference to ad vendors? I.E. Pay Google to place your ad content = getting ad referrers to place links to third-party ad providers = higher SERP ranking for third-party ad content providers. I would have to assume privacy policy pages aren't given as much weight as other content pages (as they are easily identifiable to a search engine) for ranking a site for its content. I am not comfortable with the idea myself, but In Google I Trust...

[sitetruth]

Anyone know of a site that displays such ads? I'd like to see one. Thanks.

[Dan01]

I doubt the ads would be distinguishable. The email went on to say that if you have image ads turned on, these ads might appear unless you opt out (I think that was the wording). I bet the third party ads are image ads.

Jason - Do you remember when Adsense went static a couple weeks ago. I wonder if they made the change then? I don't think taking the 3rd party ads would change the SERPs. That is my guess.

Also, if I had to guess, I bet the third parties went to Google or Google went to them to offer this deal. I bet it is similar to the way Google displays third party videos in their Video search. They display videos outside Google Video and YouTube too. Here they must have an agreement with these third party advertising agencies where they can profit (us too) from the ads.

That gets me thinking. Does the third party also get cut in? How would that affect our cut? These ads would have to pay pretty good to make it worth my while.

[jasonspalace]

I don't think we'll see a dramatic effect in SERPs, the line that got me was

Please also provide links to these vendor websites

which with enough support from ad referrers could possibly raise the rankings for those "qualified" 3rd party vendors. Another thing to look at is the whole idea of being a "qualified third party vendor"

We're happy to announce that the Google content network now
accepts display ads served from qualified third-party vendors.

If a company has done enough to become qualified from Google, then therefore they may be considered in a position to earn traffic concerning their topic with this sort of a blessing, which is why I think Google would ask their ad referrers to place links to these sites. Lastly, regarding the cut, I am pretty sure there is no percentage cut to these vendors, but I am sure they are gracefully appreciating the compensation to create and distribute these ads. A way to find out for sure would be to either work with or become one of these qualified third party vendors, both time consuming feats on their own.

[Dan01]

Jason, I would think the third party advertising agencies would get some sort of cut.

I noticed a couple image ads show up on my website.

I also wonder how long this has been going on. I remember people complaining about a drop in revenue recently. At that time I was not hit by a drop, but early this month I had a major drop. I brought it back up, but we lost nearly half a month.

[Dan01]

I just changed my account to text ads only. This should prevent the third party ads. I will keep monitoring the revenue. Things usually slow down during the summer and Holiday weekends.

[beu]

Hey guys and great thread! As you may know, I don't really delve into the deep dark world of ppc but instead stick more in happy shinny pearl white world of SEO! Either way, I did remember reading an email on this yesterday and thought I'd chime in if you aren't already aware. I think this page may help answer a few of your questions:
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/05/...om-google.html



*AWR just fyi, some of the functions at the URL below don't seem to be working as intended and there also seems to be an http/https issue resulting in a warning.

https://adwords.google.com/select/af...us-et-blog_pub

[jasonspalace]

I am working on implementing a mix between both the text-only and 3rd party ads across different sites, Dan I will update on the effects first hand when I see results in a few months.

Thanks to beu for a clarification of Google's content network. If beu gets to this, I'd be interested in knowing what is thought on the idea of "Google asking ad referrers (in a round-about way) to SEO third party ad vendor sites by linking to them"

Please also provide links to these vendor websites

I am fascinated by this, it seems like a first to me unless someone can point out otherwise...or comment on the weight of a link within a privacy policy.

[Dan01]

Thanks Jason, I would be curious to see how that works out. There are a lot of variables including how well the ads are presented or written, and how much the advertiser bid.