Did The Ad Clicks Go Away

[Yeratel]

I've noticed that the ad clicks at the top and bottom of the Forums have gone away lately, except for the link to the jim-butcher.com store. Some of the ads were funny, and occasionally worth following, so I was just wondering if the site has given up on them as a source of revenue?

[iago]

I've noticed that the ad clicks at the top and bottom of the Forums have gone away lately, except for the link to the jim-butcher.com store. Some of the ads were funny, and occasionally worth following, so I was just wondering if the site has given up on them as a source of revenue?

I think Google decided to stop letting this particular site carry them since we had an explicit encouragement to click on the ads.

[The Dread Pharaoh Roberts]

But wasn't clicking on them a good thing?

[iago]

But wasn't clicking on them a good thing?

Yes, but encouraging someone to click (without the intrinsic value of the ad causing the click) is potentially against Google policy.

[The Dread Pharaoh Roberts]

Ah.  That makes a little sense, I suppose.

[Pinky Narfanek]

But wasn't clicking on them a good thing?

From the point of the site, it's good because it generates more revenue which helps control the costs of running the board.

From the point of the advertisers, it's not so good.  You get a spike in your costs (the company pays google which then pays the board as well as your increased bandwidth, etc.), but see less than your expected revenue return because people aren't buying anything from your site--which then lessens the effectiveness of your advertising dollars.

[Yeratel]

Well, when I buy something from Amazon, I still go through the link from here. It doesn't cost me anything extra. 

[The Dread Pharaoh Roberts]

Encouragement to click can also affect the performance metrics of the ads - and Google needs to give "real" results to the advertisers so they can figure out if they're getting their money's worth.

[iago]

Well, when I buy something from Amazon, I still go through the link from here. It doesn't cost me anything extra. 

Buying from Amazon is an entirely different kettle of fish. In fact I'm thinking about ditching the google ad thing, given that Amazon's where the lion's share of site-supporting revenue comes from.