How many ads are too much?

[optimizeforseo]

After you can't handle it.

 

[Ryuzaki]

A group came together that includes Google and Facebook and big ad exchanges and networks like Mediavine, GumGum, Criteo, etc. They are called the Coalition for Better Ads (member list). I think they worked alongside the Internet Advertising Bureau (member list) during this, too. So pretty much all the big advertisers and publishers and infrastructure owners with all the data came together.

They ran studies regarding user reactions to display ads, types of allowable ads, including sizes for each device and screen size, how many could be on screen at any given time, what percentage of the screen they can take up, what the ad's behavior could be like... all before it annoyed off to many users, became distracting, and lowered the user experience.

You'd be surprised at just how high this allowable threshold is. I run my sites to the max and it's pretty wild. But the people in my vertical have come to expect and accept it, so it's a much higher RPM for me.

I'm sure Ezoic (which largely is running Adsense for you, which is owned by Google) is aware of the guidelines and follows them. Adsense won't let you break the rules before auto-detecting the issue and warning you.

So back to "I feel like the ads are too much." The one thing in advertising and SEO and pretty much everything is to remember not to project your own ideas onto the world and to make sure to follow the data instead.

I once used to go lightly with ads because I felt like they were too much. I've since then 10x'd my RPMs by changing networks and running every type of ad I can to the maximum allowable amount. I've received a grand total of zero complaints and had zero impact to my traffic or rankings.

 

[secretagentdad]

A group came together that includes Google and Facebook and big ad exchanges and networks like Mediavine, GumGum, Criteo, etc. They are called the Coalition for Better Ads (member list). I think they worked alongside the Internet Advertising Bureau (member list) during this, too. So pretty much all the big advertisers and publishers and infrastructure owners with all the data came together.

They ran studies regarding user reactions to display ads, types of allowable ads, including sizes for each device and screen size, how many could be on screen at any given time, what percentage of the screen they can take up, what the ad's behavior could be like... all before it annoyed off to many users, became distracting, and lowered the user experience.

You'd be surprised at just how high this allowable threshold is. I run my sites to the max and it's pretty wild. But the people in my vertical have come to expect and accept it, so it's a much higher RPM for me.

I'm sure Ezoic (which largely is running Adsense for you, which is owned by Google) is aware of the guidelines and follows them. Adsense won't let you break the rules before auto-detecting the issue and warning you.

So back to "I feel like the ads are too much." The one thing in advertising and SEO and pretty much everything is to remember not to project your own ideas onto the world and to make sure to follow the data instead.

I once used to go lightly with ads because I felt like they were too much. I've since then 10x'd my RPMs by changing networks and running every type of ad I can to the maximum allowable amount. I've received a grand total of zero complaints and had zero impact to my traffic or rankings.

I’d abstractly argue that you’re burning up the brand equity of google and what ever platforms your grabbing traffic off of for profit.
They’ve got a lot of it. Looks extremely profitable and scalable as long as you can keep ranking.
I wonder if the auction ad processes are somehow injecting value beyond the basic value of a relationship with the visitor. By being super aggressive with your placement and ad sourcing are you somehow double dipping off competing advertisers spend in some ways due to your value capture being higher than the average network placement.

 

[Darth]

I once used to go lightly with ads because I felt like they were too much. I've since then 10x'd my RPMs by changing networks and running every type of ad I can to the maximum allowable amount. I've received a grand total of zero complaints and had zero impact to my traffic or rankings.

Likewise. Push it to the max and let your network worry about the limits. I would only be worried about limits for SEO reasons anyway.

 

[MrMedia]

Max it out. But… avoid interstitials. It’s a common feature of some big content sites that I study and every one that runs heavy interstitials has been hammered in updates. Not saying this is why but even for a risk tolerant individual like myself it feels like a step too far.

 

[Darth]

Max it out. But… avoid interstitials. It’s a common feature of some big content sites that I study and every one that runs heavy interstitials has been hammered in updates. Not saying this is why but even for a risk tolerant individual like myself it feels like a step too far.

FWIW, I run interstitials and they piss me off even on my own site, but I have come out of all these updates unscathed.

 

[MrMedia]

FWIW, I run interstitials and they piss me off even on my own site, but I have come out of all these updates unscathed.

Just feels like a massive over reach for not that much more revenue uplift IMO.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I agree and misspoke. I don’t run interstitial either. Total annoyance at a level well beyond every other ad type. Kind of silly to block someone trying to view a second page full of ads to show them one ad. The bids can’t be that good on those.

 

[Darth]

Kind of silly to block someone trying to view a second page full of ads to show them one ad. The bids can’t be that good on those.

Hadn't thought about it like that. Just checked and I 3% of my Adthrive revenue is interstitials. 1.2% for Mediavine.

Yeah, will turn them off also!

 

[sav310]

You'd be surprised at just how high this allowable threshold is. I run my sites to the max and it's pretty wild. But the people in my vertical have come to expect and accept it, so it's a much higher RPM for me.

Any examples on how you setup your pages? Just curious how aggressive the layouts are in general. Do you gradually get more aggressive and increase the amount of ads over time as the sites authority grows?

I usually have a couple of 300x250's or 160x600's in the sidebar, and then sprinkle some 728x90's throughout the copy.

 

[Steve Brownlie]

Hadn't thought about it like that. Just checked and I 3% of my Adthrive revenue is interstitials. 1.2% for Mediavine.

Yeah, will turn them off also!

Lol @Ryuzaki improving the internet one data point at a time!

 

[smithy]

A group came together that includes Google and Facebook and big ad exchanges and networks like Mediavine, GumGum, Criteo, etc. They are called the Coalition for Better Ads (member list). I think they worked alongside the Internet Advertising Bureau (member list) during this, too. So pretty much all the big advertisers and publishers and infrastructure owners with all the data came together.

While CBA standards are 30% on mobile and desktop, I'm curious why Mediavine recommend running 28% on mobile and 20% on desktop.

Surely, that would be making them less money.