Via Digitalpoint I found out about several new types of images which are beeing inserted in the “Ads by Google” mentions on all Adsense ads, be it a normal or a premium publisher that’s displaying them.
Here are some screenshots (copyright rights of the images below, belong to each individual poster in the Digitalpoint thread above):
PS: No, the images are not “Photoshoped”.
If you read the webmaster’s opinions in that thread you will see not only that they don’t like the new feature, but they actually hate it.
To be honest I hate it too. Why ? Simple because it makes the ad REALLY! seem like an ad. If up until now we could blend the ads here and there, this way all chance is lost. Just have a look at the first screenshot above: the one with the grey background.
I mean are we forced to use only a white background now ? That G image is not even transparent !!!
Not only that, but that small image really ruins any design, no matter how good or bad it is. Moreover, every single website that is now using Adsense, will show a Google brand watermark in it. Users are maybe 500% more likely to notice the mention “GOOGLE” because of that image. I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing, after all I love Google, but it’s unneccessary. The text was enough.
I’m just curious ? Why was this move made ? To put more attention to Google’s brand ? Why ? It’s already one of the top brands worldwide. At least on the online, I think Google is the most known brand, worldwide.
This is not necessary guys!
In this Ads by Google page, Google is telling us :
We want to know what you think of these ads. Please email us at: adsbygoogle+aff@google.com
So if any of you guys have feedback about this new change (or test, because I really don’t know if this is a limited time test or a final feature), email them a few words, be it good or bad.
I have to say that I am not for the images. We have worked hard to optimize our blogs and this is just another bump in the road. I will email Google with my opinions.
Thanks for the post, great work.
Ugly to say the least. It spoils all the nice blending a publisher does. It would have been nice if there was a way to blend these better and a way for publishers to select if they wanted text or images for the “ads by google” part. For some sites, people may actually click the link if they see the google logo (trust factor). But, google should atleast give publisher a chance to choose what they want.
I’d say that’s a reasonable request.
I’m disappointed (to say at least) about this … I am definetly NOT for images :/ We all worked hard to blend the ads and position them as good as we could and now we’ll be forced to adapt the new ones (if removing images won’t be an option). As Ana said before maybe for big & trusted sites this will be good and they’ll get more clicks. But for any other small AdSense publisher it will be crap.
Choosing whether or not to display the G logo should definetly be an option in AdSense’s setup page.
I’ll also email Google with my opinions.
Why would they put images on my website when that’s contextual TEXTUAL advertising ?
Here is an image thing in a site of mine :/ Does it suck? Oh YEAH, it does.
I supose that’s it Cristi … can’t think about anything else why they’re doing this.
It would be an interesting thing to study if this new image branding appears on all type of ads or just “text AND images ads” (the default one). I just switched my 728×90 one from text into text_image … let’s see :)
At the moment it’s not a final feature, I hope.
Did anyone sent any messages to the e-mail above, and received any answer ?
Maybe the purpose is for the ad to look more like an ad. Some of you pointed out that that is a negative thing, but the purpose of these ads are for advertising, so I don’t understand your obvious desire for hipocrisy, or otherwise deceiving your users to thinking that these contextual ads are just part of the content. If you want that, then you should go for links that have no signage but pay you anyways. My bottom line, if this increases the number of clicks through, then I am for it, if it brings it down, then I’m against it. Just waiting for statistics will tell me the answer.
It ruines any design. That’s my main problem.
It doesn’t matter if it’s “text” or “text_image”. The G appears anyway. So that’s not it.
I did send them an email to adsbygoogle at google.com. I just received an automated answer that sounds something more or less like this: “We’re not working on weekends. Wait for an answer when we get to work”.
You don’t have to wait Ben. It brings the number of clicks through down. It’s obvious in just 1 day.
Here is the response I received from Google:
So there is something cooking afterall …
I hate it! I just noticed it on my site! :( It’s not always there though but still, it comes and go…
I agree with you guys… the beauty of Google text ads is that you can make them blend with your site and design… Google says it itself… the ads are supposed to be unobstrusive! Well with the Google image brand now, they’re clearly more obstrusive than ever, especially if your background isn’t white!
I don’t get it… it’s not like Google or even AdSense need anymore advertisement or exposure?!
I’m sending them an e-mail right now.
Is this another one just implemented by them now or it appeared from the very start? I can’t see any text link there, JUST a plain image :/
It’s been implemented some time ago.
This thing can easily destroy the website design….
I saw this today only. Its nice looking ads image.
I just noticed this today. They are also branding the search box from Google CSE. I don’t know when it appeared but I just saw it today on one of my sites. Here is an image too.
Indeed. It’s ugly.