Google is going to change its text ad format so only the Title and URL are clickable. This is to help accidental clicks from happening on the now current design which allows for clicks to happen over the entire area of the ad. ex: 250×250 pixel ads the background can be clicked. This is going to affect some marketer’s income and may help others’ income increase. We will have to see this play out.
The Following is an email excerpt from an adsense account manager:
We’re rolling out a change to our text ad formats to help reduce accidental clicks and increase value for advertisers. Previously, users could click on the background and full text of an ad, but now users can click only on the title and URL of a text ad. This new format will match the changes we’ve implemented on Google.com to help decrease the number of accidental clicks and increase the number of ad conversions. A reduction in accidental clicks will keep users on your pages, interacting with your content until they choose to click on an ad. This change will enhance the users’ overall experience with your websites and improve advertiser campaign value, but it’s likely that your click-through rate will decrease.
I want to assure you that we approach these changes carefully, with a view to the impact on all parties involved. Although we recognize these changes may result in a RPM decrease for some publishers in the short term, we expect these improvements will lead to increased advertiser spend in the long term. By investing in the long-run health of the relationship between AdSense publishers, AdWords advertisers and your sites’ visitors, we’re ensuring your continued success as an AdSense partner.
I’m curious how this is going to play out. Wonder what Danny Sullivan (Daily Search Cast) is going to think of this. Wonder how people are going to react to it. I hope to have a new poll up for this later on.
Using Ad$ense?