Google Adsense Will Now Optimize Your Ads Automatically Unless You Opt-Out

[Ryuzaki]

"To help you grow,
we're going to
optimize your ad settings
for you."​

The new term is "automatic experiments", where all of the suggested split-tests done on your ads will now be done for you automatically unless you opt-out. Any time an improvement is found, you'll be emailed. It doesn't say you'll be emailed when the tests fail. In my experience, they've all failed and I quit running them.

They do say that they'll only run experiments where they think there's a high chance of an improvement. They'll only optimize ad settings (formats, sizes, colors, whatever) but won't start unblocking or blocking categories.

This will start April 23rd unless you opt-out.
​

Have you guys ever seen a meaningful improvement to your ads based on these experiments? I've ever lost revenue while waiting for the experiments to finish. Most of us probably are able to set up the text ads ourselves pretty well, either making them blend in or stand out.

 

[Darth]

I'm personally surprised people are even still running Adsense. Maybe it's my niche, but nearly every other ad network did and does better for me. Haven't run it for at least 5 years.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I agree, @Darth, but Adsense is still good for brand new sites that don't meet the criteria for better networks. Adsense does better than others like it, like Media.net, too. They do let you bring in some revenue in the mean time to offset some costs, even if minimal.

 

[GNews]

Adsense has some value for highly competitive keyword markets, does it not?

 

[Future State]

Adsense has some value for highly competitive keyword markets, does it not?

Yes, it does. The game of optimizing for CTR isn't quite what it used to be now that responsive ads came out, which lifted the average CTR up but you can't really get huge numbers as easily now. But in the right niches with traffic it's a gold mine still. In most niches you're fighting for pennies per click though. My last Adsense site was clearing about $30k a year before it tanked (this was a long time ago pre-Penguin) on very minimal traffic, like 500 visits a day maybe or less.

But at the same time, if you're succeeding in a niche that does that well on Adsense, it's probably lead gen, and in that case you should do real lead gen as well and multiply your earnings by 5x - 10x.

 

[GNews]

Yes, it does. The game of optimizing for CTR isn't quite what it used to be now that responsive ads came out, which lifted the average CTR up but you can't really get huge numbers as easily now. But in the right niches with traffic it's a gold mine still. In most niches you're fighting for pennies per click though. My last Adsense site was clearing about $30k a year before it tanked (this was a long time ago pre-Penguin) on very minimal traffic, like 500 visits a day maybe or less.

But at the same time, if you're succeeding in a niche that does that well on Adsense, it's probably lead gen, and in that case you should do real lead gen as well and multiply your earnings by 5x - 10x.

Agreed. Personally, I dont even look at advertisers anymore period when I'm thinking of making sites.

I think of how i can profit off the vistiors and vanity people have today to be famous.

Currently working on sites that have no photos except the 'feature content' and that will be from people who pay. Mostly short form content, some long form to give Google a little tickle for the algorithm pickle.