Eric Edelstein

Google has been experimenting with the search results lately, and now they have made a change to the Google Contextual ads (Google Adsense) which on the surface looks like a tiny change, but will most likely LOWER the click through rates of Google Adsense ads on websites which earn their money from Google Adsense.

Google has restricted the clickable area in the Google adsense ads. Previously, the entire ad, covering the entire rectangle of the ad, was clickable including the TITLE, the TEXT, the URL and the WHITE SPACE around the adsense ad.

This has now changed - if you hover your mouse over any google adsense ad, you’ll notice that only the underlined title and the URL are clickable.

The White space and text are NO LONGER clickable.

How will this impact websites?

Short term, this will most likely lead to a drop in the earnings for website owners, as the click through will drop as people will be far less likely to click a google adsense ad by ACCIDENT. (so it’s more ethical)

HOWEVER, long term, the quality of the clicks should increase, and advertisers will then be prepared to pay MORE for these clicks, so although the click through rate will decrease, over time, the earnings should increase.

This follows the entire Google search philosophy of RELEVANCY - the more relevant the results are, the more they will be used.

Graphic ads won’t be affected as they cover the entire space, and it will be interesting to see if websites serious about their adsense revenue, start limiting the google adsense ads to IMAGE ads. (although in South Africa there aren’t nearly enough graphic ads to take up the space, so I highly suggest you DON’T select this “image only” option unless you are a highly experienced webmaster.)

It will be interesting to see in the next few days, if there is any noticeable change in adsense earnings.