Adsense - Does Google Look at Referring Site when Serving Up Ads?

[keyon]

Sometimes when I visit a website I see Adsense ads that are totally unrelated to the content on that page. However, the ads are VERY relevant to the site from which I just came. Guess I didn't realize this was built into the Adsense program. I suppose it makes sense from a marketing point of view, but wow, unrelated ads can make a website look really horrible -- especially if the site owner is using Adsense banners.

[weegillis]

... Adsense ads that are totally unrelated to the content on that page. However, the ads are VERY relevant to the site from which I just came. Guess I didn't realize this was built into the Adsense program.

Can't say what is built into the program, but am certain that if the page is displaying unrelated ads, then the bots aren't seeing everything (such as AJAX responses) or there is poor organization or too many unrelated fragments in the page, hindering categorization. @keyon, have you tried going to sites that you know to be well organized and looked at the ads there? What difference did/do you notice?


... unrelated ads can make a website look really horrible -- especially if the site owner is using Adsense banners.

But make the banners look real good. I doubt that is their intention in the G marketing department. There are numerous artefacts that come into play, and flies do get in the ointment, along with dander and all the other bits floating in the ether. It all comes down to visibility and organization.

[commodityman]

Adsense is built to the relative searches you have done in the past. If a new account has adsense this is typical. However, if you search for something, say, seo over and over, and you may go to unrelated site and see adsense for SEO because Google has the ability to relate your search based on criteria you have searched for in the past. That is why, and sometimes, you see unrelated ads on websites.

[Tubby]

I run adsense on my site. Google offers webmaster the 'option' of allowing adsense to collect information on visitors.

These options include using previously collected information to decide what adverts are displayed - or simply using the content on the page to decide what adverts adsense shows.

I would suspect that if a previous site that a user visits allows google to collect information, any future site that allows this information to be used will have some chance of displaying adverts that are 'tuned' to a particular user.

Webmasters that display Adsense have the option to allow google to do this.

On my sites I occasionally change the permission that I give google to see if there is any difference in the revenue stream, (not a lot) but it does cause a variation in the displayed adverts.

Google Terms of service states that sites that allow google to do this MUST have a notice on site (privacy) to inform users that this is being done. Basically Google TOS states
there must be a a notice saying something like 'third party websites collect information etc'

NOTES - (borrowed from my adsense account settings)
Interest-based Ads Preference [edit]

Interest-based ads: Do not show ads based on user interest or demographic categories. Visitation information from my sites will not be used to help create interest or demographic categories.
Third Party Ads Preference [edit]

Third Party Ads: Do not allow advertisers to use their audience information to deliver more relevant ads to my site.

[weegillis]

Good points, @Tubby. I also make a point of logging out of Gmail when browsing, something I doubt many people do, any more. If one is logged into Gmail, they are keeping active cookies of all the sites and searches you do. This would definitely have a bearing on what ads they serve, the webmaster wishes notwithstanding.

Note: Google keeps a cookie for every site and search, as opposed to Yahoo! keeping one big one going. Not sure what MSN does. The key is to log out of your big three accounts when browsing and searching. You get more genuine SERPs and ADs.

[keyon]

These options include using previously collected information to decide what adverts are displayed - or simply using the content on the page to decide what adverts adsense shows.

There's no arguing that this is a brilliant scheme (oops, I mean marketing strategy), but how strange it is to go from say, a car parts website, over to a pet supply store, and then see an ad for socket wrenches right next to a puppy. It's both weird, and a little eerie.