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Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”

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Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”

#3
Before HN jumps all over this, I worked at Google and other ads and search companies... and this is technically true (in selected cases) ! There are certain categories of websites and search results pages, where ads actually improve user experience, measured by nearly any metric you want to pick, from user perception to CTR/conversion, etc.

There's lots of random categories, but the obvious ones are commercial/product searches where you're looking to buy something.

And this isn't new: over history, there've been magazines and other media where the ads dominated the content, e.g. trade publications such as _Computer Shopper_ during the 1980's PC revolution.

Thanks for listening to my TED talk, let the downvoting begin!

Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”

#5
I think my favorite part of this thread is the people replying saying "I did a report on this, click to listen to my podcast or watch my video". One wonders why they chose those particular media for sharing their story, rather than just replying inline or writing an article. Could it be that they want people to watch higher cost ads? "Google is terrible for having ads! Please come watch my ads." deserves at least a little bit of an eye roll.

Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”

#7
post #3

Before HN jumps all over this, I worked at Google and other ads and search companies... and this is technically true (in selected cases) ! There are certain categories of websites and search results pages, where ads actually improve user experience, measured by nearly any metric you want to pick, from user perception to CTR/conversion, etc. There's lots of random categories, but the obvious ones are commercial/produc…

> There are certain categories of websites and search results pages, where ads actually improve user experience, measured by nearly any metric you want to pick, from user perception to CTR/conversion, etc.

I'm left for words, is this satire?

Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”

#9

Anyone else feel that Google as a search engine has gotten really bad these past few years? Finding information outside of looking up restaurants, songs or products the results are often times completely irrelevant and limited now.

There was a post yesterday about the literal operator (double-quotes around a word) no longer working. I had noticed weirdness like that but hadn't thought much about it. I've noticed a lower quality experience in general searching for things on Google, though, yes.
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