This reminds me of having to disable pihole for my wife because she is shopping and wants to click on the ads
Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
11–20 of 116 posts
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#12Before 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…
I don't think you deserve any downvotes, but there is also somewhat of a tragedy of the commons effect at play. I hear people Google "Facebook" to find the Facebook login page. No doubt, Facebook has ads for that search so that people click the right link. This ends up being expensive; people should have just clicked their bookmark, but don't really understand URLs, so there is just a tax on big companies to have that link available. I don't think this is particularly evil, but I also don't think it's amazing. At the end of the day, you're providing value for not making people type "www" and "com", but many think that should just be free. (Of course, before search was integrated into the address bar, I feel like typing "example" in there went to www.example.com. That feature mysteriously disappeared when browser vendors realized you could make money by displaying an unrelated webpage with ads instead.)
Meanwhile the alternative is mobile apps and an icon on your homescreen, an effect that makes Apple and Google rich for taking a % of the revenue from those apps, and one of the largest job programs ever for software engineers.
At the end of the day, I can see why people are uncomfortable with the whole situation, but I also don't see an easy solution. It is fun to railroad rich people in front of Congress, but at the end of the day, what really changes? The rich person has slightly less money, the politicians get a photo op, and some lawyer has a little more cash. Only better technology will end today's quirks. (Remember when Microsoft got sued for anti-trust violations? Did the government end IE's reign on the Internet, or did Chrome?)
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#13Before 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…
I'm not going to downvote you (I can't even), but you've made plenty of claims but haven't got anything backing up those claims. So I'd love to ask for some citations on these claims.
I can get behind "ads keep the internet free" narrative, but it seems rather odd to suggest something that someone who doesn't exactly know you wants you to see is better than relevant result.
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#14Cigarette executive: "your lungs are actually worse off without cigs"
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#15Before 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…
> And this isn't new: over history, there've been magazines and other media where the ads dominated the content
Was it better user experience than if it was not dominated by ads?
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#16Before 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…
Ads improve conversion?
You don't say.
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#17Before 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…
> 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.
Wired magazine was heavy on ads but they must have exerted some creative control over them because he entire experience was this unified techno-futurist thing.
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#18Before 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…
If you fill the search results with enough SEO garbage eventually ads will look better by comparison. If ads are making your user experience better you have a serious problem.
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#19It’s disappointing to see google lacking basic self awareness like this. Ten years ago they seemed highly competent and nearly unstoppable.
I wonder if bringing Larry and Sergey back into day-to-day leadership roles would help. They've been out of the day-to-day so long I wonder how long the ramp-up time would be, though.
Re: Google ad exec: “it is a worse user experience to not have ads on the page”
#20Before 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…
If you fill the search results with enough SEO garbage eventually ads will look better by comparison. If ads are making your user experience better you have a serious problem.
Okay, sure, build a better search engine that functions and is better without ads.
Easier said than done.
The internet is 99.99% scams and trash. It's easier said than done to find the signal in the noise.
Some times - willing to pay (and being vetted not to be a scam) is a good indication of signal.
Unfortunately, Google could do a little better on vetting their ad partners. Too often these days, ads are scams.