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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”

#101

Post by shalmanese »

figmert wrote: post #13
asah wrote: 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…

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.

It's funny to see in this thread simultaneously the sentiment that Google's search results have gotten awful over the years due to widespread gaming of the free channel of delivering results to you and also immense skepticism that any other channel could be better than the free channel.

In general, I've found any query that's blogspammed to death, the ads are actually surprisingly useful. eg: I turn off my adblocker for any query that is "Alternatives to X (dropbox/xero/notion/figma etc.)". Every organic search result is some generic comparison website that is scraping from the same public data but the ads are generally actual product companies. I figure the companies paying their way to the top of ads have their LTV to CAC figured out and are generally going to be the ones with the highest predicted retention for me.

In this case, I have a specific intent to buy and the bid/ask mechanism for ads is much more predictive of my intent than the SEO algorithms of the organic results.

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

#102

Post by dvngnt_ »

camtarn wrote: post #95
valine wrote: post #8

It’s disappointing to see google lacking basic self awareness like this. Ten years ago they seemed highly competent and nearly unstoppable.

Ten-ish years ago, Google was still trying to make Google Plus work. I don't think it's been a particularly competent company for a long time.

Google plus circles is still a genius idea.

Google's problem now is they give up too easy and no one relies on them outside of core products

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

#103

Post by musicale »

asah wrote: 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…

I like magazine ads, such as ads for computers/software/accessories in computer magazines, ads for games in game magazines, or ads for guitars/amps/effects/etc. in guitar magazines.

But I hate web ads - for some reason they are universally terrible.

And the only thing worse than youtube ads is drugs ads on cable TV.

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

#104

Post by [deleted] »

dgrin91 wrote: post #69
alwaysrunning wrote: post #49

Honestly, who here sees ads? My son owns a marketing firm and anytime I see his display it's shocking to me how different it looks than mine.

> Honestly, who here sees ads? Your problem is selection bias. Here is HN, a group of mostly tech-oriented people who all have adblockers. The majority of people actually _don't_ have ad blockers, especially the older crowd.

[deleted]

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

#105

Post by yreg »

alwaysrunning wrote: post #49

Honestly, who here sees ads? My son owns a marketing firm and anytime I see his display it's shocking to me how different it looks than mine.

I see ads when watching YouTube on my TV, since I have been too lazy to set up a pi hole so far.

To be honest, I don't even mind it that much. At least I have some contact with what's going on out there in the ad space. But I watch 90+% of YT videos on other devices, not the TV.

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

#106

Post by solarkraft »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #46

FWIW, I used to enjoy ads on Google's search page (or at least weren't bothered by them), but importantly, when they were clearly identified by (a) a yellow background, with at most one or two entries at the top, and (b) an unobtrusive sidebar (random example I found online, https://www.avidlyagency.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/searc... ). What I despise now is that for most remotely-commercial searches every entry…

I don't use Google for this type of search at all. The results obviously aren't relevant.

Since I already use DuckDuckGo by default, I just skip the !g.

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

#107

Post by glimshe »

chankstein38 wrote: post #41
sayrer wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it can be true in some situations. If you think of magazines, it would be a disappointment for Rolling Stone to contain no ads. Same for camera magazines. News content really doesn't benefit, though. Just clickbait stuff.

I don't know man I've never turned to an ad in a magazine and been thankful it was there. Ads could evaporate completely from existence tomorrow and I'd miss absolutely nothing.

Some older magazines, like Computer Shopper, were 90%+ ads. I enjoyed seeing ads in game magazines too, because they were a great way to find out what's coming soon on top of the magazine's preview section. So while I agree that ads are frequently annoying, in particular when I'm trying to search for stuff, ads are not universally bad.

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

#108

Post by solarkraft »

yreg wrote: post #105
alwaysrunning wrote: post #49

Honestly, who here sees ads? My son owns a marketing firm and anytime I see his display it's shocking to me how different it looks than mine.

I see ads when watching YouTube on my TV, since I have been too lazy to set up a pi hole so far. To be honest, I don't even mind it that much. At least I have some contact with what's going on out there in the ad space. But I watch 90+% of YT videos on other devices, not the TV.

I recently accidentally opened a video in an incognito tab. I was angry after the 2 unskippable ads, but endured them. When, after a second of skipping through the video another 2 unskippable ads appeared I immediately switched back to my normal browser with uBlock Origin. What a joke. That stuff is unusable.

I don't really use Youtube on my iPhone anymore because I know that any immediate gratification I could get from clicking on a video won't happen because of the ads. It's been very healthy for me in that way.

I don't have a Pihole because they seem to be cracking down on it. When I want to watch Youtube videos on the TV, I mirror my Laptop's screen.

I'm not even generally opposed to buying Youtube Premium either, the pricing is just off. And the tactics are just so scummy.

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

#109

Post by raxxorraxor »

asah wrote: 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…

> measured by nearly any metric you want to pick

Which in conclusion should question the quality and meaningfulness of such metrics.

Of course conversion rates are only meaningful if you indeed have any ads. That doesn't lead to any indication of positive "user experience", which admittedly is another soft term.

Sure, if I go shopping, I mind ads far less. Although I find them to be mostly devoid of information.

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

#110

Post by dagw »

throwaway14356 wrote: post #65
JellyBeanThief wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I want is for ads to be sequestered in places for people who are actually looking to solve something. Just take all the ads in the camera magazine and put them at the end, neatly categorized. If I'm interested in buying a new lens, then I'll flip to the lens category. If I'm not interested in buying a new lens, I won't. "But what about things you didn't know you wanted?" I can't want something I don't know about…

things you didn't know exist, if worthy, should have an article

But then those articles just become the ads
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