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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”

#21

Post by Terretta »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #20
valine wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> build a better search engine that functions and is better without ads

https://kagi.com

> The internet is 99.99% scams and trash. It's hard to find the signal in the noise.

https://blog.kagi.com/small-web

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

#22

Post by thdc »

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…

> (in selected cases)

The tweet presents the quote without context so I interpret it to be a sweeping statement and therefore disagree based on that. If someone could provide a transcript of the cross-examination (I couldn't find it easily), then that could help with making a more informed opinion.

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

#23

Post by wlesieutre »

jrockway wrote: post #12
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 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 tha…

> 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.

Not to mention that you suffer the same problem in the App Store when you go searching for the Faceboook app. They have to bid for ads against competitors that want to show up when users try to find Facebook in the app store.

Though at least it's only the one time and then it's installed, unlike users who don't add .com to their URL bar and search for Facebook every time instead.

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

#24

Post by roughly »

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…

The point of Google (or, of search engines, at least) is to surface content relevant to a query. If the content exists, it should be surfaced, and it should not require an advertiser to suggest you surface it to the user. If the content is not surfaced except by ads, that's a failure case for Google (or, for search engines, at least). Saying "Ads improve the user experience of a search engine" could only be true in the case where the search engine is already failing, and one might suggest spending the money and resources one is spending on an ads engine on improving the search engine, if the search engine is actually trying to optimize for delivery of relevant information.

There's certainly one metric that'll always be improved by showing ads, though, and I suspect it's that one, and not any of the others, that's driving the decision to put ads on the page.

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

#25

Post by ToDougie »

baja_blast wrote: post #4

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.

In my 24 years of use, my google-fu has improved significantly. However, I can no longer keep up with how drastically google search results have deteriorated.

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

#26

Post by duped »

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…

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

I believe that you believe this while also believing that your metrics must be so horribly biased towards indicating that "ads are good" that you miss the forest for the trees.

I have entirely stopped using google to search for products because of ads. It is impossible to research products when the vast majority of what you see are ads for competing products. It has made the signal to noise ratio so bad that I can't actually trust Google to collect information and make it useful to me.

Google is the absolute worst way to discover information about products you want to buy, because it is so front loaded with bullshit ads for things that others want me to buy.

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

#27

Post by justrealist »

baja_blast wrote: post #4

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.

It's an adversarial environment.

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

#28

Post by jjoonathan »

TheChaplain wrote: post #2

I believe this quote explains the situation well; "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

I like this one too:

> The goals of the advertising business model do not always correspond to providing quality search to users.

- Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine

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

#29

Post by drawkward »

baja_blast wrote: post #4

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.

Today, I was googling for some methodology discussions on how to execute a type of market analysis I'd never previously undertaken. Instead of finding what I was looking for, I got a bunch of SEO-optimized corporate garbage trying to get me to hire Nielsen or IRI to do it for me. Corporate "blogs" suck a$$.

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

#30

Post by sayrer »

TheChaplain wrote: post #2

I believe this quote explains the situation well; "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

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.

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