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We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

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Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#201

Post by aembleton »

adrian_b wrote: post #134
sedawkgrep wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when have we considered ads something helpful? Their purpose isn’t to be helpful. They're there to sell you something, and nothing more. Any semblance of helpfulness is misinterpretation and merely coincidental.

I do not think that I have ever seen on the Internet a helpful ad. When I want to buy something, I search what I want or I go directly to online shops that I have used before or to price comparison sites. Nonetheless, mostly before the appearance of the Internet, when I was reading various technical journals, especially during the seventies and the eighties of the past century, e.g. magazines or journals of electroni…

If you're researching which fridge to buy on Gemini, then an ad might be helpful. So long as they've got the data to answer your questions such as how wide it is.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#203

Post by dzonga »

we r now playing a game without winners well maybe except google or any of the large tech companies.

small businesses & brands etc spend a fortune on these ads & yet most of them see a negative ROI. they might as well be gambling.

just recently Google was found to be inflating Ad-prices (so yeah the 'auction' is fake)

maybe the only way to win is not to play. & do commerce without ads like how it has been done since eon

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#204

Post by yarekt »

furyofantares wrote: post #188
mattlondon wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I typically block ads as well, but more recently I changed some setting in the default Android newsfeed thing and some ads started to show through amongst the news items. The ads there are usually fairly innocuous (i.e. not disruptive, not flashing auto play vids etc, they just look like another news item and you can just scroll past them like other news articles you're not interested in), but I have actually found t…

We live in a world where ads are the primary way information about products enters the information sphere. That seems like something we should fix to me, but it's where we are, and it means if ads are well enough targeted it can be rational for an individual to want to consume them. Also I think people pay much of the price of ads even if they don't view them, via increased prices. The trillion dollar advertising ind…

I sort of wish there was a google "ad" search, where its like google search but only for ads, for the rare cases you want to buy something, and are looking through for a compatible product. Make advertisers differentiate by providing more information about their product to help me make a choice rather than shoving the product everywhere else hoping that I'll buy the thing out of fatigue

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#208

Post by scrollop »

sedawkgrep wrote: post #62
nelblu wrote: post #15

> We’re introducing more helpful ads in AI Mode I always chuckle when ad companies say that. I have never seen a helpful ad in google search, but well I have been using adblockers forever so I would not know.I am honestly curious though, for those who don't use adblockers - what percentage of ads that you see are actually helpful?

Since when have we considered ads something helpful? Their purpose isn’t to be helpful. They're there to sell you something, and nothing more. Any semblance of helpfulness is misinterpretation and merely coincidental.

And larger companies are more able to purchase ads, reducing a breadth of stores and options.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#209

Post by SJMG »

hootz wrote: post #133
superloika wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Block the entire AI response. It's not a good thing. It tells you whatever google wants you to see. It's an incredibly powerful brainwashing tool.

The search results without AI also tell you whatever Google wants you to see. The immediate solution is not to block AI summaries, it's to stop using Google entirely.

Not to mention the entire well is "poisoned" now. You can avoid LLM points of entry. You can't go to a random source and expect to avoid generative output.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#210

Post by SlinkyOnStairs »

weird-eye-issue wrote: post #28
gbro3n wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't be able to use their AI results if they are, personally. If I ask the question "what is the best tool for doing x" and I can't trust that the answer is going to be the truth according to all available information, then the AI is useless or worse, misleading. If google is unbiased, and only highlights paid advertiser mentions, no one will pay. I'd only accept this if it was a clear separation of LLM response a…

Let me let you in on a little industry "secret" You can't trust those results no matter what The pages that they pull in to source that data all contain affiliate links and companies contact websites to get their tools to the tops of those lists by paying money often monthly. I know this because I do this... It's basically standard SEO but it also manipulates AI like ChatGPT very very easily

> It's basically standard SEO but it also manipulates AI like ChatGPT very very easily

There are key differences.

1) Google doesn't get paid for the SEO, so even is crime is involved, Google isn't directly responsible.

2) AI ads are unmarked, which is illegal pretty much everywhere. And because of the way LLMs work, it is impossible to tell where a given output came from, neither which part of the prompt/context nor whether it's from the prompt or training.

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