I read some interesting debates about the perceived drop in Adsense earnings, which seems to have caused severe reductions in Adsense commissions paid to even formerly successful Adsense publishers of late. For once, Google as a company seems to be feeling some of the pain as well: the rate of growth in Adwords income over the last quarter was ‘only’ 30 per cent, as opposed to 45 per cent increase for the same period in 2006. As a result Google’s market price is also falling, as the company seems to be having trouble at YouTube. The Youth over there are not doing what Google wants: unlike the company’s other audience, they are failing to click on the ads!! The click rate on general sites is also down, the company has finally admitted – so it is not just a figment of the Adsense publishers’ mind.

The hard truth is that contextual ads are no longer a novelty. Readers now feel the same advertising fatigue as they do when faced with banners and popups, so unless visitor behaviour can be changed then the Google brains had better find a new product. The general feeling is that unavoidable audio ads will send visitors away, so something new is needed – now. The distinction that makes the difference is search vs surf: when we search we want to fulfil a need. For example if I am sleeping badly due to back pain, and a product like a foam mattress seems likely to cure a bad back the visitor is in the zone to buy it. If we are simply surfing for amusement there is nothing driving us towards merchants’ virtual shops. Over to You, Google.