Don't think you can pick advertisers and make more money! In all likelihood you will lose money by trying to do this.

We have two separate issues here - fleas and targeting.

Targeting goes awry at times, and sometimes words or phrases on your page will trigger certain keywords. Part of the reason weird ads are shown can be that the advertiser is using your keywords, as they feel that for some reason they are complementary to their product, or related in some way. I'm seeing weight loss pills ads on my site at the moment. They aren't specifically related, but not too unrelated to block. I've left the ad running as it's not a flea.

If an ad is off target I'd let it run for a day or so, as often you dont see these ads again and there isn't any point clogging up your filter with them. If it's persistant then consider blocking. But when you go through the filter (as you should on a regular basis) weed them out again and they have usually gone.

So my advice is to look at the ads, and if it's not a flea specifically, then leave it running unless it's completely off target, or offensive to visitors.

Now fleas. Typical flea is a page that contains just adsense blocks and no content - or just a few keywords to enable ad targeting. Other type of flea is the directory / scraper that contain listings of links to related websites. Some fleas have just enough related content to look like a real website and target ads, but not enough to distract you from the wall of ads. And the other clue is they always have scummy url's such as top4sites, best-weight-loss-pills, best10sites and so on. So couple the spammy domain name with the lack of content and you have a flea - pick it off. The more you see of them, the easier they are to recognise.

But just to repeat, don't try picking off genuine advertisers - you'll only lose money.

And don't forget to use the bug spray on ebay ads. :)

Ann

Nah - I love seeing ads for "New and used dead goats, get 'em whilst fresh" on my male healthcare site. I let 'em run.

NOT :)

You're up late, or I'm up early Ann!

Ok So Adsense Fleas are spammy sites that:
1. Huge Adsense Blocks 0.00 Content
2. Lots of YPN Ads 1% or 0% content.
3. Spammy Domain name top4sites etc
4. Returns a search engine like dbmoz not actually dmoz(example).
5. Huge engine advertisers i.e EBAY, YAHOO.

Ok guys am I missing something else...
? Some said Trip Advisor too along with EBAY and YAHOO

TA is one of my most prominent advertisers and consistently out bids my own ads.

I wouldn't take them out.

Just ask yourself "do they sell something directly? (product or service)"

Or are they existing only on ads or affiliates.

Thats the only criteria I use.

Then find of off target, competition, etc if any.

Genuine1 - if someone survives soley off of adsense or affiliates - that doesn't necessarily constitute that they are a flea in my reckoning. An affiliate site can be done very well - as can a site that soley earns its living off of adsense. Both of the above can sometimes pay significant amounts of money for clicks - especially some of the affiliate ones. I know adsense-earning sites that pay over $3 a click and I know of affiliate sites where they pay over $20 a click. So if in answer to the posts question he is looking to take out those people who he thinks are not paying well, he could significantly reduce his ecpm by stripping these bods out of the equation.

IMHO - the ones to strip are the ones that literally have no content, just blocks of ads. The ones that leap as beng a trashy site, badly designed etc etc. The obvious ebay-type sites, and as you mentioned the best4......brigade.

:)

Yes you do need to be careful with affiliates as depending on the subject they can pay well. But generally they are just doing the same thing as an "all ads" mfa. They are just more organised and targeted!

They are an extra layer. The end site could be spending that money on adsense I suppose directly. I do not put all the aff sites in the filter but the ones that are selling low profit items. I cant anyway its already full of the best4 best8 etc already!

They do tend to buy as cheap a traffic as they can due to the history, and skill in writing ads because they are good at it! They are experts at the game. Mom and pop type sites and normal businesses are not so organised and seem to have pay more per click because of it.

Of course if you are getting these ads because there are not that many advertisers in your field then it will not help to filter them because the alternative is:
a) less well targeted ads
b) psa
c) lower paying still ads!

I suppose there is no hard and fast rule about what you filter, as it depends on your site and subject matter. I can only say what works for me. Plus the last thing any of us needs to do is make the general internut user blind to our ads because of the scrapers, the mfas, the "thin" sites etc. Once they learn to associate adsense with low quality and going round in circles from one mfa to the next (and probably back again!) they develop adsense blindness.

[edited by: Genuine1 at 1:31 pm (utc) on Oct. 24, 2006]

There are sites that are not selling or providing services that are good informational sites and those also pay well...I think...:)

Could be a matter of making money off adsense or it could be vanity, etc. either way, if it is a decent looking and informative site, with or without ads, it stays, I feel that lends a little prestige to my own site.

Ann

I tend to add sites that consist only of one page with a VERY long sales pitch. But that's more about the rep of my site.

Otherwise as others have said I am looking mostly for sites that seem to have no purpose other than to be a placed to put a lot of ads.