Go ahead and talk to them.

You are not locked into doing anything they suggest, they are JUST suggestions. You can probably bounce ideas off them while you're talking.

Be sure and ask if there are any beta programs running that might benefit your site, and if there are, see if you can or want to try the beta.

Yes! Actually a huge yes, since I am familiar with your site. It's just my opinion but I think you have been sitting on a gold mine in terms of unrealized revenue, and while I think google can't help you correct the serious design issues with your site, they can perhaps help with the google side.

of course take them up on it

you don't have anything to lose, any extra knowledge or input is always helpful

Since adding AdSense to my site, I've spoken twice with the AdSense optimization team. So glad I did. They gave me great site-specific suggestions about ad placement. Implementation of their suggestions increased revenue. I also learned some new things about advertising.

My experience has been that they are genuinely concerned about helping you increase income (theirs increases too, of course) in a way that also enhances a site visitors experience.

After my second talk with the team last month, I was asked to particapte in a conference call with members of another department. I agreed. The sole purpose was for them to get my feedback and experience with AdSense. They asked a lot of questions. I was impressed that they took so much time to speak with me and get my opinions, suggestions, etc.

They require that items discussed remain confidential.

In my most recent discussion with them, they suggested adding a links unit in a specific location. My prior experience with links units had been "they don't work on this site", but sure enough they were correct. It's worth listening and trying their suggestions, to the extent that you find their ideas compatible with your site.

Interestingly, I was told that they could provide me with additional suggestions if I wanted them, but that they thought my site had really good content and unless asked to do so didn't want to suggest something which might overshadow the content.

FWIW, we were invited too, accepted the offer and later we received screenshots of proprosed optimizations, which we had to refuse, even though we knew the CTR would go way up. It would just look too spammy.

I've never received an offer for this but if I did I would definitely take the time to listen to their suggestions. I'm kind of wondering why I have never gotten the offer, in 2006 I don't think I had a single month where I made less than 5K and earnings for one month were up to 10K. Maybe they don't think I need any help. ;-(

I received an optimization invitation back in November 06. I implemented the changes they suggested and more than doubled my AdSense income.

So, in my case, it was well worth the effort and their suggestions were spot on.

Like rbacal said, I think is due to the untapped potential that they perceive. Why shouldn't "The King" rule!

That is like haveing the lottery comission say, "Hey let's work on your numbers and get your odds up so you can win"

You can send them to my site when they are done ;{)

I have emailed them back and here's hoping they optimise me to the fullest... and will be certainly asking heaps of questions.

I have often wondered why my sites with huge traffic and that rank in the top ten at google for 25 of my keywords earn me a mere pittance.

We were earning $6000 a month when they asked us if we wanted their suggestions for optimization. Our CTR was about 2% so I think they thought (rightfully) that there was a huge potential to aim for $10,000 a month. However, as I said, their suggestions would increase the CTR in exchange for rather spammy look. So we didn't even test their suggestions.