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Videos Home ? Blogs ? Aaron Wall's blog Gain a competitive advantage Today! Say What!? Previous Ad Retargeting Next Paid Placement in Search Engines Content Locking Ads
Apr 10thby Aaron Wall0 comments posted in publishing & media
Google recently launched a consumer insights survey product, which quizes users for access to premium content.
How do users get access to these poll questions? Google locks premium content behind them, likeso:
Google has long stated that "cloaking is bad" and that it was deceptive & users didn't like it. Earlier this year Google also rolled out an algorithm to penalize sites that were too ad heavy:
We’ve heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away. So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience.
Also recall that the second version of the Panda update encouraged users to block sites & many programmers blocked Experts-exchange due to disliking their scroll cloaking. That in turn caused Experts-exchange to get hit & see a nose dive in traffic.
Between the above & seeing how implementation of this quiz technology works, I had to ask:
How do you feel about ads that lock content behind poll questions like this one?
There isn't a huge split between men & women. Men hate them a bit more, but they also like them a bit more...they are just less indifferent.
Vote Men (811) Women (409) Hate them. A total waste of time66.1% (+3.4 / -3.6)61.5% (+5.4 / -5.7)I am indifferent27.2% (+3.4 / -3.2)34.2% (+5.6 / -5.2)I love them. These are fun6.7% (+2.3 / -1.7)4.3% (+5.1 / -2.4)Young people & old people tend to like such quizes more than people in the middle. My guess is this is because older people are a bit lonely & younger people do not value their time as much and presume it is more important that they voice their opinions on trivial matters. People just before their retirement (who have recently been hosed by the financial markets) tend not to like these polls as much & same with people in their mid 30s to mid 40s, who are likely short on time trying to balance career, family & finances.
Vote 18-24 year-olds (359) 25-34 year-olds (267) 35-44 year-olds (151) 45-54 year-olds (200) 55-64 year-olds (158) 65+ year-olds (83) Hate them. A total waste of time62.1% (+4.9 / -5.2)62.6% (+6.0 / -6.4)69.4% (+6.9 / -7.9)64.5% (+6.5 / -7.1)68.3% (+6.3 / -7.1)62.3% (+10.2 / -11.4)I am indifferent28.9% (+4.9 / -4.5)32.1% (+6.2 / -5.6)24.0% (+7.6 / -6.2)30.8% (+7.0 / -6.2)28.4% (+6.9 / -6.0)28.7% (+11.3 / -9.1)I love them. These are fun8.9% (+3.4 / -2.5)5.3% (+3.7 / -2.2)6.6% (+5.3 / -3.0)4.7% (+3.7 / -2.1)3.3% (+4.4 / -1.9)9.0% (+9.7 / -4.9)People out west tend to be more indifferent. Like, whatever man. This may or may not have something to do with California's marijuana laws. ;)
vote The US Midwest (280) The US Northeast (331) The US South (363) The US West (246) Hate them. A total waste of time65.2% (+5.6 / -6.0)69.0% (+6.2 / -7.0)65.6% (+5.9 / -6.4)55.6% (+7.2 / -7.5)I am indifferent29.7% (+5.9 / -5.3)25.6% (+6.8 / -5.8)28.7% (+6.2 / -5.5)38.7% (+7.4 / -6.9)I love them. These are fun5.1% (+4.5 / -2.4)5.4% (+5.9 / -2.9)5.7% (+4.8 / -2.7)5.6% (+7.4 / -3.3)Rural people tend to like such polls more than others. Perhaps it has to do with a greater longing for connection due to being more isolated?
voteUrban areas (608) Rural areas (117) Suburban areas (477) Hate them. A total waste of time62.6% (+4.6 / -4.9)53.6% (+10.1 / -10.4)63.8% (+4.8 / -5.1)I am indifferent32.2% (+4.8 / -4.4)37.5% (+10.4 / -9.3)29.1% (+5.0 / -4.6)I love them. These are fun5.2% (+4.4 / -2.5)8.9% (+9.5 / -4.8)7.2% (+5.2 / -3.1)There aren't any conclusive bits based on income. Wealthier people appear to be more indifferent, however the sampling error on that is huge due to the small sample size.
vote People earning $0-24K (151) People earning $25-49K (670) People earning $50-74K (303) People earning $75-99K (77) People earning $100-149K (20) People earning $150K+ Hate them. A total waste of time69.0% (+7.7 / -8.9)62.1% (+4.4 / -4.6)69.7% (+5.5 / -6.1)69.7% (+9.1 / -10.9)53.8% (+19.3 / -20.5)Insufficient dataI am indifferent26.0% (+8.5 / -7.0)32.6% (+4.6 / -4.3)23.6% (+5.8 / -5.0)26.0% (+11.1 / -8.7)41.7% (+20.6 / -18.1)Insufficient dataI love them. These are fun5.0% (+6.8 / -3.0)5.3% (+4.0 / -2.4)6.7% (+5.7 / -3.2)4.3% (+11.8 / -3.3)4.4% (+27.1 / -4.0)Insufficient dataSo, ultimately, Google was right that users hate excessive ads & cloaking. But the one thing users hate more than either of those is paying for content. ;)
Some of the traditional publishing businesses are dying on the vine & this is certainly a great experiment to try to generate incremental revenues.
...but...
How does Google's definition of cloaking square with the above? If publishers (or a competing ad network) do the same thing without Google, would it be considered spam?
Published: April 10, 2012 PreviousAd RetargetingNextPaid Placement in Search EnginesNew to the site? Join for Free and get over $300 of free SEO software.
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