Google’s still testing the waters of its cost-per-action ad model, which charges advertisers only when a sale is made or a lead form is filled out. But as one publisher notes, the AdSense team is inserting CPA ads onto his blog, whether he wants them there or not.
Google Extends Opt-Out Policy To CPA Testing
Over at the DigitalPoint forum, Jim Karter relays an email sent to him from the Google AdSense team:
Your account has been selected to participate in a limited test of an exciting new targeting feature for AdSense. In the next few days we will enable cost-per-action (CPA) ads to compete in your AdSense for content ad units on a limited portion of your traffic, 5% or less of all ad impressions. These ads will look identical to your current AdSense ads, so there will be no visible changes to you or your users.
Your account has been selected because we believe that you’ll earn more by having these additional targeted, high-quality ads competing in your ad units.
Of course, by “your account has been selected,” they meant “we’re going to slide them in there whether you like it or not. Hope it works out for you.”
But Jim didn’t like it. “Isn’t it FORCING CPA ads, as I was not asked before putting them in. I HATE IT.”
Tell us how you really feel, Jim.
To make it worse for him, Google doesn’t give any indication of which ones are CPC or CPA.
“Also,” Jim interjects, “this so called test will not show any stats/results to me. CPA results will be hidden in regular contextual ads and I cannot see it only google can.”
Looks like Google is making CPA opt-out just like their book scanning project.
