zlacker

I know ads is a huge business. I never click them.

Who clicks on ads? Really? What segment of Internet users does?

>>daniel+(OP)
You might want to check almost anyone else searching something on google and see if they get past the first few paid links/ads.

>>daniel+(OP)
Bots? The ad impressions are like 60% fake, no? I click from time to time when delayed loading puts an ad right where I was about to click.

>>daniel+(OP)
Sometimes they are relevant and I click. Maybe few times in the last year. Quite a handy way to discover something you had no idea existed. A specialized driving school in my area, for example. Not searchable through Google Maps or Google; it's specific, but not specific enough.

>>daniel+(OP)
I assume you don't have to click them anymore nowadays? Should be fairly simple to find a correlation between ads shown to users and products sold, no?? I guess tracking solves this case.

Also as others said, there are quite a few people who still click them or click the first ad-links in google searches

>>daniel+(OP)
Which implies the click fraud problem. I thought that Google was strongly disinterested in robust counter measures because so much as engagement is straight fraud. If you shine a light on it the market shrinks a lot.

>>daniel+(OP)
If I do see something in an ad that interests me I make a point of accessing the advertiser’s site without interacting with the ad. Presumably this is still being tracked but I try, at least.

I want the overt metric of a site visit caused by the ad, and the per-click fee to the advertisement host, to be as obfuscated as possible (or ideally, non-existent).

>>pbrone+C1
Sure they have known for a long time. What is changing is advertisers awareness of the fake clicks. Creates an opportunity for ad platforms that can prove the humanity of their viewers.

>>daniel+(OP)
I've bought stuff that has been advertised to me on Instagram.

On Google, I avoid the ad links

>>daniel+(OP)
Basically the only ads I click are in search results. If I'm looking for something and the correct answer is the same as the ad right above it, I click the ad. Currently I primarily use Ecosia as my search engine and I'd like them to make money, so if the ad is the correct answer anyway, I use that link.

Other than that... No, I'm newer clicking on ads.

In the article they write:

> Social websites need to differentiate between real user engagement and fake engagement.

No, they really don't. Why would they? They have a platform, you can buy ad space on that platform, it's not the job of the website to provide you with engagement numbers. You run an ad campaign for a given period, you track if sales increase during that time, if they don't your campaign was no good. I'm also okay with tracking sales directly from each campaign, have a tracking code for that campaign, but not the user/customer, that fine. The obsession with tracking everything single little detail back to a person is becoming increasingly obnoxious.

>>daniel+(OP)
They don't require interaction. Think about billboards, TV/video ads, sponsorship ads, etc. It's enough for you to just see an ad, to not forget a brand or product exists.

At some point, you might think about a product subconsciously due to any reason, and since you saw the ads, you'll think of a specific company's product and likely rank them higher among "unknown" brands by default. That will bubble up at some point and you'll have a desire for it which you either accept or reject. Most will accept, causing more to accept to be in the group. It's human nature.

Any interaction is a bonus.

>>daniel+(OP)
I've willingly clicked on a couple ads sometime this year when I was desperately trying to find something that neither DuckDuckGo, Amazon, nor Google could find (namely, a very last minute plane ticket for an even remotely reasonable price). My thought being "since the regular results are SEOd to death, maybe the people willing to pay for me to look at their offer are of higher quality". Plot twist: they weren't. But at least that made me realize that my adblocker was disabled so I could at least fix that.