More ad changes this week.

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   Marina Lazarevicposted 8 years ago

   Hi everyone! Just wanted to give you a heads up that there will be a few changes to the ad layouts this week:
   
   - On the desktop Hub, we'll be testing 300x600 ads in the first and third sidebar locations. Sometimes these ads will render as 300x600s and sometimes they will render as 300x250s. 300x600s are more premium units and running them in conjunction with 300x250s should result in a revenue increase.
   - On the mobile Hub, we'll be doing something similar with the first ad location on the page, running the 320x100 size in addition to the 320x50. Moreover, this ad will no longer stick to the top of the page as the user scrolls.
   - We'll be running ads from new advertising partners in various locations on both mobile and desktop. This should also result in a CPM and revenue boost.
   
   Let us know if you have any questions!
   
   Edit (1/16/15): We are also adding a 4th ad unit in the sidebar on longer (roughly 50%) Hubs only.

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      Pop Culture Worldposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      This sounds like some potential good news!

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      NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Sounds good to me!

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      kannanwritesposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I think this might be one of issues that the team is already looking to resolve.
      
      Just read a hub and the sharing options are not completely visible. They are only seen completely when I reached the bottom of the page.

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      bravewarriorposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I look forward to seeing the results. What about those annoying video ads? Is anything being done about them?

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         Marina Lazarevicposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Hey bravewarrior, which annoying video ads? We've been blocking them as Hubbers have been reporting them. If see any new ones, please report them in Ad Problems.

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            bravewarriorposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Marina, according to that forum, the ads are allowed unless they hover over copy or the audio is heard. That's not the case, but they are there. It's quite annoying. I thought they were going to go away entirely.

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               Marina Lazarevicposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Oh, I see. My apologies for misunderstanding! We do allow video ads so long as the audio is muted. However, if the video ads are inappropriate or slow down your browser, please report them so that we can take a look. They may be allowed, but when in doubt go ahead and report them. Matt has some instructions for how to best report ads in this post. Thanks!

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                  bravewarriorposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanx Marina. At least they don't cover up our copy, nor do we hear them. However, they bounce around in my peripheral vision and I find that annoying.
                  
                  One of the reasons I quit writing for examiner.com is because of the video ads that pop up on every page (over the copy) and play whether you want them to or not.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Everyone is talking about the "new" ads, etc...I'm not seeing anything different on my hubs for either my own or anybody else's ads.  What am I missing here?

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      Judy Filareckiposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I don't remember noticing this before now, but our featured hub just under the first ad now has the hub description included along with the picture. I like it. Hope you keep it. I also like the way the ads are scrolling now with each one pausing in place for a short period of time.

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      Judy Filareckiposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I have an ad that the recording automatically starts without being clicked on and there is no way to turn the volume off. It starts up even when I have scrolled down past it before it starts and is startling and annoying. The ad I'm referring to is Contour by Comcast. There should be volume controls on all ads and should not automatically start when no longer visible on the page.

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   Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years ago

   Thanks for letting us know. It will be interesting to see how they look on our hubs.

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   jansharesposted 8 years ago

   Thank you. I look forward to the boost.

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   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   My fondness of HP continues.
   
   

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   nutritionhubposted 8 years ago

   Are these Layout changes likely to result in any loss of Google traffic?
   
   Many Thanks.

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   pumpkincat210posted 8 years ago

   cool!   
   thank you for updating us.

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   Glenn Stokposted 8 years ago

   Looks like HP staff will have a busy week between testing these ad changes and the ending of the Squidoo Grace Period on Thursday. The addition of the extra ad partners is also exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing a nice boost.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      What extra ad partners?  Where did you hear that and how can I find out more. I must have missed something.

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         Marina Lazarevicposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         We're going to test Tribal Fusion and Ad.com (AOL's ad product) ads on both mobile and desktop. There might be more in the next few weeks. None of this is permanent, however, and whether we stick with these networks long-term will depend on how well the ads perform.

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            paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Uh-oh... The reputation of the Tribal Fusion I know is less than stellar. Their presence could even trigger malware warnings all over the place. Or have they cleaned up their act since then?
            
            https://www.google.com/#q=tribal+fusion+malware

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            What is Tribal Fusion?

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               NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

               It's a well-established reputable ad program that pays per impression. Many sites use it.

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         Glenn Stokposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Marina mentioned it in her first post at the beginning of this thread.
         
         [EDIT] I just noticed she already answered you.

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   Rotaposted 8 years ago

   Revenue boost! Seems like this is what we have all been waiting for. yayyy!

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   Juliet Stewartposted 8 years ago

   Still fairly new to Hub Pages, anything that increases revenue, can't be bad.  Waiting on bated breath.

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    Venkatachari Mposted 8 years ago

    It's very good to know. But, one thing we see is the share buttons for sharing our hubs on social media are very very below at the bottom of the hub. I hope this is some what inconvenient to most of us. It should be in the middle or first half of the hub.

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    Baby-Boomer-58posted 8 years ago

    Hello Marina.
    Do we get revenue if people click on any of the many smaller 'blue' ads down the right hand side of our hubs?

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       paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Between the side and the bottom, there are no less than 15 of those ad link critters. There is no way that won't perturb Google down the line. And unless things have changed, we do indeed not get paid for those. And HP stated they were going to get rid of them, what happened?

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          Marina Lazarevicposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          We removed the sidebar Related Searches unit in early December with the launch of the redesign.
          
          Edit: Oops, just saw your post below!

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             paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

             Interesting how they snuck back in for a little while this morning. I guess you can't keep a good ad link down.

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                Marina Lazarevicposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                Ohhh..those aren't the same blue links as Related Searches. Those are part of the new 300x600 ads - and yes, revenue from these units (and everything running in the sidebar) is shared.

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                   sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                   Thanks Marina, I was wondering about those.  Looking good:)

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                   paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                   Happy Camper Time.

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    paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

    I see that the side link ads have disappeared again. Hope springs eternal.

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       sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Are the blue links I am seeing the same old related ads which from which we never received earnings from last year?  They are not on all of my hubs
       but in general I think the ads look pretty good except,  they are so vibrant they probably detract from the content of the hub.  Lets hope that we see  increased earnings from them.

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    janderson99posted 8 years ago

    The new longer ads mean that the social media buttons end up way, way, way down the page in the never, never. Please consider moving them to after the first ad, or after the 'More by' (before the second ad). Also please consider increasing the font size, or using a more easily read font. This would be a magical way of increasing reader satisfaction by 5% which was one of Paul E's aspirations. Thanks for you time. Cheers

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    Sulabhaposted 8 years ago

    Hope this helps me!

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    Baby-Boomer-58posted 8 years ago

    Thanks for explaining the new blue ads, Marina. I like the way they take up less room and only expand when rolling the cursor over them. I've seen some really relevant, enticing ads on a few hubs. Good that the hubbers will potentially benefit from them.
    
    Thanks for making a positive change away from links that earned us nothing. I'm inspired to become more active and write more hubs.

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    Baby-Boomer-58posted 8 years ago

    I think the problem janderson99 raised is not so much with the placement of the social media buttons, as the size of the ads they are placed below.
    
    The bottom ad is huge compared to the font size of the hub. So when I expand the page in order to view the text, the ad becomes even more imposing (and intrusive) - and the social buttons cannot be viewed until I have finished reading a hub and scrolled all the way down to the bottom of the page (below all the comments).
    
    If I didn't need to expand the page to effectively read the text, I'd be seeing the social media buttons from about half-way through the hub.
    
    Perhaps you could try putting social media buttons above the bottom ad on the right hand side, Marina.
    
    Or, even better, just reduce the size of that last floating ad. I feel rather uncomfortable having a giant carrot accompany me while reading, or any seemingly over-sized ad for that matter.
    
    Why waste the chance to have readers pin or share hubs? Many will read to the end of the hub but are likely to lose interest before they reach the final comment where the social media buttons finally appear.

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    pumpkincat210posted 8 years ago

    Earlier my page was crazy with ads jumping all around.  I just checked my hubs and the jumpy ads were gone.  There was one that was slowly moving halfway down the page but not the ones that looked like they were going to give people seizures. 
    
    Hopefully those will be kept to a minimum.

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    Victoria Lynnposted 8 years ago

    Did someone say "revenue boost"? That's hopeful. I'll take it. And I just have to say that paradigmsearch is hilarious! :-)

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    radhikasreeposted 8 years ago

    My adsense views are nil after the new ad changes. Is this going to affect our adsense earnings?

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    NateB11posted 8 years ago

    I'm seeing improvements on my end. I don't know if it has to do with the new ads or just that we're coming out of the "end/beginning of the year" slump.

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       NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Just wanted to chime in again and say I'm seeing even more improvement on my end.

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          Rik Ravadoposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          Yes me too.  Early days but my CPM appears to be up around 30% !  Well done Hubpages and, in particular, Marina!

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             NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

             Totally. Looks to me like the new ads are working out well from what I can tell.

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                colorfuloneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                I just noticed this thread.
                I did notice a change in ads on hubs recently.
                I have noticed improvements and wondered why.

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    Availiasvisionposted 8 years ago

    I love the look of the new ads. I know that we're not supposed to click them but they are temping, even to me. I like the changed HP is making in de-cluttering our writing and making the ads visually appealing.
    
    One thing that other sites are doing that is really turning me off is the whole slide idea.   You have to keep hitting "next" to get to the next sentence of an article--and a new advertisement pops up every time.  It takes ten times as long to get the information the reader needs. On a smartphone, it is really frustrating.  I can see how it improves advertising revenue, but it is aggravating to the reader.
    
    I'm glad that HP is going against that trend.  I think other readers will get upset and want to go back to a traditional, HP style article. As a reader in this millennium, I want information and I want it fast!
    
    Keep up the good work! I appreciate how HP is always forward thinking and reevaluates their tactics with every bump in the road.

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       Bedbugabscondposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       I hate the slide trend! I will Google something, then I will end on on some slide. I am on a tablet, and the last thing I want to do is go through a bunch of slides to get to the information I came for! I too am glad I am not seeing this here. It would drive me bonkers!

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    healthcareproposted 8 years ago

    I think if the ad among 'related hubs' is related to the topics in 'related hubs', its more likely to get clicks.

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    pumpkincat210posted 8 years ago

    since the ads rolled out my AdSense page views have dropped from the hundreds to single digits. my RPM is higher than normal too and but one cent earned today.  my analytics visits are still decent but lower...not 3 views low though.  I'm still earning money through the ad program though.
    
    is this happening to anyone else? have I configured something wrong. the discrepancy is confusing.

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       sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       There is definitely a discrepancy.  I can't figure out what is going on.  I took screenshots of one days earnings which went really high for me.  RPM fluctuates from very good to poor..  I am being shown reasonable earnings for the day and these just disappear - never to be seen again, really weird.   I wrote to staff but they appeared not to understand what I was trying to explain and gave me a link to the Learning center.   I have kept the screenshots for future reference.

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       NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah, Adsense not looking too good on my end.

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    Rik Ravadoposted 8 years ago

    My Hubpages ad CPM continues to be up around 30% and my earnings around 25%  since the ad changes.  I for one am very happy
    
    PS: For those less than happy with Hubpages why not give Bubblews a try?  Here, what you see on the stats is always what you are paid (not so in Arvind's Bubble Land!).

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       NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       I second that, about the ads and improved revenue. A definite improvement from what I was seeing early January.

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    Act 3posted 8 years ago

    I have also seen an increase in CPM and ad revenue!

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