HP Has Gone to the Dark Side

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   paradigmsearchposted 6 years ago

   Big, fat banner ads across the top of the articles. Another big, fat ad also above the fold at right. I just noticed this. I have no idea how long they have been doing it. I do know that Google hates this practice and will sooner or later open a big can of wupass. This is assuming they haven't already.
   
   I must say, it certainly seems to be working as far as CPM is concerned.

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      ziyenaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Hmmm ... I havent noticed anything on my articles, but when I checked one of your featured articles ... sure enough ... banner ad across the top of your article.  This was an article niched with Axle Addict.  I'm wondering if this is just a trial thing that HP is running with a few niches or using certain hubbers based on large audience viewership???  Curious

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         paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Who knows what nefarious activities HP is up to these days?

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            ziyenaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            lol

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Many of my hubs are on Axle Addict.  I just checked a few of them and saw nothing like this.

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            lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Two or three days ago I did a test on what referral traffic from within the niche site looks like on Google Analytics to respond to shesabutterfly's post. This is when I went incognito and had no ad block on. I saw all the ads that PD described in the original post.

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               TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

               I don't use ad blocks.  I simply looked at a few of my hubs.  If there were banners and such, I didn't see them.  Maybe they don't show up if you are logged in, although every other ad shows...so I was basing my statement only on what I did.
               
               I just signed out and looked again.  This time at two different articles on AxleAddict.  One did have a banner at the top, the other did not.  However, it does seem like there are a lot more ads on the side than normal.
               
               I am wondering if it is Maven that is doing this, as HP no longer owns the company.  If that's the case, Paul might want to advise them that if they keep this up, our rankings could all go down the toilet...and they're pretty far down the toilet already due to the recent coding glitch.
               
               Actually, the one banner I saw was tastefully done and in perfect keeping with my topic, but I fear that spamming like this could kill us off.

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                  paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Yep. The top-of-page banner ad is intermittent; nefarious, deceptive, devious HP coding indeed! 2019 will be an interesting year. I just hope I don't have to break out one of my disaster-memes.

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                  lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  The ad penalty is already in the Google algorithm so the effects if any are already hitting us. I wouldn't worry too much about a further drop due to these ads, unless Google comes out with a new update that targets ads more than the previous updates.

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                     Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     Are these the big, ugly ads they put usually right above a picture on our article? I find them distracting there.

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                        lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                        I've seen a big ad above our title.

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                           Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                           That's even worse. It's distracting to the page layout.

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      Khal Rasdamposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      The size and placement of the fat banner ads are some of the best performing google banner ads. HP, give some those fat ads on my articles.

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         paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         They do seem to be good performers. We just got to somehow distract Google from noticing.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 6 years ago

   I have no complaints about earnings from ads and views - need something to make up for the decline in Amazon revenue, which used to be substantial!

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      paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I have no complaints about earnings, but my views hit a new ytd low yesterday. I blamed it on the holiday, but who knows? For me, January will tell the tale.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I'll admit that I was surprised that ads are once again appearing within the text. I thought that those days were gone. But HP has to make its advertising money, so I rely on them to know what they are doing.
         
         I do miss the Xmas windfall I got from Amazon earnings in November and December, but earnings from Hub Ads are at least more consistent.

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 6 years ago

   I'm getting paid more this month than I ever have before. Sometimes the pop up ads, and other extremely annoying ads are there for having inadvertently downloaded some adware.

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      paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Have you tried the malwarebytes anti-virus program? The thing even flags and exterminates Amazon buttons. Don't know if the free version is available anymore, but there's the 14-day free premium trial version. It might convert to the lesser, free version after 14 days, don't know. They're reputable and I've used them for years. https://www.malwarebytes.com/

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         Wesman Todd Shawposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I'm good right now. I'm pretty poor, so I just run free software. I'm using 'super anti-spyware,' which sounds cheesy, but is a very good free program. They've a paid program which is surely better. 
         
         Sometimes with the free stuff you lag behind a month on getting annoying junk removed.

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            lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah, you don't need paid stuff. There are a lot of opensource and free options out there. I love open source stuff myself.

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