More ads than normal
-
I understand that ads are a way of life for free blogs – that’s what pays for them. However, I have seen an increase of late, which was unexpected. My blog shows a box which says “Occasionally, some of your visitors may see an advertisement here, as well as a Privacy & Cookies banner at the bottom of the page. You can hide ads completely by upgrading to one of our paid plans.” However, the post I am looking at has four identical adverts not in that box at the end, but throughout the text and another ad underneath the banner at the top of my blog. Is this expected or has something gone awry?
The post in question is this one: https://mqgem.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/blocked_by_chlauth_why/
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
Actually it’s worse than that – it appears to most blog posts. Here’s another example. There is more real estate given to (identical) adverts than there is given to the content of the blog post.
How to activity trace the MO71 application
This has surely got to be something gone wrong.
-
Hi there,
That ad placement is normal. Although we usually place the ads at the bottom of posts, in a sidebar, or as a banner, on some themes, an inline ad might be shown in the post, well below the first or second paragraph, or scattered throughout a blog post.
I know this might be annoying, but this is how ad placement works on free sites. Although you can switch to a different theme, I recommend upgrading to one of our plans. The Personal plan is an excellent choice for your blog. In addition to removing the ads, you’ll get more storage space (6 GB) and access to our email support. Plus, if you go for an annual plan, you’ll get a free domain (for the first year).
If you’re interested, you can quickly upgrade below.
Let me know if you have any other questions, and I’ll be happy to help.
-
My first sentence did acknowledge that ads are a part of free blogging life, but it was the sudden increase and excessive quantity that I was questioning. Can you confirm whether WordPress is now placing 4 times as many ads as before? Including one in the blog banner?!
Also, why do I NOT see an ad in the “sometimes there will be ads here” box and yet I see ads all over the rest of the post?
If these ads were from WordPress, would they show up in the webpage source. I’ve been investigating while waiting for a response on here, and since I can’t see the ads in the source, I’m wondering whether I might have picked up some adware.
Do you see large numbers of ads on the links I provided?
-
The cookies & consent banner appears on all free sites and also on sites after upgrading, if you add it. (Some site owners may display that banner in order to address certain Privacy concerns.) On free sites you’ll also see a banner at the top of the browser window on the front end saying you can remove ads by upgrading. On the visitors side, that same banner says something like sign up for WordPress.com.
As far as seeing ads on the links you provided, I did see a number of them on your first link in a private window once I turned off Firefox’s built-in tracker. And ads *between comments* is new to me. When I clicked on your second link, I didn’t see ads this time, but I was not logged in in either case.
Is this unusual? No.
As @fstat mentioned the only way to remove these ads is to upgrade to a paid plan.
-
They need to share the revenue with us. I know they support the site, but we are creating content. They should give us a percentage.
-
@markgelbart while ads help a bit, most of the financial support for free sites comes from paid plans. If you’re interested in ad revenue, though, you can earn from WordAds on the Premium Plan.
-
I am sorry to labour the point but please can someone confirm that it is expected to see four times as many ads this week as last week. Please confirm that WordPress has changed something to cause this? Also, why are they putting in the same ad four times? That makes no sense!
-
Why should I pay WordPress when I am the one creating content for them? The ads on my site alone are probably generating thousands of dollars a year, and I am getting nothing. WordPress should be paying me. WordPress should at least give us a percentage of the revenue they get from ads on our blogs.
-
Hi @markgelbart – thank you for your contribution, however you are not answering my question. If you want to have a conversation with WordPress about how to get revenue from ads, please open your own thread to discuss the topic. This thread is about the recent change to the number of adverts shown. It’s quadrupled, and that doesn’t feel correct. If you have any feedback on that subject, I’m all ears.
Hi @talavernon – thanks for the heads up – yup – that’s exactly the same as what I’m seeing. OK. So not alone at least. Now let’s hope for a WordPress response about whether it is intentional.
-
-
Hi, same problem here. The home page is virtually unreadable https://wardsendcemetery.wordpress.com/
-
Same problem here! I hope they solve this issue, because this avalanche of ads has made our blogs unreadable. I’m seriously considering leaving WordPress and moving to another platform. Moreover, I’m not willing to upgrade to a paid account, as it is the content of our blogs, which we produce for free, that allows WordPress to make money with ads.
-
My response is directly tied to your question. If you can’t understand how, you are just not very bright.
-
Hi @markgelbart – I do apologise. I read your answer as being about advert revenue and my question was about the increase in the number of adverts seen. Could you try rephrasing your answer so that I can understand what it was you wanted to say. I clearly did not understand it the first time. Thank you for bearing with me.
-
Exactly the same problem on my blog, starting today. I thought it was malware but have run a scan and it has not solved the problem. My blog posts are so full of ads some are almost unreadable. Please solve this quickly WordPress.
-
@fstat @supernovia et al – Before the forum redesign, there was a small reminder at the bottom of the posting box that went something like this, “We love positive and productive discussions, so please keep comments on the topics at hand and not on other members of the community. Thanks!” Perhaps we should consider reinstating that?
@markgelbart while your topic may be tied to this question, it is not the subject of this thread, which is the increase in the number of ads appearing on free websites. (Sorry, @moraghughson I stand corrected!) If you’re seeking redress to your comments concerning revenue sharing, you’re welcome to create your own post.
-
Before the forum redesign, there was a small reminder at the bottom of the posting box that went something like this, “We love positive and productive discussions, so please keep comments on the topics at hand and not on other members of the community. Thanks!” Perhaps we should consider reinstating that?
I’d like that, too @justjennifer. Thanks for the suggestion.
And @markgelbart, I would also recommend starting your own thread so we can look at your site and make a recommendation without taking @moraghughson’s request off track. Thanks!
@moraghughson, we’ll let you know when we’ve got an update on this. Thanks!
-
OK. The ads team was able to confirm they are currently iterating on the way ads display. You may see more ads than usual. If they are breaking the layout of your site, please let us know, and get a screenshot and page link where you had the issue, if possible. You can upload it to https://wordpress.com/media and update us here with a link to the page where you saw that.
You’re also welcome to share feedback. Please leave out any abusive language or attacks; everyone’s doing their best. Thanks for understanding!
-
Hi @supernovia – thanks for the update.
Main feedback is that there were simply too many ads. As numerous people have now said, it was making the blog posts unreadable – not from a formatting perspective, but from a scrolling past the ads to get to the text, and spotting where the actual blog post text even is in among the ads. When the total screen real estate used by the ads is greater than the total screen real estate used by the blog post content, the balance is clearly wrong. Additionally, having the same ad four times in row looks v. bad too.
Ads in the banner area, the same size as the banner picture, is also poor UI design because it means that on tablet screens, none of the blog post, not even the title, is visible until you scroll.
If, as you have said earlier, ad revenue isn’t actually what pays for free blogs, but instead it is paid subscriptions that cover the free blogs, then there doesn’t seem any need to quadruple the number of ads shown on the free blogs.
Thankfully in the mean time they seem to have iterated away from this pattern and gone back to the normal ad positioned in the place where you expect it to be. I think that would be my other feedback. When creating a blog post, and previewing it before it is published, you KNOW where the ad is going to be placed because of that box. If you want us to have more ads, you need to show us where they are going to be placed with another one of those boxes. Perhaps give us control on where to put the box, although I suspect most people would be happy with them at the end.
Also, is there any data to suggest that twice the ads reaps twice the ad revenue, or does it ultimately just reap less eyeballs?
- The topic ‘More ads than normal’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 