I hate that AdSense only reports on what channels have had activity, not on the actual ads. It’s ridiculous, just show me which ads were seen and clicked. Instead I end up creating one channel per ad, which is just a pain in the ass, and then things still don’t ad up. For instance it will show 100 ads have been clicked but only 99 clicks have happened on any available channel. So where did the other click come from?

The way these ads are set up just begs for people to stop using them. I think of them as what I use as an experiment or when I can’t think of anything else. We’ll see what happens.

I’ve come up with the four main kinds of AdSense ads:

1. The Honest Guy Ad

   These are purchase by small companies who have a good product that they actually want people to click on and buy. When Google places these ads on your site and the right reader comes along, it’s good very everyone involved, and you get a click. This almost never happens because these people don’t have enough money to buy enough ads to succeed.

2. The Spam Ad

   This is the most common type of ad. When you start out, you get almost all spam ads. Generally, while these ads are trying to get clicks, which is good, they don’t because they’re lame. Additionally they make your site look bad. These ads are only good for Google.

3. The Impression Ad

   Bigger companies with large budgets buy these. For instance, a dog food brand would use these. These ads aren’t attempting to get clicks, which is bad. They just want to look pretty and use your website to build brand recognition. If you have a blog about pets, for instance, almost all of your ads will impression ads. These ads are only good for Google and the advertiser.

4. The Exploitation Ad

   These are not only the worst kind of ad, they are just plain bad. These are the ads by people who believe the opposite of you, who buy ads on certain key words you use, to insert themselves in the eyes of their opposition. These are basically impression ads. These only make money for Google. But they give the advertiser what they want, visibility. Ann Coulter loves to have her picture on gay rights blogs, because she’s pure evil, and AdSense is her vehicle.