AdSense colors: match or clash?

I've had a couple of people suggest that I match the colors of my AdSense block to the colors on my site. That makes a certain amount of sense. It makes the site a bit easier to look at, and the ads blend with the content, so those accustomed to visually filtering out ads might find themselves reading the ads.

The other school of thought is evidenced here at DP with the hugely ugly orange google ad I'm looking at in the upper right corner of the page. These ads have rotating colors. Sometimes they're blue, pink, orange, lime green, or other bright and ugly colors. The colors clash with the site colors, but it does attract attention.

Anyone want to share any opinions or experiences about which of these strategies works better? I'm thinking the DP people think the ugly ads work better, but I'd be extremely interested if there's and data to back up any opinions.

Cheers,
Gary

 

I'm thinking the DP people are using both.

T

 

Hmm, good point. I forgot about the teeny one line ad between posts. It blends so well I didn't see it.

-Gary

 

Google has a FAQ that discusses this issue. It's on the AdSense page about how to optimize your campaign. There's some good info on that page but a lot of people never read it. They discuss pros & cons of match & clash, among other things.

 

I like blending. It works AND the site still looks professional.

 

Wonder if the match/clash question also depends on the placement of the ad. Here at DP, the clash ad is small-ish, and at the top of the page. I think I'd be a little more annoyed (and think the site was less professional looking) if there was a giant pink ad in the middle of the thread.

Maybe matchy ads are better inline, while clashy ads are better on the perimeter. Thoughts?

 

Like always, the only way to find out what will work on your site is to try it out. try rotating between blend-in ads and clashing ads. See which gets the better CTR. There is no one right answer for this ... experiment, experiment, experiment.

 

i do a bit of both, depends what mood im in lol sometimes i blend sometimes i wont

 

I prefer to use the matching option. The ads just look so much better if it blends in nicely with your site.

 

Don't mean to say obvious things but it all depends on the a) site's color scheme b) how much you want to annoy your users and c) ad placement. I prefer to blend ads personally since I want my users to perceive the site as a useful user-centric service other than purely a money-making venture. For that reason I never even tried using ads that stand out. I'd rather make less $$ in the short run but grow the sites.

If I were to try ugly (I do see them as such) ads though, I'd only make those ad units stand out that are not in your immediate sight (eg below the fold or way at the top right like dp has). Study the Heat Map for ideas. I'd leave the ads in your direct sight blended since the CTR should be decent anyway.

p.s. I wonder if DP ever tried blending the top ads and how the results compared to the current way

 

Well, when you have display ads from Google, it dosen't matter. Get those hits up