Some food for thought
In 2000, Google launched AdWords, changing the entire landscape of internet advertising. AdWords is now Google’s main source of revenue, earning over $16 billion for Google last year.
AdWords refers to the contextual text ads which now populate many sites on the internet. Three short lines of text related to the content on the page they’re displayed on. They include ads on the websites of third-parties as well as those that appear next to your search results in Google.
Users and web developers alike love them because they mean less clutter and less annoying flashy things on the web.
But here’s the thing: who actually clicks on them?
I’ll occasionally click on one that appears next to my search results, because I’m actually looking for something. But I think I can pretty safely say I’ve never clicked on one of these ads outside of a Google search results page. And I’m not alone here, everyone I’ve spoken to has said the same thing.
So who is clicking on these ads and where is Google getting all its money from?
