UPDATE: It has come to my attention that this post looks rather weird if you’re viewing it through a feedreader. So don’t. Click through, I tell you!
To start, I’d like a show of hands. Who uses Gmail? I hope everyone in the room has their hand up at the moment, because Gmail is one of my favourite things in all the world. It has its problems, it’s had is security flaws, but it has always treated me very well. Believe me: I’ve been around the block when it comes to email providers. I was a long-time user of Yahoo! and I was also one of Yahoo! Mail’s more loyal fans. Y! Mail just wouldn’t do all the things I wanted it to, and its constant badgering that I should “upgrade” to its newer version drove me nuts. The newer version also made me want to put a fork through my face. About two years ago, I beat out all the other Jane Coplands and snapped up a desirable Gmail address. It was heavenly.
However, there is always a little price to pay for lovely free things, and Adsense is that price when it comes to Gmail. Targeted Adsense is always a source of amusement, but it’s even more amusing when it thinks its targeting your personal emails.
I was going to just post screen shots of the ads that have made me laugh, but this would be far more interesting as an interactive game. There are no prizes for doing well… I’d promise to send you an SEO Chicks tee-shirt but I have no control over such things and I don’t want to get in to trouble with Lisa.
Honestly, I know you come here to learn. But you can learn all you like next week at SMX West, or by reading the recaps. Thus, I present to you, Jane’s Amusing Gmail Adsense Game.
There is no question associated with this advertisement. I believe it speaks for itself.
Question 5:
Question 6:
Question 7:
Question 8:
In all seriousness, you sometimes cringe when you think about the content with which your ads might be associated.
However, that was fun, wasn’t it? You have no idea how long it took me to make those polls not mess up the pictures’ alignment, so please look grateful. Have a nice Sunday and see some of you next week in Santa Clara!
I got served up an ad in gmail the other day that I thought was shady. It was a blue link that said inbox(1) and in my spastic, frantic clicking I managed to click on it thinking it was a gmail notification. .
Matt, in your spastic, frantic clicking, I’m surprised you don’t click on many things you shouldn’t. I remember that clicking. It went on from 9am to 6pm every_day
Got to love the spicy spam ‘kabobs’ ad that comes up when you empty your spam folder. The online equivalent of the Golf Sale sign.
Also, I got an email from a friend this morning – he’d got into a streetfight at the weekend, and his assailant ran off before he could catch him. The first two ads served up by Gmail were:
Know The Secret To Men?
Learn The Proven Secrets To Getting A Man Hooked For Good.
Refrigerated Vans
Refrigerated Vans & Freezer Vans At Great Prices!
Unfortunately, I believe that email was about how pretty CK thinks CK is
Things I’ve said have become someone’s Twitter update twice now. I was ashamed; my mother taught me not to be a twit.
I don’t like “lunatic” and “Julie Joyce” being on the same page. It’s very misleading. People might make assumptions…
I laughed a lot when I saw those appear together. It’s like Google knows you or something
And I promise that none of this is ’shopped, apart from being made to fit the page!
I wish there was an emoticon for me making a highly indignant face…Google is in my head!
Great… now everyone’s gonna know that I think David Mihm is hot.
Wow, so Kid Disco thinks David Mihm is hot? That’s so sweet!!
The “ck is pretty” campaign cracked me up.
I got served up an ad in gmail the other day that I thought was shady. It was a blue link that said inbox(1) and in my spastic, frantic clicking I managed to click on it thinking it was a gmail notification. .
Matt, in your spastic, frantic clicking, I’m surprised you don’t click on many things you shouldn’t. I remember that clicking. It went on from 9am to 6pm every_day
Wow .. thanks for taking the time to write this up. Pretty interesting to me.
Got to love the spicy spam ‘kabobs’ ad that comes up when you empty your spam folder. The online equivalent of the Golf Sale sign.
Also, I got an email from a friend this morning – he’d got into a streetfight at the weekend, and his assailant ran off before he could catch him. The first two ads served up by Gmail were:
Know The Secret To Men?
Learn The Proven Secrets To Getting A Man Hooked For Good.
Refrigerated Vans
Refrigerated Vans & Freezer Vans At Great Prices!
The juxtaposition of those ads is startlingly awesome.
So when do we get the answers? I want to know for sure whether CK thinks David’s hot (I’m pretty sure I know, but just want reassuring…
@Ciaran: I am pretty sure that he said that yes, he does, on Twitter.
Unfortunately, I believe that email was about how pretty CK thinks CK is
Things I’ve said have become someone’s Twitter update twice now. I was ashamed; my mother taught me not to be a twit.