I now advise everyone,whether or not they are AdSense users to use multiple ad sources on all pages.The reasons are many,but the one most will understand is You will make a lot MORE MONEYContextual ads are great for some of your ads,but you also should be going after the other 60% of clickers who do so on impulse when they see something of interst-it need not be about your product or theme;in fact it is better for you if they don't click those ads that your competitors are showing.So wider selection means more clicks=more money.Simple.

When Google first introduced their contextual ad campaign, dubbed AdSense,they revolutionized internet marketing for ever. No longer was it necessary to spend thousands of dollars on advertising, you could get your message in front of those who actually wished to see it for only nickels and dimes per visit

The program was overwhelmingly successful, and like all good things, it soon had it's share of imitators-most very poor imitators to be sure, but there were also some at least partial success stories.

An off-shot of this was that it started a wide held believe out there that we are not smart enough to know what might interest the visitors to our websites,and therefore we should leave choices of advertising selections to some automated program, to use the "spiders",or as they more properly called, web crawlers or web robots.

Or at least that seems to be the message that Google is trying to convince us of when they advocate their AdSense program.

What the spider, simply put, does is scan your website and based on the number and types of links, repeated and emphasized words and phrases, will determine the topic of your site, and from that deduce that anyone viewing your site will wish to view ads on those subjects. That is AdSense greatest strength, and as I hope to show, one of their greatest weakness as well.

So what then is the case, if there is one at all, against this form of advertising?

AdSense claims that their contextual ads are of relevant interest to the readers-resulting in a higher CTR(Click Through Ratio i.e.. the number of clicks received per hundred visitors) for you the Webmaster to enjoy. I agree their technology is far superior to others who claim to do the same, and it works well with websites that are selling a product or pushing a promotion.However,for smaller websites or Blogs, what is needed are ads that the normal guy wants to look at.
This has resulted in a lot of web masters and bloggers spending large amounts of money to learn the so called keyword secrets and then filling their sites with this weeks most popular keyword-thereby destroying the very fabric of their site or blog.They chase what they will never get-those high paying clicks that everyone hears about but no one ever gets, as only sites with huge numbers and other criteria get those. They are not for the average Jane or Joe.

One example of how spiders can hurt you comes to mind. I was writing of a past experience that centered around the construction of a wishing well replica for our backyard. It was to serve as plant holder/bird-feeder.Google's brilliant spiders gave me ads for well drillers and fantasy birdwatching expeditions with a "celebrity"

Now, for the average website or blog-so called contextual ads are not all what they are cracked up to be. You want popular product ads, and ads that are of wide interest, with a sprinkling of more technical or subject ads-which other companies love to give for they bring you both the best return. Perhaps that well drilling ad paid $3.00 a click-I will never know for none of my readers wanted a well drilled for them that week, or were interested in traveling to the rain forest to watch birds. I know that is hard to believe, but non the less it is true.

Conclusion-popular ads and contextual ads are not always the same thing-and seldom are they for the normal web site. The conclusion is inescapable, it is a variety of ads you want-not contextual!

Choose to do your own thinking, be your own spider-go with one of the many Adsense Alternatives out there,in fact go with several.

There are some agencies, such as Oxado that try to be exact imitators of AdSense,using their idea of "spiders" to give you ads directly aimed at your content. For the most part they fail miserably, but when they do get it right their paid per click price makes up for many of their mistakes, and if you have a very strong product or promotion they may well be an alternative to consider.