• Google Blogoscoped, Thursday, November 15, 2007 2:30 PM

Just in time for the holiday search frenzy, Google has taken a big step toward reducing invalid clicks in its content network. The search giant has tightened up the "clickable" area in AdSense text ads, limiting cost-generating clicks to just the headline and URL string. Previously, users could click on the entire rectangle of white space around an ad.

Philipp Lenssen's screenshots illustrate how the available click area has been greatly reduced, making it harder for users to unknowingly click on ads, and making it harder for "made for AdSense" link farms, SPAM sites and bots to cost advertisers money.

The click area reduction may cause a slight dip in revenue for AdSense publishers (and possibly, for Google itself), but some Webmasters say that the change will drive more conversions (as opposed to clicks) and be more beneficial in the long run.

A scan of the comments stream reveals that Google actually expanded the AdSense click area in the past, but has seemingly received so much flack from advertisers over invalid clicks that it spurred a reduction. The community also debates whether the search giant was motivated by good will and common sense, or by the desire to stamp down some of the heat coming from critics like Click Forensics over the shoddy policing of the content network.

Read the whole story at Google Blogoscoped »