Google To Take Choice Away From Humans, Er, Advertisers

google-adsense.pngAt Google, the algorithm rules. Don’t question the algorithm. It knows what you want better than you do. That goes for advertisers as well. Case in point: Google is dropping a feature on AdSense that places an “Advertise on this site” link in the ads that Google spreads across the Web.

You’d think: Who better to pick which sites to advertise on than the advertiser himself? A clever marketer comes across a site whose readers he want to reach, clicks the link and buys a run of ads. What could be easier? But no, apparently when an advertiser picks which sites to advertise on, those ads don’t get clicked on as much as ads picked by the AdSense computers. Humans rely too much on messy intuition. Computers measure response rates and tweak accordingly.

Hey, the numbers don’t lie. Is it really any wonder that Google has no use for us humans or our pesky choices. Who needs free will, when you’ve got the algorithm?