The Chitika Blog
Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic…
Up until now, Chitika ads were only able to cater to your search traffic with
Chitika | Premium. I am now happy to introduce Chitika | Select ads, which will display to more than just your search traffic.
This upgrade to Premium ads on will allow Chitika ads to reach more visitors and directly increase your Chitika ad revenue. We estimate Select ads could give publishers a 5 – 10% revenue increase on top of Premium ads alone.
How do Chitika | Select ads work?
Using our click-prediction technology, Chitika | Select ads will display only when there is a higher chance the ad will be clicked. The percentage of non-search traffic that will see the Select ads will vary from site to site.
FAQ’s
Can I Still Use Chitika | Select With Google AdSense?
Yes! Just like the Chitika | Premium ads you can use the new Chitika | Select ads and AdSense together on the same page.
How Can I Upgrade My Chitika | Premium Ads?
You don’t need to, it will happen automatically Monday, March 8th 2010.
Are Chitika | Select Ads PPC (Pay-Per-Click)?
Chitika | Select will always show the highest-paying ads possible. This will include PPC ads as well as CPM image/banner ads (which pay per impression, whether a user clicks or not).
Will Chitika | Select Ads look different than Chitika | Premium?
Sometimes. Similar to how Google shows image/banner ads if they determine that it is the highest paying ad for a certain user visiting the site, we will do the same. Some of your users will see ads with the Chitika | Premium format and others will see ads that look different but will pay more.
If you would rather have your Chitika ads continue to ONLY show to your search traffic, you can learn more about the opt-out option for Chitika | Select in our knowledgebase. *However by doing so, you will miss out on a potential revenue boost!
What do you think of our new Select ads? Please comment below.
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Is this what has been happening to my site the last few days?
If it is I will be the plugin deactivated. I signed up with Chitika to show adds only to search traffic not to every visitor…Sorry guys, wrong move for me. I really liked the original concept…Another ad service…Not.
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Would there be any way to tell performance difference between search engine traffic (as in old Premium) and non-search engine (the new ads that would normally not show)? I would need to know if I should opt out of Select because I’m already using the non-search engine traffic to show alternative ads via the ch_alternate_ad_url =”" tag. I would need to have a way to know if the alternative ads perform better or worse than the additional Chitika ads.
What solution do you guys have to this end?
Thanks!
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Love the idea. I guess Chitika (Premium or Select) are still only shown for users with IP addresses in the US and Canada?
Have I understood correctly that all existing Premium ad-units will be converted to Select, unless we opt out? Is there any time limit on this opting out?
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:00 pm
I had been looking forward to this! This is really a win win situation for both Chitika and publishers. We are given more flexibility in our designs and placement and of course views.
Too much of the market share has been taken by Adsense and Adbrite, so this is a great way for Chitika to step into the market.
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I’m liking the sound of this. Can’t wait to see how things turnout come March 8th! What about Linx though? I received an email week back that said Linx will be going through changes, sense then i’ve had to remove Linx because of 0 revenue.
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pm
I think this is good, will be monitoring to see how much it will affect my earnings. :D Thank you.
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Well done,Chitika…
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:07 pm
This is very exciting. I might create a post about this on my blog to try boosting my affiliate revenue and I’m sure this is something advantageous to everyone. Good job on this improvement!
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:37 pm
WOW.. that’s a really good thing. I have been wishing for this quite long. 5-10% revenue increase without doing anything from my side sounds quite awesome :)
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Not cool to turn it on by default.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Cool news, any separate code for Chitika select ?, or
March 4th, 2010 at 12:01 am
Hmmm – I’ve only just seen this within a few minutes so this is very first impression thoughts but while I see some benefits of it I’m not feeling totally positive.
1. I think switching it on by default is going to cause some grief with some. I know for me that I only run premium ads (aggressive placement and large) because they show to search traffic. If they suddenly started showing to my regular readers there would be big issues and pushback from the community as suddenly the content that they see will be pushed down the page. I don’t mind that it’s pushed down with search traffic but wouldn’t want it for regular readers.
2. Is there a way to allow it for some ad units and not others? For example – I wouldn’t want to have these ads appear in aggressive/above the fold spots to regular readers – but wouldnt mind so much lower on the page.
3. What sort of criteria are you using to determine if you should show the ads? If you could give more details on who will see them and who wouldn’t it might be helpful (more info than just whether they might make money)?
4. When you say that you might show other types of ads – this is another one that I’m not sure I like. For example if you start showing banner ads – these could be ads for competitors – they could also leave our sites quite cluttered with banner ads – I run your ads because I know the kinds of ads you show and they fit with the type of thing I want to show readers in certain parts of the site. For example – I already show banner ads on my site – I don’t really want more of them but your normal premium type ads are different enough.
Perhaps you need to let publishers choose what type of ads that will be shown (like AdSense allows us to choose ‘image or text or both’.
5. What will you be using to determine what ads will show? Your premium ads look at the search terms used to arrive on the site – as a result you get really relevant results. If these are being shown to non search traffic how are you determining what to show? Will the ads shown be tied to the content on the page…. or are you working out what to show them based upon other things (for example their previous surfing?) I only ask this because I’m not sure I want my site showing a whole heap of ads that are not particularly relevant to my topic.
Sorry to be so negative but while the ‘more impressions/more revenue’ thing sounds great, it seems a little ‘more fuzzy’ in a number of ways and as someone who is interested in more than just revenue (I’m interested in reader loyalty, useability, design etc) I’m not sure about this new approach and until there’s more information will be switching this new feature off unfortunately.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:11 am
I am in complete agreement with Darren. If this takes place, I will remove Chitika ads from my site.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:14 am
What is the procedure if we don’t want to work with the Chitika Select?
I would like to keep Chitika running on only search traffic. I do NOT want to be automatically upgraded.
Please advise!
Thanks!
Erin Chase
http://www.5dollardinners.com
March 4th, 2010 at 12:16 am
I would like to continue to work with Chitika, but only on search traffic.
What is the procedure to keep working under the “old” search traffic only system?
If that is not an option, then I’ll drop the ads.
Would hate for others to do the same…think you should give this as an “option”…not an automatic upgrade.
Thanks!
Erin Chase
5dollardinners.com
March 4th, 2010 at 12:26 am
this is so awesome!!! I’m so excited to see this!! :)
March 4th, 2010 at 1:04 am
[...] Read Chitika Select Ads FAQ’s AKPC_IDS += "326,";Popularity: 1% [?]Related Posts :Google Transliteration Input Method (IME) ConfigurationHow to Repair Your Crashed wp_posts Table ?92.7 BIG FM goes Mobile, Targets Global MarketsTwitter said to be profitable after making $25 mn search dealsBaidu plans online Video SiteBy Blogsdna Tags: Chitika, Chitika Ad Network, Chitika Ad Revenue Increasing, Chitika Features, Chitika Premium, Chitika Publishers, Chitika Select Ads, Chitika Tips, High Revenue Using Chitika, Increase Chitika Revenue, More Revenue from Chitika, Search Traffic Ads [...]
March 4th, 2010 at 1:44 am
is this a new improvement after shutting down the linx ads?
is linx will shut down for good?
actually I prefer linx than premium ads, because it never bother my ctr for other ads.
March 4th, 2010 at 4:07 am
I totally agree with Darren. Those are very important questions that everyone needs to know. I don’t see any replys from Chitika.
And – What about the traffic outside US and Canada? My assigned account manager told me about 2 weeks ago that Chitika will be open to european market too. Is this the case or we have to wait for future developments?
To Your Success,
Juri
3stepAds.com
March 4th, 2010 at 4:31 am
Can I be assured that only family-friendly ads are displayed?
March 4th, 2010 at 4:34 am
You should provide an option for people to implement a different code if they want to show ads to more than just search traffic. For me, I would like to show Chitika ads only to search traffic on a couple sites while I wish I had the option to show it to all visitors (yes, all visitors not just search traffic) on few of the others.
There are sites that get a lot of repeated traffic and Chitika, unlike Adsense, had the advantage of not exposing ads to that segment of the traffic, an aspect the site owners loved.
Site owners should have the option to choose which type of ad they would like to show.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Could you ad to your FAQ if there’s a way to opt out? I can’t find anywhere the option and I am only interested in running chitika to search engine traffic not my regular readers.
Mercedes
March 4th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Hey everyone – excellent questions and feedback. Let me try to address as much as I can here.
It seems like the biggest concern that many of you have is: I don’t want to show to my regular readers – I ONLY want to show Chitika ads to search traffic!
This is no problem – you can opt-out by logging in to your Chitika Account and clicking on the “My Account” tab. The opt-out for this service is at the bottom. Once you do this, there will be no changes to the way Chitika ads function on your site.
Now some specifics:
@Scripster – great point. We will offer reporting options to allow you to see the difference in performance of search vs. non-search Select. We will try to get this in on day 1 but I can’t make any promises on a timeline.
@Josiah – Linx is completely separate. We hope to have Linx back and stronger than ever soon. Hit me up at ryan@chitika.com for more info.
@Darren – A number of great points here – let me touch the bigger ones:
2.) We will be implementing this immediately so that you can use Select in certain areas and not in others.
3 & 5.) We determine when (and when NOT to) show an ad by using our new click-prediction technology. What is click-prediction technology, you ask? We have been conducting HUGE amounts of research over the past 1 year which allows a tremendous amount of insight into how users interact with ads. For example, did you know that IE users are twice as likely to click on an ad as FireFox users? These types of statistical studies are the core of this new predictive technology.
This type of analysis is common in all other industries such as insurance, credit cards, etc., and now Chitika is bringing that to online advertising.
4.) “Other types of ads” is specifically referring to image/banner ads (just like AdSense’s Image Ads). We will show these in addition to the current style of Chitika ads. NOTE: Just like AdSense, you can opt-out of this, and it is separate from the Select opt-out. You can choose to take advantage of Select, but still opt-out of image ads. You can do all of this from the “My Account” tab in your Chitika account.
ALSO – you should all know that we will be phasing this in slowly – do not expect to see a barrage of new ads and ad types first thing on Monday.
Please keep the questions and comments coming – we really appreciate the feedback!
March 4th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
I agree with Darren’s comments. And while its nice there is an “opt-out” option, turning this on by default is a violation of the trust of your publishers! Those using Premium did so with the knowledge that the ads would ONLY be shown to search traffic. That’s what we signed up for. To suddenly change the *default* like this is highly unethical. The new Select feature is a good one, but it should be “opt-in” only.
March 4th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Why is this an opt-out instead of an opt-in?
Simply due to user feedback. Ever since we launched Chitika | Premium 2 years ago, 90% of the publisher feedback has been that you love how we monetize search traffic, but you want to also earn money from the rest of your traffic too. Since the vast majority of you want to be able to do this, we are automatically turning it on.
For publishers who DO NOT want this new functionality, it is very easy to opt-out. Just login to your Chitika account and go to the “My Account” tab. The opt-out is at the bottom of the page.
March 4th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
thanks for answering the questions.
Its not for me but I’m sure many will find it of benefit.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 5th, 2010 at 1:12 am
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 5th, 2010 at 1:51 am
Great news, I need to put it on my blog again now
March 5th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
@Darren – no problem. I actually went into more depth on some of these questions and more in this new post: http://chitika.com/blog/2010/03/04/chitika-select-your-questions-answered/
March 5th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 5th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
[...] 2 Tweets Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive 2 Tweets Avoid Social Media Missteps by Researching Your Audience – ClickZ [...]
March 5th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 6th, 2010 at 1:58 am
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 6th, 2010 at 4:32 am
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 6th, 2010 at 9:33 am
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 6th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Finally Chitika has decided to allow advertisement from non-search engine traffic. I hope in the near future they also go beyond this and include ads to display from traffic other than US/Canada.
March 7th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Awesome. Have been waiting for this.
March 8th, 2010 at 3:17 am
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 8th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
There are so many questions here that I do not have to put in another one. I am a Chitika publisher and I provided my readers with very good impression about your services as I am against cluttering a website with ads. This move may or may not be an interesting option, but I would really love to see your response to all questions made here specially that of Darren. They are all pertinent to and everybody else. Either than that, keep up the good work. I am sure that “select” will be a good addition to the network, and maybe will just need a little more trimming. To everyone’s success
March 10th, 2010 at 3:20 am
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 10th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Hey all, we popped up a couple of videos answering the more frequent questions… more videos to come. They’re all here:
http://chitika.com/publishers/videos/
Cheesy, and one featuring me severely jetlagged and fresh off a redeye from California, but hopefully they’re informative.
Any feedback on the vids is highly appreciated.
March 17th, 2010 at 9:27 am
With that in mind, I’ll watch to see what happens to my turnover during the next quarter.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
[...] Chitika Ads: Going Beyond Search Traffic… – The Chitika Blog Archive [...]
March 24th, 2010 at 9:31 am
[...] missed opportunities and not just revenue. Feel free to follow the discussion on the official Chitika Blog's Chitika Select [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
While a lot of publishers are concerned with ads showing to non-search engine traffic, I have yet to experience a surge in traffic/CTR for this new feature.
Is it fully in effect?
April 20th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
[...] Chitikalaunched Select ads at the beginning of last month, Gao along with the remaining Chitika publisher network relied on [...]
April 21st, 2010 at 1:05 pm
[...] Chitika launched Select ads at the beginning of last month, Gao along with the remaining Chitika publisher network relied on [...]
April 26th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Yes it is good information but I also need some info about free marketing sites please let us know
April 26th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Like to read your nice blog, can you please provide some good information about good internet marketing sites we could use
July 15th, 2010 at 12:56 am
I had been looking forward to this! This is really a win win situation for both Chitika and publishers. We are given more flexibility in our designs and placement and of course views.
Too much of the market share has been taken by Adsense and Adbrite, so this is a great way for Chitika to step into the market.
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:37 am
Well nice chitika…I want read all about chitika…Because i want make a blog of adsense alternative…Chitika is one in best alternative…thanks chitika
August 3rd, 2010 at 2:18 am
My new blog set up and I think it can not join Chitika. I’ll try harder to develop my blog. Hope someday my blog will be accepted