Google Contributor is looking to be an interesting experiment by Google with them seemingly to continue to push the boundaries on what is deemed possible on the internet. The thing I have noticed about Google Contributor, though, is that many people are either worried or confused about why Google have created it. So, let’s talk about Google Contributor! I have a few things I feel I need to get off my mind about this new experiment.
 
 

Publishers Shouldn’t Be Worried

The first thing to address is that publishers of Adsense do not need to be worried that they will not make as much money due to Google Contributor. Only the websites that support Google Contributor will use it – for the rest of the world, PPC stays the same. The only reason publishers have a sense of worry is because Google Contributor is a very similar service to ad blockers that, like we all know, is pay per click advertising’s worst nightmare.
 
 

A Paid Ad Blocker?

Although I said publishers will not have to worry about Google Contributor, the same cannot be said for AdWords advertisers. The stem of the worry is the fact that websites now have the option in PPC to make money through the advertising program without having to show adverts from advertisers. This means if Google Contributor picks up and is actually popular, more and more websites may start supporting Google Contributor resulting in there being less websites for advertisers to advertise onto.  Already, there are the likes of Mashable and wikiHow that are supporting Google Contributor which will be a disappointment for some advertisers already (since these are websites that advertisers will pay lots of money to get traffic from since the traffic is high quality).
 
 

Are Google Missing The Point Of PPC?

Above all, I am completely complexed why Google have made Google Contributor:

• Pay per click advertising makes over 95% of Google’s earnings. So why would they create an experiment that disables their ads, even for a fee?
• Pay per click advertising is a great form of advertising which is why it is used all over the world by advertisers, publishers and web users. It offers a service to web users that enables them to see content and information that they will find interesting and useful: in some sense, advertising is what makes this world spin round. Therefore, why would Google want to let some web users pay to remove adverts that will be contextual to the web user so that they find them interesting? It just doesn’t make sense.

 
Ultimately, I think Google Contributor will come and go like most of Google’s experiments. Most web users know that Google’s PPC service is good and doesn’t need to be blocked. For this reason, I am hoping that only the low converting traffic choose to participate with Google Contributor – if this is the case, PPC isn’t going to really miss this traffic.