Google Adsense has recently introduced a nice new feature for adsense ads – expandable ads! Pretty nice feature to have as it is really non intrusive, but its really going to be something to look forward to for a while for us Malaysian bloggers since it is available only for North American and European publishers. Isn’t it weird that Google actually makes it available for publishers based on their location rather than the reader’s location? Something wrong with the marketing team perhaps.

What are these expandable ads?

Here’s what Google has to say:

Expandable ads will be served as third-party ads and will be created by Google-certified rich media vendors for the top display advertisers in our network. And like other Google ads, you’ll earn based on whether the expandable ads on your site are priced on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) basis. Keep in mind that you’ll generate earnings from CPC expandable ads when a user visits the advertiser’s landing page, and not when a user simply clicks to expand the ad.

Yes that’s right – the user will have to click on the expanded ad and a simple mouse over will not be enough. I’m guessing that this is to prevent an accidental mouse over. So your reader will have to click on the expanded ad and reach the advertiser’s landing page pretty much like all other adsense ad formats. I’m guessing that there will be no CPM ads with the expandable ads and only offer CPC ads for now.

How to enable expandable ads on your site?

Like I mentioned, as long as you are located in North America or Europe and you publish in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish you will be eligible. All you need to do is to enable image ads on your website – simple!

Let’s hope that these expandable ads soon make their way to Asia and more importantly for us – Malaysia. After all, it certainly looks like a nice feature for adsense without obstructing the reader’s concentration. It does remind me of a certain Kontera though.

Update!

The adsense team has verified that the information that was initially posted was incorrect. The ads are available to selected advertisers in the US who can then decide their target locations. Here is the comment from the adsense team:

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the comments so far. I just wanted to let you know that some of the information around how to display expandable ads was incorrect, and so we’ve just updated the post for accuracy. Expandable ads are available to a limited number of U.S. advertisers, who can then select the sites they’d like to target – so your location as a publisher won’t limit your eligibility. I apologize for the miscommunication — please feel free to continue leaving your feedback about this launch.

-Arlene

That probably means everyone as a publisher is eligible now – Yay!

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