I am spotting new Google Adsense units on our site and few other blogs. A bordered 300×250 px ad unit which has multiple links and a Google search box with no signs of Ads by Google!
The ad has 8 links in total, which will generate better income if each link is paying on a pay-per-click basis. These links are labeled with a title of “Popular Hobbies in India”. So it is definitely geo-targeted to my country and Popular Hobbies is a good general term to get everyone interested.
Note that all links start with “How to” article, a surefire headline idea that works and is often advocated by copywriters, as it signifies solid and useful information, which encourages the reader to click the link to read more about the topic.
Below it is a big Google Search box, which encourages users to search more if they do not like the suggested links. The Google logo is also branded “Google India”, further proof of geo-targeting to the visitors interests. The ad has a border to avoid any confusion with the site content and club all the ad content together.
So where do all these results click to? To a series of Google search results for the terms which provides useful information, and is loaded with more Adsense ads! Is this an ad for Google Search?
Maybe they are testing the new ad unit which resembles Google gadget ads or interactive widget ads which were noticed earlier. Google likes to keep testing new ad units like ads with favicons, no titles, titles in italics and no Ads by Google and interactive keywords, 2×2 units, multiple fonts etc. Do you like this ad unit idea?