Many online publishers use Google AdSense to monetize their content by automatically placing small text ads corresponding to keywords that appear on a page. Occasionally AdSense delivers unfortunate results when ads are inappropriate to the news.
Yesterday in Spain, the ombudsman of El País wrote of an online reader’s complaint concerning the Google ads that ran alongside an article on immigrant trafficking, “The jump from the boat to the pirogue.” This story reported how traffickers are increasing the size and power of their boats in order to earn more money. Unfortunately, the adjacent Google ads touted mortgages for immigrants, European boat rentals and services for canoeists.
Online audiences are accustomed to the irony sometimes caused by automatic ad delivery — but this case was especially annoying.
The ombudsman explained that Google’s system for gauging news content and matching ads is not as good as its search results. He called for improvements to Google’s technology to avoid these embarrassing situations.
