kmacleod

Incompetech goes ad-free!

Added 2023-08-03 14:41:48 +0000 UTC

After 20 years, I’ve pulled ads from incompetech.

Adsense has been de-listing page on incompetech week-by-week due to lack of content. There are few pages remaining that are qualified to run ads. I’m not mad at Adsense, it just isn’t working out anymore. We’ve both moved on, and that’s cool.

I spend a lot of effort removing text to make incompetech as simple as possible. My process is not aligned with how Adsense is run - where more text means more value.

I could have generated masses of superfluous content to get back in the system. Imagine a world where even a simple cooking recipe would need to contain a 3,000 word essay about the “the smell of potatoes in September”.

That sounds awful, and in the long run it makes everything worse for everyone.

For much of the last 20 years, ads were actually pretty useful. I found a lot of the products I use today in ads. I particularly liked the text-only ads. Maybe we can bring those back.

——

Q&A

How will you replace the income?

I won’t. Ads have never been my only income.

What was good about text ads?

Motion ads demand attention. They work because of human biology. It is nearly impossible to read an article with motion in your peripheral vision. So, you have to deal with it.

Text ads are an easily-ignored oasis of related content. If you get tired of the content, or need a break… you can glance at a text ad and get a bit of news. It is a feature.