DMNews has the scoop that the Google AdSense program is testing topic targeting in order to make the ads more effective for advertisers and publishers.

AdSense is testing a program with a few publishers, letting them send more “signals” about their Web site, to better tailor ads. Though AdSense already uses signals based on the content of Web sites, such as headlines and font sizes, to generate ads, this would let advertisers tailor ads based on their users’ demographics and other signals, which are yet to be determined.

This is, partly, topic specific information. I would tell them I had a coffee blog for Vancouver Coffee - easy enough. For this or for Blogaholics, I might want to relay more pertinent information such as demographics. Ads for this site revolve around starting up blogs, but most of you already have blogs, so that’s not very effective. But if I could relay information I know about my readers and about those who find me through search engines, I could get better results.

The program is in beta right now, but it sounds good. It will need high level fraud protection to function properly, but it has legs.

There is also a test going on that allows advertisers to more than double the text included in the ad. Interesting to see how that would work. Would they pay more per click since it chews up more room? Who knows. Would it improve CTR? No idea. It would be rather cluttered, though.

Via ProBlogger