Google launched a content recommendation tool last April for publishers who use AdSense to add to their websites. Unlike other services, such as Taboola and Outbrain, Google’s Matched content feature hadn’t included ads and has only functioned to cross-promote content on publishers’ own sites…until now.
There is a new beta that allows publishers to opt in to that features promoted content from other sources by opting to “Allow ads” in a Matched content unit. In the Matched content support page, Google explains:
Please note that by opting in to this beta feature you agree to let Google try out different ad types and ad sizes in your Matched content unit. Google will only show ads when they’re likely to perform well and provide a good user experience.
This is an example from Google that shows the content “Promoted By” Zagat.com. The style of the ads matches that of the native content recommendations.
The smaller units that display one content recommendation won’t show ads. But, when ads do appear, they won’t count toward Google’s ad limit per page.
In this test, publishers can track revenue from these ads in the Ad units report under the Performance reports tab in AdSense.