For example, here, you see “Ads related to shoes”:

This was pointed out by Thomas Ballantyne at Dreams Systems Media on Friday, and confirmed by Search Engine Land as having rolled out (as opposed to being a test) today. Pamela Parker shares a quote from a Google spokesperson, saying, “As part of our ongoing efforts to show ads that are relevant and informative, we are including more information about why users are seeing certain search ads.”

Additionally, Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable reports that Google has removed arrows to scroll through AdSense ads, which were introduced in 2008.

Last week, Google introduced some refinements to AdSense reporting, including the ability to view all-time reports, access reports from the My Ads tab and download CSVs in the correct local formatting.

Today, of course, Facebook finally went public, and there’s a whole lot of talk about what Facebook might do in the future. How can it bring in more revenue? It’s got a long way to go to get to Google-like revenue. Could an AdSense-like network be on the way? Are we getting closer to this being a reality? Some seem to think so.

TechCrunch’s Josh Constine speculated about this, saying, “Facebook’s ad network [would] essentially turn ad real estate on any website into places to serve the campaigns that advertisers buy for display on Facebook.com. Anyone currently logged into Facebook who visits one of these sites would be shown ads targeted by their Facebook information, such as age, gender, location, work and education history, interests, app usage, and friends. Facebook and the site hosting an ad would then split the money made on clicks or impressions.”

Again, it just makes too much sense. How could this possibly not happen? This seems even more likely than Facebook getting into search. It already has the ads and the massive amount of highly personalized data to make this a very attractive offering for publishers who already have various Facebook integrations on their sites. It could only help Facebook cement its place around the web at large even more (making it far less likely to become the next MySpace).

Constine also points to an interesting nugget of information about Facebook’s privacy policy, which could make it easier for Facebook to launch such a network.

“Facebook has denied this product is in the works whenever it’s been asked, but last week it revised its privacy policy to expand its ability to serve ads to its user[s] while they’re outside of Facebook.com,” says Constine. “There’d be little reason to do this if something wasn’t in the works. The march across the web of its other social plugins such as the Like button have also paved the way for an ad network plugin. It might need to develop or acquire a company with expertise in analyzing site content so it could serve somewhat relevant ads to site visitors who aren’t logged in to Facebook.”

Sure, people will freak out about privacy like they always do, but ultimately, Facebook is already showing you things on other sites. It might as well monetize that.

Would you participate in a Facebook-based AdSense-like program? Let us know in the comments.

Next, they’ve added a quick link to your ads under the “My Ads” tab. This way you won’t have to search for ad units or channels in the reports you’ve already created. While viewing, just click “view report” below the line item and you’ll be able to see all the performance data. This one is a real time saver especially if looking for channel data that has no link to ad units in the interface.

The next one has to do with downloading CSV’s into the appropriate local format and can be a little complicated to explain, but it certainly will com in handy. Here’s how Google explains it:

Just as the placement of commas and periods can change the meaning of sentences, the same is true when it comes to numbers and figures. As you may know, an amount written as $1,000.00 in the US or UK would be written as $1.000,00 in most of Europe and South America. Previously, only the $1,000.00 format was available for downloadable reports, which created difficulties for a number of international publishers trying to export CSVs to analyze the data. Now, based on your language preference, you can export CSVs with figures in the relevant format.

If your a fan of AdSense these upgrades should make using it a little more intuitive and save some time in the process. Comments about the changes and issues you’d like to see addressed can be posted on the AdSense + page.

If that kind of tactic annoys you, you’re not alone. Google expressly prohibits developers from using such tactics in both of their ad program policies. A developer has a better chance of making money by using honest ad tactics. If they sink to using such dishonest tactics, people are likely to stop using the app. One click out of 500 users is better than one click per disgruntled user.

You may be a developer just starting out and don’t know any better. You might have placed the ad there because you thought it looked better in that position. You could have also just wanted to play the system because you totally knew better. Either way, Google has some suggestions to retain good will between yourselves, Google and the end user.

First things first, don’t put your ad somewhere near the interactive elements of an app. If you’re going to require the user to start touching buttons on your app, make sure the advertisement is far away from those elements. Let the user decide when they want to click the ad, don’t decide that for them with shady app tactics.

In a related note, don’t put ads anywhere near parts of the screen with heavy activity during games. Some games require the user to poke and prod the screen in a lot of different ways. Putting the ad in the way of those functions is only going to frustrate the user.

Google and the user understands that not all phones are created equal. Some phones are smaller than others and their screen sizes must be accommodated. If you find yourself developing for a smaller screen, make sure there is a visible border between the app and the ad. It helps no one if the ad is indistinguishable from the rest of the app.

If you need a good example that encompasses all the above suggestions into one, look no further than the piano example in the blog post:

Here you have some bad placement with the ad resting underneath the piano keys. A user is obviously going to start clicking the ad because they’re too busy rocking out to notice where they’re tapping.

It’s a much better idea to put the ad above the app. Sure, it might not be as noticeable, but at least you aren’t enraging the user by interrupting their impromptu iPhone piano rock session.

So now you see that good ad placement boils down to one simple rule – don’t be a jerk. Treat your users with respect and they’ll treat you and your app with the respect it deserves.

Ernest Yip, Product Manager of the AdSense Payments Team, offered an explanation of the changes and how they will benefit users –

Redesigned Payment summary and Payment settings pages:
- Payment method is now called Form of payment.
- Unpaid finalized earnings is now called Current balance.
- Redesigned transaction history table shows you the latest activities at the top.
- New toolbar support allows you to filter, print, export, or download transaction information.

Improved navigation of the payments interface:
- Centralized locations to manage your Payment settings and Payee profile.
- Contextual help is displayed based on the pages you navigate to.

Google will expand upon the improvements in the coming months, to compliment a host of monetization changes including Affiliate Ads for Blogger as well as free trials of Gomo promotional website hosting.

In related news, a task force in Argentina has been investigating Google regarding some if its business practices in that country since 2010, and is allegedly concerned with the extent in which AdSense affects search rankings. It would appear that Argentinian authorities might not be too keen on how Google’s algorithm actually works.

Google’s been doing it for a couple years now. Last month, the company announced the international expansion of the series.

“Each AdSense in Your City event includes presentations on optimization tips, DoubleClick for Publishers Small Business, and our mobile offering,” says Google’s Courtney Yamada. “Publishers who attend also receive a one-on-one consultation with a member of the AdSense team to review their site and offer customized recommendations. The events also provide a great opportunity for our attendees to meet and network with other AdSense publishers.”

The schedule for North America is as follows:

Sacramento, CA: Tuesday, April 10
San Diego, CA: Thursday, April 12
Los Angeles, CA: Friday, April 13
Montréal, QC, Canada: Tuesday, April 17
Philadelphia, PA: Thursday, April 19
Detroit, MI: Wednesday, May 2
Columbus, OH: Thursday, May 3
Washington DC: Wednesday, May 9
Boston, MA: Thursday, May 10
Oklahoma City, OK: Tuesday, May 22
San Antonio, TX: Wednesday, May 23
St. Louis, MO: Tuesday, June 5
Indianapolis, IN: Wednesday, June 6
Salt Lake City, UT: Tuesday, June 12
Denver, CO: Wednesday, June 13

Google says it has already worked with close to 1,500 publishers in 30 cities through past events. The company advises publishers who wish to attend to make sure their AdSense accounts are opted into Special Offers, to receive invitations. There’s a form to fill out as well.

If you’re not using the updated code, there are certain tools you won’t be able to use, Google explains.

“Click into the ‘My Ads’ tab,” Google says in the video. “If you don’t see any data listed for one or more of your sites in the ‘Ad Unit’ section, you’re using the old ad code. This means you’re missing out on some key features in the ‘Performance Reports’ tab, such as ad units, which shows performance for your individual customized units and ad sizes reports, which show which ad sizes perform best on your site.”

“Additionally, anytime you want to change the style of your ad, you also need to change the code on your page,” Google says. “With the new code, the settings of your ad units are saved within your AdSense account by name and unique ad ID, so you can apply the same code to multiple pages across your site, and make changes just once.”

To update your code, click the “import old ad code” link under the “My Ads” tab, paste your old ad code into the box, give it a descriptive name, and click import to create a new unit with the same settings, then replace the code on your new pages, and save.

Google indicates that these tips wil help publishers earn more, so they’re probably worth paying attention to.

“To generate these new types of notifications, we use our technology to simulate the ad auction for a specific ad unit using different ad type and/or ad format settings,” explains AdSense engineer Gregory Block. “If our simulation shows that any of these changed settings consistently result in higher revenue for that ad unit, we’ll show a recommendation in your account. Please note that these simulations will not affect your live traffic or earnings, and you’ll only see a recommendation if our simulated auction demonstrated increased revenue for your account.”

Publishers will see the recommendations on the “Home” tab in their accounts. The “Do this now” button can be clicked to quickly implement the suggestion.

“For ad format recommendations, clicking the ‘Create this unit’ button will create a new ad unit of the recommended ad format on the ‘My ads’ tab,” says Block. “To complete the implementation, replace the current ad unit code in your webpage(s) with the newly created ad unit code.”

The new tips will roll out over the next few weeks, Google says.

For more on all things AdSense, check out our AdSense coverage page.

Google states it will also continue to support high-end ad requests from AdSense mobile content until May 1, 2012. In the meantime, Google states, “we strongly encourage publishers who have designed mobile web pages for high-end devices to use the new AdSense ad code to avoid disruptions to service. Note that publishers with mobile websites built for WAP browsers should continue to monetize using AdSense for mobile content.

Google notes that it continues to be committed to helping our AdSense publishers monetize their content as the mobile ecosystem evolves.

For more information about the AdSense transition, visit Google’s AdSense Help Center.

The initiative began in Mountain View, then expanded into places like Santa Monica, Chicago, New York and Boston.

About a month ago, Google announced that it was kicking off its North American tour for the series, with dates in Portland, Victoria, New Orleans, and Albuquerque.

Today, Google announced a more global initiative for the series. Events will be coming to Amsterdam, Bogota, Melbourne and Vienna.

“There’s plenty more to come in 2012 as well, when we’ll be visiting Auckland, Berlin, Buenos Aires, London, Mexico City, Paris, and Sydney, just to name a few,” says Arlene Lee of Google’s Inside AdSense team. “Members of the AdSense team will share the latest product updates and offer 1-to-1 optimization consultations, and you’ll hear from experts on areas such as DFP Small Business, Mobile, YouTube, and Webmaster Tools. You’ll also have the chance to meet other local publishers during the day to share your experiences.”

If you need an invite to an event, Google has a form here you can fill out to request one.