Google has introduced a feature into its AdSense advertising program that increases the number of text ads tied to a Web page. The feature, called Ad Links, also improves the relevance between the ads and the Web page's content. In the AdSense program, Web site publishers insert Google code into their Web pages, which generates text ads that are relevant to each page's content. The ads are sold by Google to advertisers and are distributed to publishers who participate in AdSense. When a visitor clicks on an ad, Google pays the publisher.

Google believes Ad Links will benefit Web site visitors, advertisers and publishers, said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Ad Links product manager. "It helps users by giving them a greater choice of ads they can select from. Meanwhile, advertisers benefit from additional distribution they're gaining. And for publishers there's a higher likelihood visitors will click on ads," he said.

Ad Links has been designed as a complement to the contextual ads served through AdSense. Publishers who sign up for Ad Links will still receive the AdSense ads. But with Ad Links, publishers will also get a list of topics that are contextually related to the content of their page. When a visitor clicks on an item on that topic list, he is taken to another Web page with related text ads.

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