Then it should be shown in the context of being an interesting link. I would ask also, when was the last time an ad was interesting to you? Was something in a popup, interstitial, popover, popunder, popdown, sidebar link, video preroll or post roll or inserted promo actually interesting? Was it something that you purposely clicked to find out more?
Display ads have very low click-through, yet that hasn't stopped advertisers from breaking new records in terms of $$ spent. Research shows there is a subset of internet users that click on stuff all the time- 80% of clicks are from 10% of users (that's after filtering out click fraud etc).
Beyond click-thru (which is what most web app developers will focus on), display ads/paid search serve the important function of an awareness vehicle for brands - which is what the major advertisers care about more than click-thru anyway.
But a hyper targeted ad is not a useful link, it is a potentially useful link that is guaranteed to be extremely biased.
If you search for "cheap haircuts, boston" do you think the ads show the cheapest place to get haircuts (which is what you want)? Or the one that paid google the most (which is what they want)?
