After years of cramming their sites with ads that flash and obscure editorial content, digital publishers are taking a newfound interest in improving user experience. With readers revolting against intrusive ads and tech giants like Google and Apple cracking down on ads that slow down page speed, they must.

But there’s a trade-off to putting users first. Publishers have long been addicted to these ad formats because, well, they bring in revenue when all but a few publishers have managed to collect directly from readers.

“It’s a singular fear that you’d make less money,” said Neil Vogel, CEO of Dotdash, formerly About.com.

Under Vogel, Dotdash went cold turkey on annoying ad formats like content recommendation units, pop-ups and autoplaying video ads with the sound on when it relaunched its service-oriented sites including The Balance and Verywell. The bet was that better sites would attract more visitors who would spend more more time on them, enabling Dotdash to make more money from fewer ad units. The salespeople liked the idea of having attractive new sites to sell, and advertisers liked the results they got in tests, Vogel said. But he was “terrified.”

“We could have easily built things that readers and advertisers loved but didn’t work,” he said.

Other publishers have made similar tough choices in the name of user experience. Gizmodo Media Group, formerly Gawker Media, removed a slideshow format from some of its sites when it migrated them over to Kinja, Gizmodo Media Group’s content management system, knowing there would be a short-term dip in pageviews. Slate took a hit in ad rate when it eliminated the Outbrain content recommendation unit from its site. Condé Nast’s GQ traded its horizontal photo gallery format for a more visually appealing, vertical one, but that cost it pageviews.

“For any ad product, there’s going to be an effect on user experience,” said David Stern, director of product development at Slate. “People aren’t coming to us for ads, so with any ad experience, there’s going to be some distraction.”

By improving user experience, publishers can eventually recoup lost revenue or even grow it. Dotdash made up a lot, but not all, the money it lost. In the case of GQ, readership increased, and the revenue generated at least matches what it was before, said Fred Santarpia, chief digital officer at Condé Nast. “While we lost the hardcore pageviews, the circulation rate on the vertical unit was exponentially better,” Santarpia said. “They’re going from gallery to gallery.”