AdSense for search

A companion to the regular AdSense program, AdSense for search, allows website owners to place Google search boxes on their websites. When a user searches the Internet or the website with the search box, Google shares any advertising revenue it makes from those searches with the website owner. However the publisher is paid only if the advertisements on the page are clicked: AdSense does not pay publishers for mere searches.

AdSense

Google uses its Internet search technology to serve advertisements based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted advertisement system may enroll through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the advertisements are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the advertisements is often relevant to the website.

Many websites use AdSense to monetize their content. AdSense has been particularly important for delivering advertising revenue to small websites that do not have the resources for developing advertising sales programs and sales people. To fill a website with advertisements that are relevant to the topics discussed, webmasters implement a brief script on the websites' pages. Websites that are content-rich have been very successful with this advertising program, as noted in a number of publisher case studies on the AdSense website.

Some webmasters invest significant effort into maximizing their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:

1. They use a wide range of traffic-generating techniques, including but not limited to online advertising.

2. They build valuable content on their websites that attracts AdSense advertisements, which pay out the most when they are clicked.

3. They use text content on their websites that encourages visitors to click on advertisements. Note that Google prohibits webmasters from using phrases like "Click on my AdSense ads" to increase click rates. The phrases accepted are "Sponsored Links" and "Advertisements".

The source of all AdSense income is the AdWords program, which in turn has a complex pricing model based on a Vickrey second price auction. AdSense commands an advertiser to submit a sealed bid (i.e., a bid not observable by competitors). Additionally, for any given click received, advertisers only pay one bid increment above the second-highest bid.

Howto: Maximize AdSense Earnings

Recently I wrote about how you can monetize your blog, and one of those ways was through Google AdSense. So to continue on with that train of thought I decided to give out a few tips to help you maximize your AdSense earnings.

Just one point though to start with. This is not intended for a webmaster about to setup a new site. I am writing this for those of you who already own a blog or website but have yet to see AdSense perform for you.

On Topic Content

If you have a blog about the iPod, then stick to writing about iPod news, iPod accessories, iTunes etc. There is no point writing about iPod and then starting to talk about your day at work within the same page. AdSense works through a contextual assessment of your page, so try and make it as easy as possible for the Mediabot to ascertain exactly what you are writing about.

Optimize Tags

Making Mediabot’s job as easy as possible also means optimizing your HTML tags, from your meta tags to your header tags. Place your target keywords in the page title, meta description and keywords tag, as well as in your header tags. Don’t forget to bold or italicize your target keywords throughout the content.

Ad Placement

Consult the AdSense heatmap and apply it to your layout. You’ll find that CTR will increase when you place your ads above the fold. Placing ads down the left (where users are used to seeing navigation) and in central locations will also increase CTR. Don’t forget to place ads at the bottom of a page for readers who have scrolled down to the bottom of a long article. I would not advise placing your ads down the left hand of a page as CTR in this location is normally quite low. So keep them above the fold and smack bang in front of their eyes.

Colours

The basic premise with regards colours is to match your ad colouring as closely to the colour scheme employed through out your site. I recommend using the same colours for text and links for optimum CTR.
Borders or No Borders?

Answer, no borders! Keep reminding yourself that your ads need to slot in with your existing layout and appear to be part of the page. A border immediately separates the ads and decreases

CTR.

There has been a lot of talk on the boards for quite some time about using images alongside ads to improve CTR. Overall, images placed beside your ads will increase CTR. Here’s a handy tool to generate the code you’ll need, courtesy of Shoemoney.
Section Targeting
Use the section targeting tags, they make it easy to specify what content Mediabot should spider and what to ignore.

Use Alternate Ads

On occasion AdSense will not be able to display any ads in an ad block on a particular page. Unless specified AdSense will display Public Service Ads (PSAs) that do not earn you anything. So when you are creating your code, specify an affiliate link or image linked to an affiliate product. Therefore you can rest assured that no matter what happens, you’re earning!

Use Channels

Track your performance by channel, a technique that is especially important when you have place multiple ad blocks per page. Assign each ad block a unique channel so that you can see what performs best over time, allowing you to further refine ad placement and increase revenue.

Noscript

Statistics remarkably show that approximately 10% of browsers do not have JavaScript enabled. Unfortunately for AdSense publishers, a browser with JavaScript disabled will not even show an ad block. The solution? Ad the

How long will AdSense last?

Lessons from other forms of advertising (banners, interstitials, popups and popunders) show that users have learned to ignore advertising on the Web.

However, text ads like AdSense are benefiting from a novelty effect. It is still so new that users haven’t yet learned to ignore them. According to Jakob Nielsen, users in the long-term can “develop box blindness, ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen.”

Nonetheless, Google AdSense has brought back to small publishers the opportunity to leverage their content through advertising. It is bringing an excellent earning stream to some Web owners, with monthly revenues reaching the thousands, even more. Not since dot-com "boom" times had the Internet world seen CPM and click through rates this high.

Are you riding the Google AdSense wagon?

Are you right for AdSense?

Alas, AdSense is not for everybody. Just as the initial euphoria has leveled off, complaints of AdSense’s inability to serve them the right ads or any ads at all can be heard on various discussion boards and forums. Some sites complain of not getting any relevant ads. Worse, some are getting ads from charity organizations, which are non-paying ads.

Who is Google AdSense especially suited for? It's EXCELLENT for those who already have, or for those who want to start, high quality, theme-based content sites, with excellent keyword-focused content pages. Better yet, your site must have keywords where advertisers pay a premium to reach. That can range from a wonderful little hobby or passion site to a full-blown information site by a major company.

Your income will also be commensurate to the level of traffic that your site generates: the more traffic you have, the greater the potential income. A site that attracts 1 million impressions has the potential to earn more (even at a 2.5% clickthrough rate) compared to a site that attracts 1,000 impressions per month unless the smaller site has higher paying keywords and better clickthrough rates. Higher clickthrough rates, however, are subject to tighter scrutiny by Google. A site suspected of fraudulent clicks can be kicked out from the program.

How will you benefit from AdSense?

One Internet guru described AdSense as a “money machine where you simply sit back and watch the money roll in.” And for the right Web site, AdSense is proving to be a most welcome cash generator.

Free and easy to join and implement, AdSense offers Web site owners a source of ongoing advertisers that will never run dry (well, at least for now). You now have access to a new set of advertising spenders and marketing companies who have advertising budgets to work with.

Instead of spending your time hunting down your own advertisers, you can focus more in creating solid content for your site. You can work the content of your sites without worrying very much about the costs of self-publishing information on the Web.

The reduced workload and potentially good income are enough incentives for small publishers to apply in droves to the program.

What is AdSense?

AdSense is a text-based ad delivered by Google, today’s leading search engine. The ads come usually in the form of the leaderboard (728 x 90), standard banner (468 x 60), skyscraper (120 x 600) and inline triangle (300 x 250). The colors of the ad box and fonts can be customized to fit or contrast with the site's color scheme, whichever the user chooses..

What sets this program apart from other text-based ads is that it delivers ads that are contextually relevant to your audience. It uses an advanced and proprietary technology that determines the content of each of your site’s web pages, and then delivers the ad based on that content. Just as readers of special interest magazines welcome ads on topics of interests to them, the visitors of special-interest web sites are happy to see ads relevant to their craft, business, hobby or interests. A Web page on home business would likely receive targeted ads on “starting a business,” while a music site may receive targeted ads on music CDs. The ads automatically adjust for each page’s content.

The underlying thinking is an ad targeted to the audience of a Web page will generate higher response. Ads placed in context ultimately become a content point, seemingly blending with the content of the page that the user is visiting. This in turn increases the ad’s relevancy. The more relevant an ad is to the page, the higher its effectiveness and click-through rate, and the greater the income potential. That means more click-throughs for the advertisers, and more dollars for the publisher!