AdSense: Are Your AdSense Ads Making Sense?
AdSense sites are often used as mini income generators by a lot of part-time marketers. The general opinion about these sites ranges from “great income tool” to “utter rubbish.” It is clear that the opinions are divided. But let’s not worry about the usability of these sites for the moment, let’s look at how good the ads on your AdSense sites actually are…
Powered by Content
Whether you know this, or not, your AdSense ads are powered by the content that is on your pages. Mainly the stuff that precedes the ad, and then some of the stuff below it.
If your ads are untargeted they will not match the topic of your site, nor will they pay much per click. Chances are you will get smart priced too (when you get 3 cent clicks or less).
You can trigger the right ads with the right words, based on your keyword of course. Use h1, h2, and h3 tags near your ads, bold the keyword (once is enough) and make sure your content matches the actual URL. AdSense is much like a pair of shoes, if the size is right, it fits snug like a bug, if it ain’t, your content ads are all over the show, mis-matched, un-targeted and rubbish.
Shoot for the Top
When considering an AdSense site, you should aim for the biggest possible income you can make. Yes, the competition is ragging among these highly competitive keywords, but hey, if you do your SEO right, and build some quality links then it will pay out handsomely in the end. Some niches that come to mind are:
- Credit
- Debt
- Insurance
- Legal
- Loans
The list goes on and on actually. You can dig into any decent paying niche and discover lesser known, but often better-paying ads in the process. When I do my research I try and stick with keywords that pay at least $2 per click. Why?
Because generally you get paid about 25 percent of the CPC by Google, often even less, the rest goes to them and the AdWords advertiser who’s paying for the ad. Since it takes work to build these sites, even if they’re small in comparison to a larger authority site I’d like to get paid for my efforts. Choosing good-paying keywords is one of those insurances. In case you wonder, the others are SEO (on-page) and links.
Go Local
The best money can be had with local ads, think “Mesopotamia lawyer in Chicago,” or “dental surgeon in New York.” The competition for these keywords are no doubt huge, but who says you have to stick with the obvious? You don’t! Try to think outside the box when targeting AdSense sites and make sure your content is highly optimized.
The Importance of AdSense Ad Placement
Now you’ve got a highly optimize AdSense site it’s time to place the ad in the right position. Since most readers skim websites you only have a few seconds to get the click. Getting the click is key in driving AdSense revenue, but having said this, you also want to inform people with quality content.
In my humble opinion the best place for ads is underneath your title, but before the actual content. I usually wrap the content around the ad to make it more neat. The ad has got to be above the fold. For some niches, the left hand sidebar also works well, while for others a sub header with link ads do the trick.
In the end you can never say one size fits all. The success of your AdSense sites really lies in the combination of picking a good niche (keyword), optimizing the site for search engines (very important to get the top-paying clicks), and positioning your ads in the right spot.
The best way to find out is by split-testing your ads:
- Test for keyword in content
- Test for ad position
- Test for keyword itself
- Test for how many ads you show on one page (remember to stick within the legal allowance from Google’s terms.
You can use Google Website Optimizer to do your split testing for AdSense effectiveness
Have fun
Monika
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About The Blog Author
Alex Sysoef is an IT Consultant, Internet Marketer and ProBlogger who shares his passion and knowledge of WordPress, SEO, Social Media and traffic strategies on his blog WordPress Howto Spotter. Connect on Twitter or Facebook
39 Responses to “AdSense: Are Your AdSense Ads Making Sense?”
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Great post! One of the most difficult things for me to learn when making adsense sites was keeping the content directed at one topic and one set of ads. I cannot stress the importance of this; if your content goes all over the place, your ppc earnings will plummet.
Great tips, Monika! I’m about to venture out into niche Adsense sites, so this post couldn’t be timed any better. I’ve been doing a great deal of research, and your tips will compliment what I’ve already found nicely. Thanks!
Alan Mater recently posted..How to Increase Fan Numbers on Your Facebook Fan Page
Glad to hear this Alan, good luck in your new venture. Remember to split-test your conversions.
Yes, there’s no single size that fits all, but as far as my experience, and those others who vouch about it, the ads under the title seem to work best for a majority of people.
As for targeting, I’ve had experience where all your tags are optimized, but sometimes google still draws some ads from some random word in the content that’s not very related to the topic.
Adsense ads are sometimes confusing, especially if you’re focused on monetizing your blog with other higher commissions (like affiliate marketing or paid ads). It’s just that google are paying you cents for valuable traffic leaving your site, which is odd if you’ve made a website designed for visitors to stay longer. I do think that it’s only profitable if your site has thousands of visits in a day, other than that I see it as pointless if placed to compete with your money links. Hope I’m making sense here
Hi Alex,
Great post as usual!
Google Adsense is not something I have concentrated much on over the last 12 months. I do have Adsense adds on my websites however from a making money point of view it has actually taken me nearly a year just to earn $100!
Although reading the niches you have mentioned such as credit, loans, insurance etc I can see where people can make decent money with adsense, especially if they have a collection of sites within a high paying niche.
I do believe you would need to do keyword research before hand, not just in finding out how much the keywords are worth but also for how many searches are being done for that particular niche and whether it is worth going to the effort to create the content site.
So much to learn!
Hope all is going well. See you back here soon!
Cheers
Jacinta
Jacinta Dean recently posted..The 100 Blog Comment Challenge Is On!
Twitter: volaer
says:
I own a religious website and it is currently earning an average of $30-35 a month. Last month was the highest earning month where I earned $48. Not bad for a guy from the Philippines.
Vince recently posted..How To Set Up A Blogspot Blog
I agree Vince, its hard to make on AdSense alone if you have a single blog. But always remember about alternatives
You ain’t alone. After 1 year and 5 months online, I’m just breaching the 100 Euros line
. I’m trying to focus more on earning through affiliate sales and my own service offerings.
Udegbunam Chukwudi recently posted..EzBlogSetup Service Is Now LIVE & OPEN For Orders!
Twitter: volaer
says:
Adsense is great… but again, you need to have a good amount of traffic to have a good passive income. As for my experience, average adsense clicks per 200 unique visitors is 7-10 clicks.
Income varies depending on the cost of adsense being posted.
If you are for blogging, Adsense will not really make you rich, but it certainly gives a good deal of passive income.
Vince recently posted..How To Set Up A Blogspot Blog
Your analysis is so true
. I’m averaging 130 unique visits during weekdays and my best has been 10 clicks in a day. I’m also trying to earn via Adsense for Domains and depending on the country of origin of my traffic for the day, my Adsense for Domain could rake in as much as 2 Euros a day 
Udegbunam Chukwudi recently posted..How To Organize Your WordPress Posts In Categories
These are fantastic tips, thank you so much for sharing. In certain niches PPC can be worth as much as $30 (perhaps more in others) and with a right strategy at hand can really make you rich.
Twitter: netchunks
says:
I think Niche finding is very important if one wants to earn a good amount of money from Adsense because not all niches are similr paying. If one can find good paying keyword and do good amount of SEO on it then the site can be a great money earner for him/her
Shiva recently posted..Rockable Press How to Build a Successful Blog Business Released Discount Coupon Code
I agree, I do the same thing.
CyberChimps recently posted..A guide to Video Sitemaps
To earn money from adsense you need to have huge traffic.A rectangular ad block below the post title gives better ctr.
Shabnam Sultan recently posted..RIM’s BlackPad rumored to be launched in November
Just what I've been saying exactly.
James Moralde recently posted..Prevalence Reporter Is Trying To Access The Internet
I have been always trying to focus on layout and design and trough I use ad sense I tend to pick the less optimal formats which look better on the sites and don`t annoy visitors. So far I am satisfies with the revenue generated with the program as it is sufficient to cover the basic expenses of running the site. Of course I have many ideas for growth and development and hope that adsense revenue will improve and become a valuable income stream when it comes to initial funding.
Hello monika,
The niche you mentioned are high paying, but the problem for me is that most of the people like me don’t know anything about Credit, Debt, Insurance, Legal, Loans. So we can’t write anything about it on our websites.
I never even think to write about some local stuffs of high paying global keywords. This is a wonderful idea since there is very less blog writers locally, but have high competition locally. More over this is nice idea for getting huge local traffic and provide useful contents to local visitors.
I have to mention one more think about adsense, the less adsense unit you have on your website, the more eCPM you will get.
pratish recently posted..BMS Results 2010
As my blog is fairly new, I am trying to get the content there first, and am not really optimising the ads very much yet. Once I have a good blog established, I think I will do it then. What are your thoughts on this, is this the right thing to do for me?
Thanks
Christopher Roberts recently posted..Bloodhound SSC
Twitter: volaer
says:
I tried visiting your website, and your adsense placement below your home tab is just an awesome place. It might do well.
Vince recently posted..7 Killer Tips To Improve Adsense Clicks
Thanks for sharing,Last month i’ve got my first check from adsense.But it take for so long i reach that.I will learning again about adsense.How about ads Marketplace?
tedifa recently posted..The beauty of Disneyland Park in Florida
After so much split testing, I’ve come to accept the fact that “Above The Fold” works better on my site. I do get a few “Below The Content” clicks but they ain’t as much as those above the content and below the title.
The Credit Cards/Loans niche has been overcrowded by spammers with their MFA sites and it’s quite difficult setting a reputation in those niche.
As Jason Acidre said, Adsense ads are only profitable with sites that receive tons of search engine traffic.
Udegbunam Chukwudi recently posted..How To Organize Your WordPress Posts In Categories
Thanks a lot for your Adsense sum-up. You may be interested to learn the exact revenue adsense shares with it publishers:
68% from AdSense for content
51% AdSense for search
Source: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2010/05/adsense-revenue-share.html
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