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Information just about GoogleGoogle's own AdSense Tips
by:
Richard Keir
Copyright 2005 Richard Keir
Google is at least as interested as you are in having your ads perform well on your site. And they've gone to several activity to provide the information you need to optimize your AdSense.
What's fascinating to me is that apparently not everyone bothers to see their tips. And even as several that do, fail to apply it.
That said, you need to be aware that just mistreatment their tips doesn't guarantee eminent ads and decent CTR (Click Through Rate). How many a times have you detected
this? You have to test. You have to try alternatives and see what actually works better for you, on your pages, with your content and your visitors. Test, test, test several more. Track your results, analyze them, try variations. Too many a of us don't test. We hear the mantra, but we don't do the work.
First, let's see if we can get an idea just about location. (The graphic is enclosed
in the article on my site or you can take a look at it at the Google link enclosed
below) Generally, above the fold, at the top center of your content, below top navigation is the hottest location. Not at once below which is good but not quite as hot. In a left sidebar, to the immediate left of primary content or below the primary content are as well good. Most different locations are generally cooler.
Again, you need to test and you need to consider your users behavior - and their behavior may vary on several pages with several kinds of content. Google suggests that in several cases, such as articles, the better location can be at the end of the article. To quote Google, "It's all but as if users stop reading and ask themselves, What can I do next?" Well targeted relevant ads right there can provide the answer.
Don't blindly assume that projected a good big parallelogram
in the center above the fold wish do it. It may, but depending on your content, it may bother or inconvenience your users.
Users tend to focus on content, navigation and to a lesser extent graphics. Positioning your ads near these elements wish often activity well -- if those ads are targeted to your visitors needs.
The top three performers among the Google ad formats are the 336X280 large rectangle, the 300X250 inline parallelogram
and the 160X600 wide skyscraper. Google reports that the wider formats tend to do better than the taller ones. One reason may be that these are, perhaps, easier to see since they have fewer line breaks and require less eye movement. But, you need to use formats that fit your pages well. Once again, you need to test, but redoing your pages to suit a particular ad format may not be a reasonable alternative and you may learn that a several format actually gets better results.
Now we move to color. Conventional wisdom says that colors which tend to blend into your content do better. Several go so far as to suggest that colors which do the ads look like part of the content are best. Personally, I think anybody actually believes those ads are thing
but ads, but who knows. Google suggests that you may find that colors that standout from your content do better - or mayhap the opposite. This is dead an area wherever
you need to test alternative color schemes. Going with the conventional wisdom commonly works fairly well, but without testing you could be deed a lot of money on the table.
Google allows you to have up to three ad units and one link unit on your pages. If you have long pages with lots of text, can only use small ad units or are in a niche with a large ad inventory, multiple units can pay off. Support in mind that the way ad serving works is that the higher value ads are delivered to the 1st ad unit block encountered in your code. Always do sure that this 1st ad unit is displayed in the better location (yeah - test). You want the higher paying ads to be in the prime hot location on your page. Weaker locations can get the lower priced ads. And if none are available, then nothing wish display unless you've enclosed
an alternate ad URL in your Google code. To maximize proof you should be including alternate ad URLs, especially if you are golf shot multiple units on a page. The use of an alternate ad URL as well eliminates the possibility of being served PSAs (Public Service Announcements). It's your real estate, maximize your returns.
Nothing here is secret. Except for mistreatment the alternate ad URL, all of this information is accessible from Google's Improvement
Tips page - http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page=tips.html . You can buy books and courses, visit a dozen forums and, in the end it comes down to what your visitors do on your site. The better you can get is general guidance. This means averaged outcomes over many a sites, many a types of content. If you are serious just about doing some you can to actually optimize your AdSense returns, there is only one thing to do - test. Whether it's AdSense, opt-ins, copy, headlines - thing
with a measurable outcome that you can track - then the way to improve is to test and keep on testing.
Just just about the author:
Richard writes, teaches, trains and consults on business and professional presentations and eCommerce related matters. For much information on eCommerce sites and eCommerce site building visit http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com- and you can find much articles at http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com/articles.
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