Adsense Optimization - Part II

Here are some Adsense Optimization Tips to get the best out of Adsense for your sites and blogs. Above all do not get disappointed with initial low income, you have to provide good content in your blogs/website and patiently wait for the results. KEEP EXPERIMENTING and see what works the best for you. There are no magic secrets out there its just hard work and patience. Read on...

1. Do not blend your ads - Lot of people say that you should blend your adsense ads but I don’t think this works, most of the time ads are clicked by first time visitors and you want to get the best from them by not blending ads. If the background is light, use dark colors, if the background is dark, use light color in your adsense ads.

2. Use Big blocks Ad Unit - Big ad unit blocks always perform better then smaller ad units. If you see best performing ads unit, you will find that 336×280 is the best performing adsense unit.

3. Use colors which stands out - There are few colors which stands out and often attracts readers attention, always use them. I feels, the default adsense codes are good enough for sites which white background and little graphics so you can stick to it but you can try to experiment with different title and color. Color Combo is a good site which you can chose to find html code of lot of colors.

4. Do not use borders - You should not use borders in adsense ads as they separate the ads from content reducing the number of clicks.

5. Put ads above the fold so the readers sees them first - Always look to put the ads above the fold, in F format as this is what the heat map shows about how people read.

6. Use Adsense Section targeting - Learn to use Adsense targeting to get rid of irrelevant ads being triggers by footer or sidebar content.

7. Don’t use too many ads - Too many ads may increase the CTR but it often results in reduced eCPM meaning less earning, so avoid using too many ads. Always remember,

8. Text ads often do well as compared to image ads which are used by people for branding. Also on text based sites like blogs, image ads don’t look that good.

9. Use Google Analytics to track what pages are doing good and find why and how - if you still haven’t linked your adsense account with your google analytics account, do it right now.

10. Use Link Unit - Other then various Google Adsense formats, image ads and search box, you should also look to use link units. Clicks on link units links often result in higher payout as advertisers trust it more then normal adsense ads. They can fitted in narrow places and often looks like horizontal menus.

11. Use Google Custom Search - If you see at the top of this page, I am not using wordpress search but Google search. To know why, please read this post why you should Remove Wordpress Search and Use Adsense Search for additional revenue.

12. Filter Ads - If after using analytics you find some ads which are generating very little clicks or revenue or you feels they are not suitable for your site or not targeted enough, then you can block such ads using google competitive ad filter. Many people say that let google decide what to show as they will get the best ROI from your site/blog hence you should not filter ads but I think there is nothing wrong in using it. Do note that once you block a ad, it won’t be shown on any of your other sites too so you may want to be careful in blocking ebay ads.

13. Don’t use too many ads - Avoid using too many google adsense ads as it often results in reducing overall eCPM meaning less earnings. Also too many ads don’t look very good to eyes.

14. You can use ads for feeds too - This option is a matter of choice, I don’t like to use google adsense ads on feeds because I values my readers and I myself don’t like ads on feeds. Ads on feeds often don’t result in lot of clicks anyway but if you have huge number of subscribers, you can give it a try as it can result in substantial amount of earnings.

15. Use php to change colors to avoid ad blindness - you can rotate colors of ads using php (don’t use javascript as it is against google terms of service) or any other service side language which supports your site.

16. Change the location of ads every now and then - you can change the location of adsense ads every now and then to give fresh look to your site and to avoid your readers getting ad blind.

17. Show different ads to different users - If you have a membership site like a forum you should look to show less ads to registered members as they won’t like seeing lot of ads and regular visitors anyway get ad blind. If you are using wordpress this is a very good plugin to control who sees your ads.

18. If you are getting very low eCPM, you can even remove adsense ads for some time or use friends account - It is often suggested that if you are getting smartpriced, you can remove google ads for some time and can even look to use your friends ads on your site (using channel to track earnings). I have never used this adsense optimization tip but know people claiming that it works.

19. Look at others how they are doing - Look at other successful sites which are making loads of money in adsense and copy their ad formats and ad placements.

20. Keep experimenting - In the end, you want to keep experimenting to get the best ad format, best colors, best location. Whenever you get free time, just tweak things little here and there and don’t’ forget to track the results of it. You can also look at adsense success stories to read more about other sites.

Related posts:
1. Adsense Guidelines - Some basic guidelines that are essential to follow for Google Adsense.
2. Adsense Optimization Part I - Yes, dont forget the part one for the above article, its where you start.