Now you know how to make money with Google Adsense but to help you improve AdSense performance (and advertising revenue), here are some of the best Google Adsense Tips and Tricks for making more money (profit) from the Google Adsense program.
About me: I have been using Google AdSense since 2004 and my technology blog was recently featured as an AdSense Case Study.
Update: Some of the AdSense tricks in the article are old so you may please check my latest article on AdSense Optimization Tips that includes a PowerPoint presentation as well.
Tips to Increase Google AdSense Earnings
a. Strictly follow the rules mentioned in Adsense policies. You will always earn more revenue from Adsense by playing it clean.
b. Never modify the Google Adsense HTML code. If have trouble embedding AdSense code in your WordPress or Blogger template, take help of the AdSense support forums or send an email to your AdSense account manager.
c. Never ask your friends or visitors to click on your Google ads. Google takes click fraud very seriously. Do not include incentives of any kind on your site for users to click on your ads. Don't label Google ads with text other than "sponsored links" or "advertisements.".
d. Don't click on your own ads - Google is much smarter than you think and can discover invalid clicks through IP addresses, site navigation patterns, etc. If you working on a new design for your site, avoid reloading your pages (with AdSense) excessively. You can turn off AdSense temporarily and avoid invalid CPM impressions. Or you can use the unofficial Google Adsense Sandbox Tool that is accessible from Firefox, IE and other browsers to see what kind of Google ads will be served based on content (website address URL) or keywords.
e. Don't place ads in pop-up windows,
f. Don't start a "adsense asbestos" or "home equity loan rates" website merely to make money from accidental clicks. You will never make money out these Made for Adsense websites. Instead, write on topics what you are passionate about. Don't waste your money on high-paying adsense keywords lists. Stay away from AdSense Adwords arbitrage.
g. For short articles, CTR is best when ads are placed just above the content.
h. For long articles, CTR will improve if you place ads somewhere in middle of the content or just where the article ends - when visitors are done reading the article, they may be looking for related resources.
i. Use Text Ads instead of Image Ads as users get more options and the payout is often higher. If you still want to display image ads (for CPM), consider ad formats like the 300x250 medium rectangle or the 160x600 wide skyscraper as they support also support rich multimedia and the new gadget ads.
j. Google Ads with no background color and no borders will always perform better. Make the border color and background color same as your page background color.
k. Always put ads above the main fold. Make sure that the ad unit with the highest clickthrough rate is the first instance of the ad code that appears in your HTML source. Since the first ad unit is always filled before the rest, you want to make sure that ad unit is located in the best placement on your page.
l. Try setting the ad link URL color to a lighter shade. If your text is black, you may make the adlink as light gray or something like #666.
m. Go Wide - The large rectangle (336x280) is the best paying Adsense format especially for text ads. Try using the 336x280 large rectangle, 300x250 medium rectangle, or 160x600 wide skyscraper.
n. Don't places images next to Google ads as that will invite a permanent ban to your AdSense account.
o. Blend AdLinks with other navigation links or place horizontal adlinks at the top of your webpage. AdSense publishers are permitted to click on link unit topics on their web pages, provided that they do not click on any Google ads on the resulting page.
p. You should try adding a unit near the comments senction of your blog. See more AdSense tweaks.
q. You can put upto 3 adsense units on a page. Try putting a large skyscraper on the right navigation sidebar of your website. That area is close to the browser scrollbar. You can also add 2 AdSense for search boxes and 3 adlink units.
r. The first few lines of your content are an important factor for determining what Ads are served on your webpage. That's the right place to put keywords in bold (strong or <b> tags) or header tags (h1, h2, etc).
s. Always select the setting to open Google Adsense search box results in a new browser window, so you won't lose your visitors. Click the Open search results in a new browser window checkbox and this add target="google_window" to your form tag.
t. Maximum people think the search box is on the top right corner. So you know where to put it.
u. Always syndicate full text RSS feeds and then monetize your feeds with a 468x60 ad in RSS feeds.
v. Monitor the AdSense performance of individual web pages with Google Analytics
w. For low CTR pages, try changing titles or adding more relevant content to get better focused ads. Alse see: Get relevant Google Ads
x. Block low paying advertisers with Filters. Why to loose a visitor for an ad that will only pay you a cent. Use Overture or Google Adwords Keywords tool to discover keywords that are less popular with advertisers.
y. Learn how to implement AdSense Revenue sharing if you run a site with multiple authors and need to pay your writers based on advertising revenue generated from their articles.
z. Experiment with color schemes and layouts using split testing. You are the best judge when it comes to choosing ad formats for your own website.
Even Google doesn't offer the best advise always. For instance, in the visual heat map, Google suggests that webmasters are best served by positioning ads on the upper left-hand side of a Web page but if you go to any search page on Google, the ads the mostly in the right.
Bonus Tip: Use the AdSense Preview tool to determine what ad campaigns are currently targeted for your site in different geographic regions of the world. Enter any keywords or a website address (URL) and choose a geographic location of the visitors to see all the related related Google Ads.
Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/09/z-adsense-tips-for-increasing-revenue.html
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
Good tips. However, I have some questions and would like you to explain or give me pointers.
(a) Eliminate the ad link URL - example needed.
(b) Don't syndicate full content - how?
(c) Block low paying advertisers with Filters - how?
Written on 12/9/05 7:36 PM
Satish,
Here's how to do things:
a. Make the ad link URL color same as your page background color
b. Blogger gives you this option - Check the settings.
c. Use overture to determine low paying ads - block those URLs in adsense
Written on 13/9/05 8:54 AM
Some useful tips there - just a couple of points I'd like to raise:
a) Does making the ad link URL the same colour as your page background (and therefore effectively hiding it) comply with Google's terms & conditions? I'm a bit unsure about this, but would be very careful with it.
b) I like the idea about having an "AdSense Party" to gather some useful feedback, but I'd be careful not to let your users actually click the Adsense links as this could be deemed to be fraudulent activity. O.K., it would probably only be a very small scale test, but even so, you wouldn't want to run the risk of being banned from Adsense!
Thanks,
Rob.
Written on 13/9/05 7:45 PM
I agree with Rob Lewis on the "URL the color of bg" - it actually doesn't work btw. You will see it changing colors in the Google's ad preview, but it will show URLs in black on your site if you match it to your bg color.
Written on 14/9/05 1:11 AM
Some very good information, and some I disagree with like blocking ads because they don't pay well. the bidding process will weed these out, in my opinion and by blockin ads you may lose even those lower-value clicks. A number of the ideas border on TOS abuse and just strike me as "greedy".
Many tips are encouraging people to blend ads in with content, but some like placing images next to or above ads may cross the line. I reported one site that had 4 small images directly above a 4 ad bar so that it really looked like the ads were the captions for the images. Clever. However, the abuse team quickly put a stop to that.
Chris
Written on 14/9/05 8:03 AM
Please check out my blog as I have tips too.PI liked the article you had here.You should link to my blog at
http://techools.blogspot.com/
Come by as I have a good example of placing ads on blogs for your reference.
Written on 14/9/05 10:07 AM
Your site is SUPERB!You placed the Adsense links at the top and I accidentally clicked on one,wondering if it was your navbar.I mean that is good work!Check my site out for My link setup on Adsense at
http://techools.blogspot.com/
Written on 14/9/05 10:23 AM
This tip:
>>>x. Block low paying advertisers with Filters. Why to loose a visitor for 0.01 cents.>>>
I am not sure how you can block Advertisers based on low paying ads.
You really don't know how much the advertiser is paying to show that AD on your page.
Can you elaborate on that?
Written on 29/9/05 10:55 PM
testimc,
You can use the overture inventory page to get a rough estimate about ad prices.
HTH,
Amit
Written on 30/9/05 9:35 AM
Are you allowed to place images beside that ad unit under the page? I thought we've to place borders around it if we're to place images besides or on top of them.
Written on 2/12/05 8:30 PM
Using images near (more often over) ad sense links is good for CTR, but very...borderline.
Google AND users missunderstand... ;-)
Written on 10/12/05 4:50 AM
Your precaution on the testing part is very useful, because I do reload the site a lot during testing.
I have added your suggestion except for the static image as I am not quite sure how to do get the url with graphic file.
Thank you for your article.
Written on 16/12/05 11:06 AM
You must follow all these precautions to ensure that Google never disables or cancels your Adsense account.
Familiarize yourself with the AdSense program policies and ensure that all sites on which you display Google ads remain in full compliance with these policies.
Other important guidelines are:
Provide a positive user experience.
Sites that contain excessive pop-ups, use sneaky redirects to obtain traffic, or otherwise attempt to interfere with normal web navigation aren't permitted in the AdSense network. Please make sure your site doesn't deceive your users in any way.
Provide a good environment for advertisers
Sites showing Google ads should not present a poor opportunity for advertisers. Sites that use tricks or deceptive practices in order to trigger inadvertent clicks on ads are prohibited.
If Google finds that one of your web pages is in violation of their policies, Google will send you a email notification requesting that you make changes to your account in order to become compliant. Google Adsense will also disable ad serving to web pages or accounts.
After making the requested changes, you should respond to the notification so Google reviews your site again and update your account records to indicate compliance with Google Adsense program policies.
Written on 1/1/06 11:51 AM
so good so nice an article to tell Google Adsensers!!! Welcome more tips!
Written on 15/2/06 8:05 PM
Very informative and lately i've notice quite a number of website are having a picture beside the google adsense, its really look nice.
On publisher for Adsense,i've learn something here, and from previous, Never Never try to cheat nor try to ask someone to click for you. Play fair and you pay fair.
Written on 26/4/06 4:16 PM
I really appreciate your tips on Google Adsense and SEO. I have incorporated these tips into my blogs and I have seen a dramatic increas in CTR and my earnings over the last several months.
http://strategiesforlife.blogspot.com
Written on 28/4/06 8:22 AM
your site is very helpful, and i am glad i found your site.
Written on 19/5/06 10:19 PM
I like the idea of hosting an "Adsense Party", however, you have to be VERY careful when doing this.
For example, if you have your friends come over to your house (or anybody's location in particular), and they start clicking on AdSense links, you will almost certainly get caught by Google, as everyone will be surfing out via the same IP on the router. That's a big no-no!
Make sure your friends know NOT to click on the Adsense links.
Written on 23/5/06 5:58 AM
Excellent thought Bill.
Yes an Adsense party could immediately get you kicked out of the program if your friends are not aware of the issue.
My suggestion would be to either temporarily switch to adsense testing mode. But yes, it may mean that you won't make money from people outside the party.
Written on 23/5/06 9:38 AM
nice article amit...thanks
Written on 2/8/06 11:53 PM
Thanks amit , i am very new to this blogging and adsense concept have got a blog ready with adsense on it but do not know how to publicise my blog.Any tip on this please
Written on 15/8/06 11:18 AM
Hi nasty, You are setting on the Horse now you mustRide it. As you have created your blog it should be search engine friendly i.e relevant keywords. Now to get many visitors to your blog you should be ranked High in search engine and to do this BACK LINKS are very very necessary. As you can see this blog is having page rank of 6 that is Awesome thats why it is getting lots of traffic. This blog has around 1870 Back links in Google & Inlinks (21,282) in yahoo
Amit is riding the money game " Good Game AMIT"
Written on 3/10/06 4:07 PM
I am not sure how you can block Advertisers based on low paying ads.
You really don't know how much the advertiser is paying to show that AD on your page.
Written on 10/10/06 2:58 AM
This is an excellent post!
Written on 25/10/06 10:33 PM
Nice post
Written on 27/10/06 9:31 PM
very good one amit...thanks
Written on 28/10/06 6:29 AM
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Written on 31/10/06 11:29 AM
nice tips although the "fraudulent activity" idea pretty much is a bad thing IMHO.
i mean, anyone can practically screw up your revenues and get you banned from AdSense just by spam clicking your ads. it might just be a pranksted doing it just for the fun of it or maybe someone who hates you. any ideas to avoid this?
Written on 5/11/06 4:10 AM
i have just started blogging recently i have to learn a lot the info seems very useful ,still some things r unclear such as blocking ads and placement of ads and large display ads
Written on 8/11/06 4:26 PM
It's nice that i found this blog during my first day on adsense two days ago. Thanks Amit for this nice blog about adsense and it really helps a lot to everyone. Sorry for posting my site though it's not a blog, and just want to show everyone if i created adsense correctly.
Written on 2/12/06 9:45 PM
Tell you something great!!
With your tips and some tips i get from the URL
below, im able to triple my adsense revenue this month.
Good job both of you.. Thanz ya
http://adsensepajamas1.blogspot.com/
Written on 3/12/06 2:33 PM
nice post amit,but as i think google adsense should be of profit for both advertisers and publishers if its not then adsense may die a day, i dont think its better to block ads
Written on 6/1/07 8:09 PM
I work in company of 30000 employees, most of them use same proxy server. Google is not counting any visits and clicks coming from this proxy, though they're done by different employees. Any solutions?
Written on 14/1/07 12:41 PM
Hi Amit, your bolg is a treasure for all the bloggers out here. Thanks for this great contribution to the bloggers community. my blog
Written on 23/1/07 11:22 PM
i can't get my site's adsense generate useful ads. there is nothing i can do?
Written on 24/1/07 12:30 AM
superb content buddy i liked and read whole of it :)
Written on 18/4/07 2:14 AM
Thanx Amit. Great Article for Novices like me.
Written on 2/5/07 11:04 AM
I am a beginner and have a new blog, too.
I learned many tips such as blocking ads and placement of ads and large display ads.
Thank you very much!.
Written on 22/6/07 6:55 AM
Inresting post, added it to stumbleupon. I think it more productive for sites (blogs) with high visitors. Now we try change adsense ads for adsense 2.0 (cpa) And it more productive, because more money for low click.
Written on 24/8/07 1:43 PM
Thanks Amit, very usefull information.
Written on 4/9/07 5:05 PM
Amit,
You said, "1 adlink unit " we can place in a page!
But Google says at their policy, "Up to three link units may also be placed on each page."
Please corrct me.
Written on 28/9/07 7:52 PM
yeah i think i heard google allows three text/image ads, three link ads and three referral on a single page. so the total is nine.
Written on 2/10/07 1:49 AM
Hey thanks for the tips, I think that different blogs with different topics will have different adsense earnings result.. for example my money making blog, don't really yield lots of cash for each click...
Written on 15/11/07 7:26 PM
Some the tips are unique and cannot be found anywhere. Great informative resource for Adsense Publishers.
Written on 21/11/07 2:22 PM
A very helpful customisation guide. Though I knew most of the things already, they were somewhere at the back of my mind, but never really implemented them. Thanks for sharing the info.
Written on 26/11/07 9:47 PM