Adsense tricks

Thursday, March 27, 2008

[Inside AdSense] Another look at optimizations

We've given you many optimization tips over the years, and, as you know, it's important to consider how your ad implementations affect not only your click-through rate, but your users' and advertisers' experience as well. To support this, we'd like to remind you of the following two guidelines when optimizing your site.

1. Ads shouldn't be placed under a title or section heading in a way that implies that the ads are not ads.
For example, ads shouldn't be placed under titles such as "Dallas Business Opportunities" or "Today's Hot Deals". Placing ads directly below titles such as these implies to your users that the links in the ads are publisher-created content. The example below shows a placement that does not follow this guideline.

2. Ads should be easily distinguishable from surrounding content.
Similarly, you should not place an ad unit by a group of links that has identical colors and line spacing. Doing so may cause users to think the ad unit is content created by you. In this situation, we recommend using a different color for the ad titles or indenting the ad unit to help distinguish the ads from your own content. This screenshot shows an implementation that does not follow this guideline:

As you can imagine, users who click on ads that they think are publisher-created content may lose trust in your site and decide not to return in the future. It's important to keep their interests in mind, as well as your own.

Also, advertisers can tell which sites have a high conversion rate for them using Placement Performance reports. A conversion occurs when a click on an ad leads directly to user behavior that the advertiser deems valuable, such as a purchase, sign-up, page view, or lead. Advertisers have the option to exclude your site from their campaigns and may do so if it is not leading to conversions.

We believe these guidelines invest in the long-term health of the relationship between AdSense publishers, AdWords advertisers, and your sites' visitors, and that they will help ensure your continued success in the AdSense program.

Posted by Meridith Major - AdSense Publisher Support

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Posted By Inside AdSense Team to Inside AdSense at 3/27/2008 12:36:00 P
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

[Inside AdSense] PIN without the pain

As you may know, we'll send you a Personal Identification Number (PIN)
by standard mail when your account first reaches $10 in earnings. This
PIN is used to help verify publisher accounts and addresses for
security purposes. We often receive messages from publishers concerned
about what to look for in the mail, and when they can expect to
receive it. In response, we've created the short video below which we
hope will help address these issues. It might not be a Hollywood
production but hey...even the greats started small ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZJVcQw0c-E

If you don't receive your first PIN, you can still request up to two
more by following the directions at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=14838
. Please note that aside from verifying your PIN, other holds may
apply to your account -- you'll need to remove all holds and generate
$100 in earnings before a payment can take place.

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 10:40:00 AM

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Having trouble viewing the links or images in the message above? Visit http://adsense.blogspot.com/ .

Thursday, March 20, 2008

[Inside AdSense] Stick 'em up!

If you're well versed in webspeak, you're probably familiar with the concept of stickiness -- the quality that entices web users to stick around a given site. Here at AdSense, we're down with the web version of stickiness, but we've got a different kind of adhesive in mind: the kind that lets you take the AdSense logo a-go-go.

That's right, we're talking stickers.

We've printed up a batch of AdSense stickers, and we'd be delighted to send one or two your way, wherever you are in the world. The stickers are designed for laptops, but they'll work just as well for placement on mugs, skateboards, or temporarily on a shirt. (Note: turning a pal into a walking Google ad without their knowledge is not recommended.)

So how do you get one of these glue-backed masterpieces? Easy: send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope with enough postage to return 1 oz of sticker goodness to you from our office in California via standard U.S. mail. (Sorry, we can't help you calculate the postage to your location). Send your envelope, along with a note if you'd like, to:

Google AdSense
c/o Arlene Lee
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
USA

Supplies are limited, so send your envelope soon! Then you can stick with AdSense wherever you go. (And one last thing to keep in mind: while we're flattered that you might want a whole box, note that we're only able to provide one or two per publisher.)

Posted by Julie Beckmann - AdSense Publisher Support

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Posted By Inside AdSense Team to Inside AdSense at 3/20/2008 11:34:00 A
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Having trouble viewing the links or images in the message above? Visit http://adsense.blogspot.com/ .

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

[Inside AdSense] Terms and Conditions clarification

Since updating our Terms and Conditions a few weeks ago, we've received a number of questions related to the new privacy policy and the display language within accounts. We'd like to address those two areas below -- but please keep in mind that as with any legal terms, you may consider consulting legal counsel if you have law-related questions about our Terms and Conditions.

Privacy policy

Unfortunately, we can't suggest any privacy policy language for your specific site, as all sites are set up differently and laws may vary across different countries. You might want to review online resources such as the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), which suggests language for data collection of non-personally identifying information such as:

We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Web site. These companies may use information (not including your name, address email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

Further examples can be found in Appendix A of the NAI Self-Regulatory principles for publishers (PDF).

Display language

At this time, the Terms and Conditions are only available in one language per country -- whatever is determined as the legally binding language. As such, you might see that the Terms and Conditions are displayed in a language different from your Google interface.

You can read our updated Terms and Conditions in a different language, but please keep in mind that the Terms will vary according to the country or territory of your payment address. If you select a different country, the Terms and Conditions you see may not be identical to those appearing in your AdSense account, and therefore may not apply to you.

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

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Posted By Inside AdSense Team to Inside AdSense at 3/19/2008 09:35:00 A
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Having trouble viewing the links or images in the message above? Visit http://adsense.blogspot.com/ .

Monday, March 17, 2008

[Inside AdSense] Working with the Ad Review Center

As you may remember, we started enabling the Ad Review Center for publishers back in December to let you review ads placement-targeted to your site. We've recently enabled the Ad Review Center for more accounts and will continue rolling it out over the upcoming weeks. To get a publisher's perspective on the new feature, we chatted with Richard Tribe, Director of ski.com.au.

Australian snow enthusiasts can visit ski.com.au to learn about resorts and travel deals, as well as news and photos of conditions. The site also serves as a skier community, with videos, forums, wikis, and several blogs. Richard has been using the Ad Review Center to ensure relevant, high-quality ads appear alongside his content. He explains that "the Ad Review Center allowed me to see who was targeting my site, and I saw a wonderful array of high-quality advertisers in there... The Ad Review Center is a great way of managing the quality and style of advertiser you would like to have associated with your publication."

To highlight specific inventory, Richard has turned his custom channels into ad placements. For instance, he found that his live camera feeds of snow conditions drove significant advertiser interest, so he created specific snow camera ad placements. He elaborates, "That extra choice helps make my site look more attractive and allows advertisers to place their ads exactly where they want to place them." With targetable custom channels, Richard has given advertisers more control over where their placement-targeted ads can appear, and using the Ad Review Center, he ensures those ads are relevant to his site's audience.

To check if the Ad Review Center has been enabled for your account, visit the 'Competitive Ad Filter' page under the AdSense Setup tab and look for a green notification box.

When setting up the Ad Review Center in your account, we strongly recommend you keep your review preference set to the default of 'Run ads immediately', and review placement-targeted ads after they have run. Ads don't participate in the auction while they are awaiting review, and ads that you have blocked can't compete in the auction either. We ask that you consider the revenue implications before blocking ads or switching from the 'Run immediately' setting.

Happy skiing (and reviewing)!

Posted by Katie Mandel - AdSense Product Marketing

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Posted By Inside AdSense Team to Inside AdSense at 3/17/2008 08:48:00 A
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Thursday, March 13, 2008

[Inside AdSense] Introducing Google Ad Manager

As part of our continuing commitment to provide publishers of all sizes with tools to improve revenue opportunities and productivity, we're excited to announce Google Ad Manager.

If you operate a site with remnant ad inventory as well as reserved ad inventory that you sell directly to advertisers, then Ad Manager is for you. It can help you sell, schedule, deliver, and measure directly-sold and network-based inventory. Google Ad Manager offers a wealth of features, including an intuitive user interface, automated yield optimization, and proven Google speed and reliability. Best of all, Google Ad Manager is free.

Ad Manager currently addresses the ad management and serving needs of publishers with smaller sales teams and effectively complements the DoubleClick Revenue Center, which is focused on publishers with large sales teams. We're excited to add DART for Publishers to our suite of products,and we're committed to the continued development and enhancement of DoubleClick's offerings.

To learn more or apply for Google Ad Manager beta, visit our website.

Posted by Anuj Srivastava - AdSense Product Marketing

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Posted By Inside AdSense Team to Inside AdSense at 3/13/2008 10:09:00 A
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Having trouble viewing the links or images in the message above? Visit http://adsense.blogspot.com/ .

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

[Inside AdSense] Payment holds, held up

We've heard from a few of you that even though you've already reached $10 in earnings, you're not seeing the prompt to remove payment holds on your account. So we turned to our payments specialist Dan Marcus:

"Every day, our system runs a check to determine which accounts have reached $10 for the first time within the last 24 hours. Since there are a large number of accounts around the world that exceed the $10 threshold each day, our system sometimes doesn't immediately pick up all qualifying accounts. These accounts should be identified after 48 hours, but in rare cases, it can take a bit longer."

If it's been more than a week since you reached $10 and you still don't see a prompt on your Payment History page to select a form of payment, enter your tax information, or view the date your PIN was sent, let us know and we can investigate further. For more information about removing the holds on your account, feel free to visit our Help Center.

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

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Posted By Inside AdSense Team to Inside AdSense at 3/12/2008 09:59:00 A
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Having trouble viewing the links or images in the message above? Visit http://adsense.blogspot.com/ .