Next: CTA: Scams and Click Fraud
Previous: CTA: Google Adwords

Adsense Optimization

AdSense and similar programs have had an impact on search engine optimization and the design of websites. To increase content targeted advertising revenues websites have a number of options:

Increase the number of page views
Increase the click through rate
Target higher value keywords

The number of page views can be increased by increasing the number of visitors to a site. A site that has undergone no serious optimization should be able to significantly increase its AdSense revenues by applying just some of what is described in these pages. Page views can be increased by adding more content and by splitting larger pages. This last point can have an effect on site ranking. Smaller pages can be more focussed. This means that more effective search engine optimization tactics can be applied and that the adverts should be more relevant to the content. Ideally each page should be about a page of text covering a single subject. That way adverts will remain on the screen while the content is read.

Webmasters should also experiment with different ad formats, color schemes and page positioning. Google permits multiple AdSense blocks on a page. So a single image banner advert could be mixed with text adverts on the right margin of the page or adverts could be placed directly within the content at various points.

Advertisers can create or optimize pages for higher value keywords. Obviously some analysis will need to be made against how often searchers query for those keywords. An AdWords account will show what is being bid for keywords.

AdSense adverts are separate from Google search. That means that surfers arriving from Yahoo! MSN Search and other channels will also see the adverts so it can be worthwhile to put some effort into optimizing the pages for those search engines.

There are problems. Some advertisers have noticed a drop off in click-through rates (CTR) over time. This may be related to the number of advertisers bidding for keywords relevant to the site. A small advertiser pool will mean that the same adverts will be recycled. If the site has a high number of repeat visitors they will quickly develop 'AdSense blindness'. Sudden traffic surges, perhaps due to some article capturing the interest of a wider audience, do not seem to transfer to higher revenues. Perhaps these visitors are more focussed on the web page content than a random cross-section of visitors. Adsense also requires visitors to have Javascript enabled on their browsers. Some firms do not allow this on their employees' desktops for security reasons. Google is sometimes unable to serve relevant adverts for a page. This is the case for new pages not yet visited by Mediabot. Mediabot also seems to be amnesiac and forgets about pages that it has not visited for a while. Google serves so called 'public service' adverts when it is unable to find anything relevant. These do not earn money for the site and will only be related to the site's content by chance. Google permits the website to serve alternative adverts in this case. These can be from an affiliate scheme or from another CTA programme.

Adsense Optimization

See Also