Google AdSense Guide
This page is part of Ron Mertens' web page guides.
Google AdSense will probably become your main web site money-making tool.
Basically, AdSense is a contextual advertisement program by Google. You place a small piece of code in your site, and
Google will automatically place relevant ads in your site. AdSense is hugely successful - mainly because it makes a lot of money.
Most web publishers simply find that no other advertisement program can make the same amount of money like AdSense.
Introduction / Adwords
It all started when Google introduced their AdWords program. AdWords is the program advertisers use to buy "sponsored" links
in Google search result pages.
The AdWords system is a sophisticated bidding system. Advertisers bid on ads (how much money they are willing to pay
for each click) on specific keywords, using small text-based ads.
The beauty is that the ads that appear on top are not necessary the ones that pay the most per click. They are the ones that
make the most money to Google.
To understand it, you have to see that Google computes the eCPM (Estimated CPM) that each ad brings it. The higher eCPM
ads are displayed first. It is best understood with an example -
Let's say advertiser A has an Ad, and he is willing to pay 1$ per click, but only 1 out of 100 viewers click on it (1% Click through rate). So for each
1,000 impressions, Google earns 10$ (=10$ eCPM). Advertiser B offers only 0.5$ per click, but his ad is more useful, and has a 5% click through history.
So google will get 25$ eCPM on this ad, and will prefer to display it over the first one.
Google keeps track of all the ads performance, in real time, and makes sure that the best performing ads are the visible ones.
AdSense
So here comes AdSense. AdWords was hugely successful for Google, and they had much more advertisers than internet searches. So they
opened their AdWords program for other "publishers" to join in - the content network. So you can have AdSense in your site,
and the same AdWords advertisers will also publish they ads in your site, using the same eCPM bidding system.
AdSense for Content
The "regular" Ad type is called an AdUnit, and is usually a banner or a skyscraper (slim and long) unit. It contains
several small text ads. You can place up to 3 AdUnits in your web page (although it's usually
better not to overdo it).
There are also image ads. You can choose whether you want these, and if you do sometimes the complete ad banner will be replaced
with a single image ad.
The last ad type is the AdLink. An adLink unit is a small horizontal or vertical list of subjects. If the user clicks on one of them, it will
transfer him to a page with sponsored links to that subject. A further click on one of the the ads is the click that will bring
you the money, and your visitor will go to the advertised site. The first click does not count (and in fact you can click on your own AdLink as long as you do not click on the ads inside of
course). AdLinks sound like a funny concept, but they can be a really good money maker. They take up just a little space, and from my own
experience are actually better than normal ads. You'll be able to see them on almost all my pages...
All the 'regular' ads are called AdSense for Content.
AdSense for Search
Another option for you is to use AdSense for Search. The idea is that you insert a search box that allows you to search your site (or the entire
web). If people use it, they will see sponsored ads inside, just like using regular searches. A click on these ads will get you money, just like
AdSense. In the guides index page, there's a search box at the bottom, and it uses AdSense for search.
Usually the earnings from AdSense for search are much lower than AdSense for content, but you never know what might work
for your site!
CPI ads
Recently Google added the ability for advertisers to buy CPI (Cost per impression) ads in the content network. These ads are
targeted specifically for certain sites (i.e. the advertiser will have to specifically insert your site's address in order for the
ads to appear). The ads still compete (They have an easy eCPM computation) with the normal CPC AdWords ad.
Referrals
Last, and also least, are the Google Referral ads. These are actually affiliate deals by Google. They promote several products, which you can
promote in turn in your site. For example, you can promote the Picasa software for photo organizing. If someone clicks on your ad, and then
install it (It's a free software...) you can get up to 2$.
There is also an AdSense referral option. If someone joins Adsense, and earns 100$ in 6 months time, you will get 100$ yourself for bringing
him in. Quite a nice deal.
Try, try and try some more
It turns out that things like ad placement, type and colors make a huge effect on click through rates. In fact, you can get
double the CTR (And thus earnings) just by blending your site a bit better, or moving them around, or changing their size.
The important thing is to experiment. It works.
Channels
In order to help you with your experiments, you can setup channels in your ads. You have custom channels so you'll know
how each single Ad performs (You have to include the channel code in the ad code, it's all done from Google AdSense's control
panel on the web), and you have URL channels (You define a certain URL to track) so you'll know how your entire domain or a certain page performs.
Stats and AdSenseLog
The fun part in AdSense is to login into your account, and check up the latest statistics. How many people viewed my ads? how many of them
clicked? and, of course, how much did I make?
Google update their statistics every few minutes, but they give very basic stats. To help web site publishers maximize their
profit and time, Metalgrass software developed a desktop (windows) software called AdSenseLog. It will automatically login into your account, alert
you when new data arrives (with a popup, sound, mail or even SMS message), display graphs, and helps you to find trends and perfect
your AdSense business. AdSenseLog is a free download (30 days trial), costs 50$ and actually comes free if you do not earn more than 50$
monthly. Here are some screen shots -
Forums, more info
Obviously I just gave you the tip of the iceberg when AdSense is considered. There is a lot of information on the web, and most
of it is in forums. I recommend the following -
Alternatives
There are actually several alternatives to AdSense. One of them is Yahoo's program, which unfortunately is still closed for people
outside of the United States. Microsoft are said to come with a similar program, and there are smaller contextual networks around.
Be careful...
The number one enemy of AdSense is click fraud. Obviously the advertisers don't want to pay for clicks that are not 'real'. There's
no easier way to get banned from AdSense than clicking your own ads. Be sure not to do that!
In fact, it's a good idea to read AdSense's Terms and Services (TOS) to make sure you do not do anything illegal. Basically as long as
you do not click on your ads, encourage others to click on them and play with the AdSense code, you should be okay.
AdSense will not work on all languages. That means, for example, that if you web page is mostly in Hebrew, you can't put
AdSense for content ads. You may however use AdSense for search, and Hebrew referral buttons. Google are said to be working on
Hebrew Adsense, so hold your breath.
And it's also not allowed to discuss your earnings or stats, and that's why I won't be doing it...
Bits and pieces
Joining AdSense is easy. It takes around 5 minutes to complete the details, and you can quickly start to serve ads in your
site. It might take a couple of days for the ads to become relevant, though.
Just click on the AdSense ad at the top of this page, and you can be earning money within minutes!
What's next?
So you have a web site, and you are ready to make money from ads. Now let's review the Search engine introduction.
