Inside AdSense

Helping publishers bust annoying ads

Tuesday, August 08, 2017

Cross posted from The Keywordresearch

launchedAd Experience ReportBetter Ads Standards"This report is great for helping publishers adapt to the Better Ads Standards. The level of transparency and data is incredibly actionable. It literally says here's the issue, here's how to fix it. I think it will be helpful for all publishers."Katya Moukhina, Director of Programmatic Operations, Politico
It's official: Popups are the most annoying ads on the websurveyed

best practices guide Mobile and desktop have different issues

Most issues come from smaller sites with fewer resources

Gaining access to the report
The Ad Experience Report is part of Google Search Console, which means you need to be a verified site owner to access it. You can either ask your webmaster to add you as an owner or user, or verify ownership yourself. Learn more.

Understanding the report
If your site has been reviewed and the status is “Warning" or "Failing," the report will show videos of the ad experiences that are likely to annoy or mislead your visitors. Click on desktop or mobile reports to see the specific experiences identified.

Fixing the issues and requesting a review
Once you’ve identified the violating experiences, work with your ad ops and site design teams to remove the annoying experiences. After that, describe how you addressed each of the issues in the ‘Request review’ area and click ‘I fixed this’. You’ll receive a confirmation email saying your review is in progress. Learn more.

Looking aheadAPIPosted by Scott Spencer, Director of Product Management, Sustainable Ads

Clarification around Pop-Unders

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

At Google, we value users, advertisers and publishers equally. We have policies in place that define where Google ads should appear and how they must be implemented. These policies help ensure a positive user experience, as well as maintain a healthy ads ecosystem that benefits both publishers and advertisers.To get your attention, some ads pop up in front of your current browser window, obscuring the content you want to see. Pop-under ads can be annoying as well, as they will "pop under" your window, so that you don't see them until you minimize your browser. We do not believe these ads provide a good user experience, and therefore are not suitable for Google ads.That is why we recently clarified our policies around pop-ups and pop-unders to help remove any ambiguity. To simplify our policies, we are no longer permitting the placement of Google ads on pages that are loaded as a pop-up or pop-under. Additionally, we do not permit Google ads on any site that contains or triggers pop-unders, regardless of whether Google ads are shown in the pop-unders.We continually review and evaluate our policies to address emerging trends, and in this case we determined that a policy change was necessary.As with all policies, publishers are ultimately responsible for ensuring that traffic to their site is compliant with Google policies. To assist publishers, we’ve provided guidance on best practices for buying traffic.Posted by John Brown, Head of Publisher Policy Communications

Introducing AdSense Native ads

Wednesday, July 05, 2017

AdSense Native adsIn-feedIn-articleMatched content

A great user experience: they fit naturally on your site and use high quality advertiser elements, such as high resolution images, longer titles and descriptions, to provide a more attractive experience for your visitors.

A great look and feel across different screen sizes: the ads are built to look great on mobile, desktop, and tablet.

Ease of use: easy-to-use editing tools help you make the ads look great on your site.

Native In-feed opens up new revenue opportunity in your feeds

In-feed adsfeedsNative In-article offers a better advertising experience

In-article adsMatched Content* drives more users to your content

eligibility criteria“Allow ads” featureGetting started with AdSense Native ads content best practices

In the left navigation panel, click My ads

Click +New ad unit

Select your ad category: In-article, In-feed or Matched content

*This format has already been available to eligible publishers, and is now part of AdSense Native ads.

AdSense now understands Urdu

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

AdSense supported languagesinterestgrowing online Urdu audience

Check the AdSense program policies and make sure your website is compliant.

Add the AdSense code to start displaying relevant ads to your users.

Apply for an AdSense account

Building a better web for everyone

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Cross-posted from The KeywordThe vast majority of online content creators fund their work with advertising. That means they want the ads that run on their sites to be compelling, useful and engaging--ones that people actually want to see and interact with. But the reality is, it’s far too common that people encounter annoying, intrusive ads on the web--like the kind that blare music unexpectedly, or force you to wait 10 seconds before you can see the content on the page. These frustrating experiences can lead some people to block all ads--taking a big toll on the content creators, journalists, web developers and videographers who depend on ads to fund their content creation. We believe online ads should be better. That’s why we joined the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group dedicated to improving online ads. The group’s recently announced Better Ads Standards provide clear, public, data-driven guidance for how the industry can improve ads for consumers, and today I’d like to share how we plan to support it. New tools for publishersThe new Ad Experience Report helps publishers understand how the Better Ads Standards apply to their own websites. It provides screenshots and videos of annoying ad experiences we’ve identified to make it easy to find and fix the issues. For a full list of ads to use instead, publishers can visit our new best practices guide.

The Ad Experience Report “We’ve always put our users first and support the Coalition’s Better Ads efforts and standards. The report’s videos and screenshots are incredibly helpful and make the Coalition’s research actionable for our teams. We’re impressed with the level of detail and transparency Google is providing and commend this initiative.”- Troy Young, President, Hearst Digital Media

As part of our efforts to maintain a sustainable web for everyone, we want to help publishers with good ad experiences get paid for their work. With Funding Choices, now in beta, publishers can show a customized message to visitors using an ad blocker, inviting them to either enable ads on their site, or pay for a pass that removes all ads on that site through the new Google Contributor. “Looking at the past few years, we’ve come to realize that to the rise of ad blockers has negatively impacted potential revenue across all of our properties, particularly in Europe. Funding Choices allows us to have a conversation with visitors using ad blockers on how our business works, and provide them a choice to whitelist or contribute to our newsroom. We’ve found that people are generally open to whitelisting once they understand how content gets created.”- Marc Boswell, SVP, Sales Operations & Client Services, Business Insider

Funding Choices is available to publishers in North America, U.K., Germany, Australia and New Zealand and will be rolling out in other countries later this year. Publishers should visit our new best practices guide for tips on crafting the right message for their audience. Chrome support for the Better Ads StandardsChrome has always focused on giving you the best possible experience browsing the web. For example, it prevents pop-ups in new tabs based on the fact that they are annoying. In dialogue with the Coalition and other industry groups, we plan to have Chrome stop showing ads (including those owned or served by Google) on websites that are not compliant with the Better Ads Standards starting in early 2018. Looking aheadWe believe these changes will ensure all content creators, big and small, can continue to have a sustainable way to fund their work with online advertising. We look forward to working with the Coalition as they develop marketplace guidelines for supporting the Better Ads Standards, and are committed to working closely with the entire industry—including groups like the IAB, IAB Europe, the DCN, the WFA, the ANA and the 4A’s, advertisers, agencies and publishers—to roll out these changes in a way that makes sense for users and the broader ads ecosystem. Posted by Sridhar Ramaswamy
Senior Vice President, Ads and Commerce

Introducing page-level enforcements and a new Policy center

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

announcedpage-level enforcementsPolicy center.Page-level enforcements for more granular policy actions
When a new policy violation on one of your pages is identified, you’ll receive an email notification and ad serving will be restricted on that page. As this is a new feature, you may already have current page-level enforcements that were not surfaced through these email notifications. To make sure you’re not missing anything, head over to the new Policy center to review existing violations.

After you've addressed all policy violations on a page, you may request a review (previously known as an “appeal”). Reviews typically take one week but can sometimes take longer. We'll restore ad serving on the affected page or pages if a page is reviewed at your request and no policy violations are found. Alternatively, you can simply remove the AdSense ad code from that page and the page-level enforcement will disappear from the Policy center in about a week.

More transparency with the new AdSense Policy center

The AdSense Policy center is a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about policy actions that affect your sites and pages. You’ll be able to see:

Non-compliant page(s) or site(s)
Why a page or site is non-compliant
Steps needed to make your page or site compliant
Steps to request a review of the actioned page(s) or site(s)

Follow these steps to see your current page-level enforcements, and request a review of the actioned page(s):

Sign in to your AdSense account.
In the left navigation panel, click Settings, then click Policy center.
In the "Page-level enforcements" section, find the site or sites that have page-level violations and click Show details.
In the "Page" section, click the Down arrow to learn more about the enforcement, the violation(s) on the page, and how to fix them.
Click Request review and tick the box after you’ve made sure the violations on the page are fixed.

Our beta participants provided a lot of great feedback and suggestions on how to make the AdSense Policy center as useful as possible. We’re constantly looking to improve the clarity with which we communicate our policies and policy enforcements, so let us know what you think through the ”Send feedback” link in the AdSense menu.

Learn more about these updates in the AdSense Help Center or head over to the Policy center to try it out.

Posted by: John Brown, Head of Publisher Policy Communications,
Richard Zippel, Publisher Quality Product Manager and
Nick Radicevic, AdSense Product Manager

AdSense Beginner’s Frequently Asked Questions

Thursday, May 25, 2017

What is AdSense?AdSense
Google’s ad network connects advertisers looking to run their ads on the web with publishers like you, looking to monetise your website, making it simple for everyone to succeed. AdSense connects publishers and advertisers, giving AdWords advertisers the opportunity to bid on ad space on websites like yours.
By working with an ad network like AdSense, you can spend less time marketing and selling your advertising space and more time focused on creating the best content for your users. Learn more in the AdSense 101 article.

What do I need to sign up for AdSense?

As a site owner, you’ll need pages with unique content that's relevant to your visitors and that provides a great user experience. Before you apply to AdSense, make sure your site's pages are ready by visiting the AdSense Help Center. If you’re ready to turn your #PassionIntoProfit, sign up for AdSense today.

How do I know if I’m eligible to join the AdSense network?

Before applying for an account, make sure that the site you own has been active for at least six months, and complies with the AdSense program policies.

AdSense also works with products such as Blogger and YouTube to allow you to create host partner accounts. To be eligible for a hosted AdSense account via Blogger or YouTube, you must first meet certain eligibility requirements. Learn more about signing up for an AdSense account via YouTube.

How do I monetize my YouTube channel using AdSense?

To start earning money from your video content, you’ll need to apply for an AdSense account to link to your YouTube account. Follow these steps to become eligible to receive payments:

Make sure your YouTube account is enabled for monetization.
Submit your application to create a new AdSense account to link with your YouTube account. Once approved, you'll see a "Host account" label on your AdSense homepage.
If you also have your own non-host site where you’d like to show ads, then you’ll need to submit a one-time application form to tell us the URL of your site (you only need to complete this step if you want to monetize your site, and don’t need to take this action to earn money from your YouTube videos).

Providing that your site is following the AdSense program policies and you’ve completed 5 steps to getting paid, Google will send your first payment the month after your account exceeds $100 in earnings.

How can AdSense help me grow my online business?

AdSense helps you to create a revenue stream from the valuable content you host on your site. AdSense saves you time with a quick and easy setup allowing you to focus on the elements of your business that require your focus.

It’s like an automatic car -- it removes most of the manual adjustments, allowing you to cruise along with less effort. You still need regular “tune ups” to get optimal performance, but you won’t need to shift gears to get from point A to point B.

What is DoubleClick Ad Exchange?

DoubleClick Ad Exchange gives you real-time access to the largest pool of advertisers.The main difference between DoubleClick Ad Exchange and AdSense is that AdSense does a lot of the technical settings and optimization work for you, such as automating the sale of all your ad space to the highest bidder. With DoubleClick Ad Exchange you manage these adjustments yourself, controlling exactly how your inventory is sold.

As an example, DoubleClick Ad Exchange allows you to choose which ad space is for public sale and which is reserved for private auctions. This additional input from you helps you to get the best results from DoubleClick Ad Exchange.

Another important distinction is that through AdSense, demand is primarily from AdWords advertisers, whereas DoubleClick Ad Exchange pulls demand from multiple sources. This means that in addition to AdWords advertisers, you can also access other major ad networks and agencies. Check out the more comprehensive list of differences at our Help Center.

Should I use DoubleClick for my site?

Check out our Choosing the right tools for you article to figure out if solutions from DoubleClick are right for your site.

Can I use AdSense to monetize my WordPress site?

WordPress doesn’t allow advertising on their free hosting plan (WordPress.com). If you’d like to show ads on your WordPress hosted site, then you’ll need to switch to a self-hosted WordPress.org domain. Visit our product forum and learn how to make this switch.

Can I monetize multiple sites under a single AdSense account?

Yes! AdSense allows you to add multiple sites in association to the same account. This will enable you to monitor the inventory on your sites from the same place, saving you valuable time. Here’s how to set up multiple sites on your account:

Sign in to your AdSense account.
In the left navigation panel, click Settings.
Click My sites.
Click Add.
Enter the URL of the site that you'd like to add (e.g., example.com). If you're unsure which URL to enter, check the section on formatting the URLs of your sites below.
Click Add site.
Your site is added to your site list with a status of "verified".

Check out the Help Center for more info on this!

I’d like help growing my business with AdSense, does AdSense offer performance growth tips?

Yes it does! When setting up your account, simply check the box beside the “I’d like to receive performance suggestions” message.

If you already have an account, go to the Settings tab and check the “Performance Suggestions” box.

If I’m not using AdSense yet, how can I receive performance tips?

Follow AdSense on social media for daily tips on how to optimize your account and product updates; Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.

Also, watch the AdSense Optimization Library playlist on YouTube to learn AdSense best practices, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

How do I get more traffic to my site?

First, you’ll want to take advantage of the options within Google Search Console to make sure your site is visible for search users. The AdSense Help Center has all the information you’ll need to submit your site for index, diagnose any problems, and identify which keyword queries are driving traffic to your site.

Next, follow the Long-term revenue framework, a tool often used by our AdSense optimization experts, to better understand the four levers that can help you grow and develop your site.

Also, catchy titles are a way of pushing referral traffic from social media platforms, and Brandon Gaille wrote a great guest-blog for us that lays out how to approach naming your content.

Be sure to follow AdSense best practice policies when planning your strategy, to avoid violations on your account. It’s important to know that in order to maintain ad serving on your site and keep an AdSense account active, it's the responsibility of the publisher to keep up to date with, and adhere to, the AdSense program policies.

How do I increase clickthrough rates (CTR) in AdSense?

Please see our recent response to this question on Quora where Symone Gamble shared her best practices.

What are responsive ad units?

Responsive ad units automatically control the size of your ads using a single piece of ad code. They also allow ads to be resized after a screen orientation change. Using a responsive ad unit will allow your site to show the most appropriate ad size according to your user's device, and will help you to maximize your revenue potential. Learn more about how responsive ad units work and then check out how to customize responsive ads to match the style of your site.

How can I make my site load faster?

Tools like PageSpeed Insights and Mobile-Friendly Test can be used to audit the speed of your site, identify possible problems, and even suggest solutions. From there, follow these 5 tips to improve page speed published on the Inside AdSense blog and then print out the Ultimate Page Speed Infographic for mobile-specific advice.

Why do I have invalid traffic deductions in my AdSense account?

How do I stop my site getting hacked?

HTTPS protocol ensures your servers are talking to who they are expected to be talking to and the conversation cannot be interrupted by anyone else, and that content cannot be altered in transit.

Make sure your software is up to date: this might seem common sense, but up-to-date software means there are no holes or faults that might make you vulnerable to people with a less than honourable intention.

Passwords: Using safe, secure, and complex passwords will protect the security of your site. Avoid words that contain common words, names of friends, family and pets as these are all easily attainable using social media, leaving yourself at risk. Don’t forget to change your password regularly; set yourself a reminder to change your password every few months.

What can I do if a site that I don't own is using my AdSense code?

Since site code is readily available to anyone who inspects your page, it's possible for someone to copy your ad code and paste it on a site you don’t own. In this case, if the ad code ends up on a site that violates the AdSense program policies, your account will receive a policy warning.

To prevent this, site authorization is an optional feature that lets you identify your verified sites as the only sites that are permitted to use your Google ad code.

Learn more about site authorization on the AdSense YouTube channel.

How to stop certain ads from appearing on my site?

The AdSense 101: You’re in control video will show you how to control the ads displayed on your site.

Why is there a decline in my AdSense revenue?

If your earnings have taken a dip, we recommend you check 4 engagement metrics in the performance tab of your AdSense account:

Clickthrough rate (CTR)
Cost per click (CPC)
Page revenue per thousand impressions (page RPM)
Page views

Here’s a few resources to help you identify the potential causes, and nextstep solutions to solve them.

YouTube video: Why are my Google AdSense earnings declining?
AdSense blog post: Why are my earnings down right now?
AdSense Help Center: Earnings troubleshooter

What are AdSense experiments and how can I run an experiment?

AdSense recently introduced automatic experiments, which allow you to take a back seat as Google runs A/B tests on a small portion of your traffic. To enable the feature, just visit the "Experiments" page on your Optimization tab, and switch on "automatic experiments".

The opportunities generated from these experiments will appear in the “Opportunities” page on your Optimization tab. They'll be labelled "verified by experiment,” so you’ll know they’re backed by data and tailored to your site and users.

Posted by: Jay Castro from the AdSense team

Introducing “Ad balance” - focus on your best-performing ads

Monday, May 08, 2017

May 8, 2017 Update: We've heard your feedback on the empty spaces resulting from an unfilled ad unit. Over the next few weeks, we’ll begin to automatically collapse unfilled ad units -- if it's safe to do so without affecting the look and feel of your site. By using “Ad balance” you’re automatically opted-in to this update.

Thank you for providing feedback to help us improve this and other AdSense features!

---

Over the last few weeks you may have noticed the Ad balance subtab under My ads. This new AdSense feature will give you more control to create a great ads experience for your users.

Ad balance lets you reduce the number of ads you show to your users. Finding the right balance between the number of ads you show and the user experience on your site can lead to better overall engagement with your content. With Ad balance, you’re able to see how changes in the volume of ads you show affect your earnings, and find the balance that makes the most sense for you and your users.

By only showing your best-performing ads, you may see a minimal drop in your earnings. However, these changes may result in an overall earnings increase, since an improvement of the user experience often leads to users staying longer on your site and engaging with more of your content*.

Ad balance is the first example of a Lab that's being made available to all publishers. Those of you who had the Show fewer ads lab enabled have been automatically moved over to Ad balance**. Thank you for trying it out!

To learn more about this new feature, please visit the Help Center.

We’d love to hear what you think about Ad balance. Please leave your feedback within your AdSense account by clicking send feedback.

Posted by:
Dongcai Shen, Software Engineer
Rikard Lundmark, Software Engineer
Spandana Raj Babbula, Software Engineer

*We don’t guarantee any specific results. And, just as a reminder, you’re responsible for the content and layout of your site.
**Find out how you turn this feature on and off and make changes to your settings in the AdSense Help Center.

AdSense 101: Building your brand

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

8 minutes to read

What separates a website from a brand? Credibility, consistency, and community.

Think of the websites you visit most - chances are they’re updated regularly with content that’s familiar and trustworthy. You can also navigate these sites intuitively, without putting any thought into how you’re consuming the content you love or where the links you’re looking for are positioned.

In this blog, we’ll cover how to effectively measure how well your site is performing, how to use experiments to uncover new insights, and how to lay out your site in a way that engages your readers.

Measure your performance with reports
Only by digging deep into how visitors engage with your site can you identify the roadblocks that may keep them from returning.

To make sure you’re up-to-date with everything you need to know, check the ‘common reports’ tab in your AdSense account dashboard. Focus on the following key areas to analyze your overall account performance.

The reporting dashboard gives you a quick summary of three main reporting metrics: estimated earnings, page views, and revenue per thousand impressions (RPM). It’s a great way to quickly check the overall health of your account.
The entire account by day report helps you analyze daily performance, and gives you a better understanding of why your earnings change over time. If you’ve made recent changes to ad units or placements, then it’s a great way to measure how the adjustments affected click-through rates.


	To find this report, visit the Performance reports tab, then Common reports on the left-hand panel, select Ad units and then add Platforms from the top as a secondary dimension.

Use Ad units + Performance to measure your campaign success by device. CTR and Active View Viewable (AVV) are the key metrics to monitor here, with AVV showing you how many of your total measurable impressions were truly viewable. If an ad’s active view percentage is below 50%, then consider placing it in a more prominent area to improve engagement. To learn more about viewability, check out DoubleClick's 5 Factors of Display Viewability.
The Platforms report identifies how ads are performing on different devices. For example, you may find that your ad units are performing better on mobile devices than on desktop (or vice versa). If that’s the case, then measure your web traffic and make sure that your ads are optimized for the devices you receive most traffic from.
If you manage multiple domains within a single account, then use the Sites report to compare performance. The report is especially helpful if you have different mobile and desktop versions of the same site, allowing you to find new ways to optimize UI for consistent experience across devices.

Every website is different, so if there are specific metrics you want to target, then learn how to create your own reports to measure what matters to you.
Use experiments to discover new opportunities
AdSense Experiments split your site traffic into two different ad settings, so you can compare performance and make more informed decisions.
There are three different ways to run experiments on your content:

Design it yourself by choosing the ad setting and variation you’d like to test.
Choose an experiment from an opportunity on your Optimization page.
Use automatic experiments, which allows AdSense to run experiments on a small portion of your web traffic that are tailored to your website.

Experiments can help you to measure the impact of both ad content and ad style on your earnings. Discover whether ‘text only’ or ‘text and display ads’ capture the attention of your audience, and whether or not changing the colors of your ads helps them to blend in.

We recommend allowing automatic experiments on your site, as a time-efficient and easy way to inform your decision-making.

Improve the usability of your site

Great content can get lost when it’s hosted on a website with poor usability. Pages that are slow, needlessly complex, or difficult to navigate are more likely to disrupt your visitors focus and drive them away.

For a better UX, we recommend focusing on the 4 S’s: Speed, scroll, style, and simple.

Speed: A recent study by Google found a strong correlation between page speed and key performance indicators like revenue, bounce rate, session duration, and viewability. Web users are impatient when it comes to loading times, and are likely to get frustrated and abandon slow pages.

To measure the speed of your website, use PageSpeed Insights or the Web Developer Kit. And if you’re looking for some quick fixes to improve loading times, consider asynchronous loading, lazy loading, or AMP.

Finally, use the mobile web speed toolkit for in-depth and tactical recommendations to get your website up to speed.

Scroll: Infinite scroll continues to add new content at the bottom of your page, taking away the need to load new pages.

It’s ideal for publishers that post lengthy articles, tutorials, or slideshows, and works particularly well for websites focused on mobile consumption.

Style: Your website needs to look attractive and consistent across all pages to build immediate trust with new visitors. Focus on two areas: content style and ad style.

For content style, choose a theme, layout, and color scheme, then stick to it. Consistency is key to developing a brand that your readers will grow comfortable and familiar with.

Responsive web design improves UX by maintaining the same look and feel to your site regardless of the device it’s being viewed on.

With ad style, the first thing to consider is how they will affect the flow of content on your site. Placing ads at natural breaks in your narrative, or in areas where the user’s attention may have waned, can improve UX and may encourage a higher CTR (click-through rate).

When placing ads, take some time to consider your options. Responsive ads automatically adapt to your user’s screen size, while native ads and matched content may help you unlock new ad revenue.

Simple: The best digital content is scannable, snappy, and intuitive. By focusing on simplicity, you’re removing the roadblocks that potentially stop users from enjoying your content.

Here’s some tips to make sure your site is as easy as possible to engage with:

Make it touch-friendly for mobile users
Format your content the right way
Use minimalist design where possible.

If you think AdSense is a fit for your website, then sign up and get started.

Posted by Jay Castro, @jayciro

More advertising options for the mobile web

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

optimization guide for the mobile Webhelp center.

Inside AdSense

Helping publishers bust annoying ads

Clarification around Pop-Unders

Introducing AdSense Native ads

AdSense now understands Urdu

Building a better web for everyone

Introducing page-level enforcements and a new Policy center

AdSense Beginner’s Frequently Asked Questions

Introducing “Ad balance” - focus on your best-performing ads

AdSense 101: Building your brand

More advertising options for the mobile web

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