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Site targeting: a refresher
Friday, December 30, 2005
Over the past few months, we've written
several posts
about
site targeting
, but given the questions we've received, we thought this might be a good time to review the details of site targeting, what it means for you as an AdSense publisher, and how site-targeted ad campaigns fit into the AdSense model.
First, a bare-bones explanation of the program. Using site targeting, AdWords advertisers can enter their CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) ad directly into their site's ad auction. That CPM ad will compete against the CPC (cost-per-click) ads in the auction -- and if it wins, it will run in place of the CPC ads that would have otherwise appeared. As an AdSense publisher, you get paid for each impression on that ad, rather than for each click.
So what does this mean? It means AdWords advertisers and AdSense publishers can connect in a way not previously possible. AdSense publishers can now offer advertisers the opportunity to bid directly on their site through
Onsite Advertiser Sign-up
, and advertisers can pull up a list of sites in the content network, large or small, that falls under any vertical or content theme. Advertisers and publishers of all sizes can find each other in the same virtual forum.
Site targeting also means
more money for you
. Period. If a site-targeted ad (text or image) appears on your site, it means that that ad is paying you more than any CPC ad that would appear in that ad unit. Many publishers have seen dramatic revenue increases as a result of these site-targeted ads appearing on their pages.
Some of you have asked, "How is an ad for an off-road vehicle targeted to my pages about hiking?" Excellent question! Contextual targeting, or targeting the text on your site (the primary targeting mechanism of AdSense), is only one form of targeting. With the launch of the site targeting program, advertisers can select sites that are relevant to their prospective visitors, thereby targeting an audience, not just content. So although the ad campaign may not be targeted directly to your site's content, it will be relevant to the specific or general interests of your readers. AdSense has always been, and will always remain, a targeted advertising system -- we're just implementing new targeting approaches to help you monetize.
Some advertisers target many AdSense sites to reach a broad set of users and interests. Others use site targeting campaigns to target only a handful of sites and a very specific interest niche. And many fall in between these two. Regardless of the level of reach, site targeting campaigns all work to provide higher network CPMs, effective monetization, and fresh, dynamic content rolling through our system.
Remember, you maintain control over the types of ads that are appearing on your pages. So if you ever see an ad on your site that you'd rather not show, simply add the destination URL of the ad to your
competitive filter list
, and with a snap of our fingers (well, ok, it might take a little longer than that -- but no more than 5 hours), the ad will stop appearing. Your filter list works for both keyword-targeted and site-targeted ads.
We really appreciate all of your feedback about these campaigns. We say this a lot, but it's true: we take your comments very seriously. Never hesitate to
send them to us
.
Here's to a safe and happy New Year, from all of us here at AdSense.
UPDATED with accurate waiting time
Posted by Mike - AdSense Publisher Support
Site maintenance this Friday
Thursday, December 29, 2005
While many of you may be on vacation this week, some of our engineers are working hard to ensure the performance and stability of AdSense. Occasionally this means taking down the main AdSense site (http://www.google.com/adsense) for updates. At 8PM PST this Friday (12/30), it will be unavailable for up to 6 hours while we complete some engineering work. Of course, all your AdSense ads will still serve properly and all your stats and earnings will be recorded as usual. We'll bring the site back up as soon as we can.
In the meantime, we hope you have a happy and high-earning new year!
Season's greetings!
Posted by Rob - AdSense Product Management
AdSense fan mail 1
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
To celebrate the holiday season, we thought we would share with you some of the letters we have received from publishers. Here is one from Germany:
We greatly appreciate your service and feel deeply honoured to be playing amongst Google's Top Leagues now - for us it really is an honour.
The whole team here is enthusiastic and motivated to optimise AdSense earnings based on your recommendations as soon as possible.
Last year your AdSense program saved us from being taken over by a competitor - we will never forget that.
-moonchild media AG (Germany)
We really appreciate hearing from publishers, and of course are very glad when they're happy as this publisher is. But whether your experience is positive or not, we want to hear from you too. Email us
here
.
Posted by Susan - AdSense Product Marketing
What's a webinar again?
Thursday, December 22, 2005
We're always looking into better ways to communicate with you to help you get the most of AdSense. So on Wednesday, December 21st we held a
webinar
to provide an overview of some recently launched AdSense features including
Onsite Advertiser Sign-up
,
referrals
,
section targeting
,
themed ad units
, and
custom
and
emailable
reports. We also discuss each in our previous blog posts -- feel free to browse through these.
Satya Patel from product management, Mohammed Abdoolcarim from product marketing, and Phoebe Ho from account management were on hand to provide information about their areas of expertise. Their presentations concluded with a live Q&A session you might also find useful.
If you missed it, be sure to watch a recorded version of the New Features Webinar
here
(Firefox users, you will need to view this in Internet Explorer).
Posted by Suzie - AdSense Publisher Support
Flair for your ad units
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Are your artistic talents limited to crayon drawings of stick figures? Good, looks like I'm not the only one. For those of us who peaked at a seven-year-old skill level, here's a holiday gift from a true artist: Google's
Dennis Hwang
.
Our new themed ad units incorporate elements from
past Google logos
created by Dennis, to give your pages a little extra flair during various holidays and special events. You can enable or disable themed ad units by logging into your account, visiting the
My Account
tab, and scrolling down to the Ad Type Preference section to click 'edit.' Check or uncheck the box marked 'enable themed ad units when available' - any changes you make will take effect within 24 hours.
If you've enabled themed ad units, users who visit your site may see themed ad units that are relevant to their geographic location (as determined by user IP address) and the date or season. Depending on your location, you should see the seasonally themed ad units for the winter holidays start appearing on your site soon and remain until December 26th. Here comes one now.
Happy holidays, everyone.
Posted by Shannon - AdSense Product Management
A note from AdWords regarding your site-targeting concerns
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
When we launched site-targeting in June, we created a new way for AdWords advertisers and AdSense publishers to benefit from each other. Advertisers use the Site Tool, a
site-targeting
feature, to choose specific sites from the Google content network on which to place their ads. This makes it possible for advertisers to spend more of their marketing budgets on specific sites. For publishers, it's a great way to increase coverage and eCPMs.
Many publishers have asked why we decided to lower the minimum CPM bid required for advertisers to run site-targeted campaigns. As you know, we're constantly working to improve the experience for our users, advertisers and publishers. To this end, the lowered minimum CPM for site-targeted ads allows advertisers to more accurately price their ad placements on a wider variety of sites.
Sounds like a bad deal for publishers, right? It's not. By lowering the minimum CPM we've increased adoption of the product and competition for placements on your site(s). This leads to higher payouts and better coverage. Remember, CPC and CPM ads compete against each other to display on your site, and we'll only show the ads with the highest eCPM. So you can be assured that increased competition will only help you improve monetization of your site.
Posted by Sarah - AdWords Advertiser Support
Out of the box and in your inbox
Friday, December 16, 2005
In our continuing efforts to find a cure for
G.A.S.S.
, we now enable publishers to have your AdSense stats emailed directly to the recipient of your choice. Daily, weekly, or monthly relief from G.A.S.S. is just a few easy steps away:
Step 1
: On your "Report Manager" page, under your
Reports
tab, choose a custom report from the list. (If there aren't any listed,
create a new custom report
with the settings you want.)
Step 2
: Select the frequency, recipient, and format of email reports from the dropdowns. To add a new recipient, click "edit addresses" and enter a new email address.
Step 3
: Click "Save changes" to schedule your report for mailing.
We hope this new feature will provide you with the freedom to be away from your AdSense account. There's a whole world outside your AdSense account - one that you can explore for new content for your site. ;)
Posted by Julie - AdSense Publisher Support
The search for a better search box
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Publishers have told us they want more control over the look and feel of the
AdSense for search
box, and we've listened. There's a new search query box in town - check out your
AdSense for search
tab to design your very own.
What's changed? First, we cleaned up the design a bit to make it smaller and more compact, allowing you to set the logo position and search box length to best fit your site design. Plus, we've added the "'Google Search' on button" logo option, which enables you to select from a number of different background colors or enter any HTML code to match the color of your site. All these changes add up to enhanced customization and flexibility.
You've asked us, "Why can't Google just let us edit the text and design any query box we want?" While we're always looking to give publishers more customization options, we also feel that consistency in how our code is used and how the Google logo is displayed is good for the long-term integrity of the Adsense program. Rest assured that we're constantly working to provide more options, whether it's improved reporting, more creative styles, or a redesigned search box.
Posted by Hunter - AdSense Product Management
For faster, more secure payments, try EFT
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
If you have an AdSense account in one of
these countries and territories
, we encourage you to sign up for payments by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). We're working to expand our EFT support, so if payments by EFT aren't currently available for your location, know that we appreciate your patience in the meantime.
If you're new to EFT payments, signing up is easy: in the
Payment Details
section of the
My Account
tab, click 'edit' to enter your bank account information, then verify a test deposit we'll make to your bank account. Once your account is verified, you can begin receiving payments more quickly and securely. If you'd like more detailed instructions on signing up, you can find them
here
.
Posted by Alexa - AdSense Publisher Support
Tipping you off
Friday, December 09, 2005
If you haven't done so already, check out our improved
Google AdSense tips page
.
While it still offers many classic tips you may be familiar with, our redesigned tips page is now better organized, with more visual examples of optimization in action.
Posted by Suzie - AdSense Publisher Support
Paramount site-targeting AdSense publishers
Thursday, December 08, 2005
In a recent
BusinessWeek
article, "
Grabbing The Grassroots
" (
BusinessWeek
, November 21, 2005), David Kiley profiled Paramount Pictures' use of
site targeting
to reach a specific and relevant audience for three of their films:
Hustle & Flow
,
Four Brothers
and
Aeon Flux
.
Site targeting allowed Paramount to find many smaller, niche sites with users who they felt would have a particular interest in the films. Kiley describes these as "specialized networks of what are often small online sites and blogs," and notes that such sites "increasingly [soak] up Net surfers' attention," -- which means it's more possible than ever to reach an increasingly fragmented audience.
"With
Hustle & Flow
, Paramount had the ideal test case for this kind of advertising," Kiley explained. "The film is about an aspiring rap singer, specifically a performer of 'crunk,' 'a Dixie-originated hip-hop genre marked by lurching beats and bellowed choruses.
Hustle & Flow
was a blowout hit at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, but Paramount couldn't count on that industry buzz making it to the grass roots of crunk enthusiasts the movie studio wanted to reach."
By plugging terms like 'crunk', 'Memphis', and the names of some of the movie's stars into Google's
Site Tool
(a tool that automatically returns a list of sites related specific topics or categories), Paramount was able to identify and advertise on 170 different niche sites.
As the
Hustle & Flow
example demonstrates, when advertisers want to reach the audience that's most receptive to their message, they're interested in targeting not just the big sites, but content-rich smaller sites as well. To make it easier for advertisers to target ads to smaller sites, AdSense has added features like
Onsite Advertiser Sign-up
.
Thanks to all our publishers in the AdSense network for creating the kind of content that makes this type of targeted-reach possible for those of us on the advertising side.
Posted by Bismarck - AdWords Product Marketing
Queries and PageRank and Traffic – oh my!
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
As you may recall from previous posts,
Google Sitemaps
and
Google Mobile Sitemaps
are quick and easy ways for you to submit all your pages to the Google index and help improve your visibility on Google. But did you know that now with Google Sitemaps you can see which Google search queries are driving traffic to your website and what your PageRank distribution is for all your pages in Google? And, to help you make your site more bot-friendly, Sitemaps also shows you which pages returned errors (and which specific errors were returned) when the Googlebot tried to crawl them.
The best part? You don't even have to submit a sitemap to get all these stats - just
create a Sitemaps account
and add your site to it. Once you verify ownership of the site we'll show you
these stats
so that while you're working on
creating your sitemap
, you can already start getting valuable feedback on your Google traffic and crawl status.
Posted by Shaluinn - Sitemaps Product Marketing
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