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Inside AdSense
Google's official blog for news, tips and information on AdSense.
Beyond ad performance optimization
Thursday, February 28, 2008
When we talk about optimization in AdSense, we usually focus on testing different formats, colors, and locations for your ad units. But it's just as important, if not more so, to optimize your site's content to make it as user-friendly as possible. Which homepage design do your users respond most to? Which headline or graphic will entice your users to spend more time reading your articles? Knowing the answers can help you implement the most user-friendly elements, increasing user loyalty and engagement. And as
we've noted
, more engaged, more frequent users means more eyes on your AdSense ads.
You can determine the answers to the questions above (and more) by using Google Website Optimizer, a free tool available through Google AdWords. It lets you try out different layouts and content for your site and conduct either an
A/B test or a multivariate test
to track how different content affects your users. To learn more about Website Optimizer, just visit their
informational site
to find out everything you need to know before getting started. If you don't yet have an AdWords account,
sign up here
to access Website Optimizer.
Finally, we encourage you to attend a free online seminar about Website Optimizer. Your host will be Tom Leung, Product Manager for Website Optimizer, and the guest presenter will be Bryan Eisenberg from FutureNow, Inc. Tom and Bryan will introduce Website Optimizer, share best practices for testing, and discuss some of the top elements to test on any webpage. Here are all the details:
What:
Website Optimizer: What Should I Test?
When:
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Time:
9:00 - 10:00 am PST
Register to attend
.
Best of luck with optimizing your site, your ad units, and beyond.
Updated AdWords URL for accuracy
Posted by Katie Mandel and Jon Stona - AdSense/AdWords Product Marketing
Updated Terms and Conditions
Monday, February 25, 2008
Every now and then, we update the AdSense Terms and Conditions to make sure they're in line with policies across Google, and to prepare for future changes to the products and services we offer. As part of these regular updates, you'll soon sign in to your account and see that the Terms have been updated, prompting you to read through and accept them.
This time around, most of the changes to the Terms and Conditions fall into two broad categories: 1) future products and features and 2) privacy requirements. Specifically, one of the main changes is that the terms anticipate future products that may become available in other advertising formats and mediums, for example Gadget Ads. As we look forward to monetizing more online and offline content, we've re-worded some portions of the terms to make them applicable across a broader array of media and formats -- anticipating, for example, that future products may be priced, paid, or managed differently than current ones.
We've also added some specific requirements that make it necessary for publishers to post and abide by a transparent privacy policy that users see. According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process. This change relates to advertisers' use of innovative products and features like Gadget Ads and other offerings in the future.
The changes aren't limited to the areas above, however; we've made small changes throughout, so it's a good idea for you to review them thoroughly before accepting.
Posted by Julie Beckmann - AdSense Publisher Support
Fueling creativity in online video - with AdSense for video beta
Thursday, February 21, 2008
We know that publishers are quickly adding video to their sites and looking for ways to earn additional revenue. If this sounds like you, look no further than AdSense for video, our solution for qualifying publishers. You may remember that we announced AdSense for video
as a pilot last May
.
Since then, we've tested a variety of ad formats with the interest of users, publishers and advertisers in mind. As a result, we've decided that AdSense for video will use the InVideo ads adopted on our own property, YouTube, which enable advertisers to make a single buy at scale. Also competing in the auction - and unique to AdSense for video and AdSense video units - are text overlay ads which are contextually targeted to signals in your videos and on the page where the video lives. The InVideo ads are paid on a
CPM basis
, while the text overlay ads are paid on a
CPC basis
. You can see ad demos
here
. While we'll continue to test a variety of ad formats, we believe that overlays are the best way to balance user experience with the needs of our publishers.
AdSense for video is now available to publishers who, at a minimum, serve one million video streams each month and are based in the U.S. with English language sites. In the near future, we do plan to expand the program to more publishers of various sizes and locations.
You may be wondering how this offering differs from the other video advertising solutions that AdSense (and YouTube) have rolled out in the last year. To give you an overview, we've launched a site at
www.google.com/videoadsolutions
.
To apply for AdSense for video beta, please visit the AdSense for video page on the
Google Video Advertising Solutions site
. You can also learn about the various ways to earn revenue from video content by watching this video.
Posted by Ryan Hayward and Lilly Wolfson -- AdSense Product Marketing/Publisher Support
In for a penny, in for a pound key
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
As
more publishers
are being asked to complete the
phone verification
process, we've received a number of puzzled emails from our international community asking about the prompt to 'press the pound key'. To clarify, the 'pound key' refers to the '#' symbol (also known as the hash key), and not the '₤' symbol. The pound/hash key can typically be found below the '9' key.
We're working on perfecting our non-US English, and we apologise for any confusion caused ;)
Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support
Site maintenance on Saturday, February 16
Friday, February 15, 2008
Our engineers will be performing routine site maintenance from 10 am to 2 pm PST tomorrow, February 16th. While you'll be unable to access your account during this time frame, your ad serving won't be affected and your reports will continue to track data as usual. Here's the start time of the maintenance for a few cities around the world:
London - 6 pm Saturday
Bucharest - 8 pm Saturday
Mumbai - 11:30 pm Saturday
Manila - 2 am Sunday
Brisbane - 4 am Sunday
Enjoy the weekend!
Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support
Shall we compare thee to a summer's day?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
It's that time of year again: St. Valentine's Day, when we profess our love to those nearest and dearest to us. We weren't sure how effective it would be to send publishers perfumed checks or chocolate-covered PINs; instead, here's our oh-so-original ode to you:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
We heart AdSense publishers,
Especially blog readers like you.
(Hm, we have a long way to go before dethroning Shakespeare.) And finally, since you've often seen members of the Mountain View team on our blog, we'd like to change it up this time with a photo of a few members (and Cupids) of our Dublin team:
(Languages represented in above photo: Dutch, English (UK), Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish)
Happy Valentine's Day!
Posted by Arlene Lee on behalf of the Google AdSense Team
Lucky number ten
Monday, February 11, 2008
Two weeks ago
, we let you know that the PIN and phone verification processes would be automatically triggered at $10, rather than $50. Along those same lines, we've also updated how it works to
choose a form of payment
and
enter tax information
in your account. Because we don't pay out earnings of less than $10, you'll only be able to choose a form of payment and enter your tax info once your earnings reach $10. When you first sign up for AdSense and log in to your account, these options won't be available yet.
So when it comes to payments, consider 10 your new lucky number. Once you receive your PIN or a notice to verify your phone number, you'll know it's also time to head to your account and enter your tax information and select your form of payment. Then you'll be on your way to receiving your
first payment
-- lucky you!
Posted by Julie Beckmann - AdSense Publisher Support
Driving up placement targeting earnings
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Carsurvey.org
is a car review website published by CSDO Media Limited. Initially inspired by some of the earliest experiments in user-generated reviews, the site now hosts almost 100,000 English-language car reviews submitted by visitors from across the globe.
From 1997 to 2000, founder Steven Jackson ran the site as a hobby. However, the growing hosting costs became significant, so Steven opted to run ads to cover them. He joined the AdSense program and was impressed with the initial results, which were further improved by carefully optimising the location, colour and size of the ads. By 2005, the time demands of running a popular website while holding down a day job were no longer sustainable. The steady revenue from AdSense was a major factor in Steven's decision to leave his old career and devote himself full-time to running Carsurvey.org.
AdSense offered Steven many advantages. Its global reach matched Carsurvey.org's diverse user base, and the fact that it separated the selling of ad space from the management of the site was very important to maintaining the sites' independence and credibility. Steven says, "AdSense allows me to focus on running Carsurvey.org for visitors. As long as Carsurvey.org provides a useful service, AdSense helps pay the bills."
Ad placements
As a regular reader of
Inside AdSense
, Steven was quick to pick up on improvements to the custom channel feature, which allows advertisers to target specific site areas using ad placements. He updated his AdSense HTML code to highlight his site via
ad placements
and focused on the most important pages and locations within Carsurvey.org. This made the site more appealing to advertisers, as they could begin to target specific page locations and sections. In addition, it gave more prominence to Carsurvey.org in the AdWords site tool, as you can see in the image below.
Medium rectangles
In addition to implementing the ad placements, Steven also tried another AdSense optimisation tip and added more
image-enabled
300x250 medium rectangle units to his site. Though initially skeptical, as using those units would mean both changing the page layout for all of Carsurvey.org and displaying fewer ads per page, Steven decided to give the change a try.
Accelerating revenue
The improvements were gradual at first, but soon Steven's revenue climbed as advertisers began targeting specific ad placements on Carsurvey.org, namely the new 300x250 units in
prime locations
. Within a few months, Steven saw his placement targeting revenue grow up to six times its previous level; it now represents 60-80% of his overall earnings.
"I can definitely recommend experimenting with the ad placements and image enabled ads, especially in the 300x250 and skyscraper formats recommended by Google. I thought Carsurvey.org was pretty well optimised, but this just shows that experimenting with AdSense ad placements and testing out new features can really pay off," says Steven.
Posted by Colm O'Muire - AdSense UK Optimisation Team
Application delay
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
As you may know, we regularly update our systems to maximize performance. But last week we experienced a few issues during the update, which caused a delay in processing new applications.
We’d like to let you know that everything is back to normal, and we’re working hard to get the backlog processed. If you’ve been waiting to hear back about your application, please be assured that we’ll get back to you soon. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.
Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support
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