What Is Adsense?
How Does It Work?
Many website owners want to know what is Adsense. You run across that word constantly while studying to become a webmaster. It is mentioned in several ebooks, it is all over the web and you see it all the time. So what is it and how can it help you?
As stated on the Google Adsense website, "Google AdSense is a program enabling online businesses to earn revenue from serving ads precisely targeted to specific web content and search pages.
With service levels ranging from online sign-up to dedicated support management, a broad range of sites profit from AdSense. Thousands of Google advertisers also benefit from AdSense by gaining exposure on sites across the Google Network, which includes many of the Top 100 Media Metrix sites such as AOL, About.com, Amazon, Ask.com, and Lycos."
This image below shows 3 different kinds of Adsense ads that I have placed on my other website (Theme Party Queen). Highlighted in light purple above the left nav bar are two link blocks stacked on top of each other. At the top of the content area highlighted in green is one 336 x 280 ad block and in the right column also highlighted in green is a 160 x 600 skyscrapper.
You have probably seen ads like these on almost every site you visited. These are Google Adsense ads.
The Adsense program is a win-win for publishers like me because the income that I make from these ads helps to offset website expenses and allows me to continue offering free content for my visitors to read.
Adsense is a win for advertisers because it allows them to place ads very strategically on sites that have done a good job attracting the kind of customer they are looking for. Carefully positioned ads on the right kind of site increases the likelihood that their ads will be clicked on and result in a sale.
What Is The Difference Between Adsense and Adwords?
When I first started out, I was confused about the difference between Adsense and Adwords. I am not going to go into a lot of detail here about Adwords but I wanted to briefly define Adwords so that you understand the difference before we continue.
Adwords, also known as Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising, is when advertisers pay a fee so that their ads have priority placement on your Google search results page (as opposed to placement on websites like Adsense ads).
Depending on how many advertisers are vying for position at any given time, you may see ads just at the top or at the top and down the right side of your results page as shown here (yellow highlighted areas).
How Adsense Works
Basically, publishers like me open an account with Adsense then we follow these steps:
- Choose the size of the ad that is most appropriate for the page where the ad will be displayed. Click here to learn more about the Best Google Ad Sizes.
- Choose the color and font size for the ad. Click here to learn more about the Best Google Ad Colors and size to use.
- Set up a Channel to help track the ad's performance
- Set up Placement Targeting
- Use the Heat Map to determine best ad position - Click here to learn more about why you should use the Google Heat Map.
- Add Adsense code to HTML document - Click here for help with Adsense Code.
How Many Ads Can I Have On One Page?
There are restrictions on how many Adsense ads can be placed on a page. At the time of this writing, you can place on a single page:
- A maximum of 3 Ad Units
- A maximum of 3 Link Units
- A maximum of 2 Search Boxes
If you try to place more Google ads than what is allowed, you will end up with blank spots where you placed the code. Not a pretty site!
In most cases, utilizing a combination of all of these types of ads is plenty and provides advertisers with multiple options. On my pages I usually use 2 or 3 ad units, 2 or 3 link units and one search box. More than that would be overkill in my opinion.
Other Adsense How To Pages
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Google Ad - Best Type and Size To Use If you are going to place a Google Ad on your website, it is important to choose the best type and size for each webpage. Certain types have been found to be more profitable than others. Learn more here. |
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Best Adsense - Fonts and Colors To Use Learn how to choose the best Adsense colors and fonts to improve ad performance. Some combinations do better than others and just a little tweak can make a huge difference. |
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Adsense Code You created some ads in the Adsense interface. Now what? Learn where to get the Adsense code and how to place it in your HTML documents so that the ads are displayed on your pages. |
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Heat Map - PDF For Proper Placement Position your ads in the hottest spots on a page most likely to result in a click using our Adsense Heat Map PDF. |
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Adsense Earning - Improve Using Channels Google Channels can dramatically increase Adsense earning potential by helping you track ad performance. Set them up on high traffic pages. Learn more here. |
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Adsense Tips - How Targeting Can Improve Results One of the most important Adsense tips we can give you is to use placement targeting which helps advertisers better understand the space you have available. Increase Adsense earning potential by making this one change to your strategy. |
