How well an AdSense unit performs on a site depends on several different factors…
1) The page the unit is on
2) Ad relevancy
3) Amount and quality of traffic to the site/page
4) Placement of unit
So I am by no means about to suggest that one size fits all in regards to the units. However, I would like to open up a discussion on what you’ve learned about placement.
I recently tweeted that I am having great success using the 300×250 Medium Rectangle unit alongside my YouTube videos. On certain pages, my click-thru rate has quadrupled.
I actually got this idea from Google. One of their optimization experts suggested this on my site over a year ago. Not sure what took me so long, but I am now implementing this on more pages and the results have been fab.
Let’s talk about what you’ve learned about placement and/or color experimentation. Done anything different to give your earnings a boost? Please share!
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Follow on Twitter: @melvapratt
My highest performing Adsense ad is on my home page. It is placed a the bottom of the content. It is an AdSense unit: 468×60. It is my home page and is my most visited page. The ad is relevant to my site concept.
I do not make a lot of money with Adsense , but it is my most reliable money maker at this point.I had been tweeting lately and my traffic is up and so is my Adsense earnings.
I do not change the colors, when I changed them to make them stand out or so I thought, my clicks went down so I went back to the default colors.
Melva´s last blog … Profitable Home Business Ideas for Writers
Follow on Twitter: @OutbackZack
The 300×250 image/video ad at the top right corner of my website does amazingly well. Ever since placing that ad over the feature video spot I’ve noticed a sudden increase in clicks. However, most of my clicks come from my YouTube videos since I’m a YouTube partner and often get my video featured.
Follow on Twitter: @OutbackZack
I stand corrected, I believe it’s the 250×250.
PauseStopRewind´s last blog … YouTubers versus false copyright claims
Follow on Twitter: @moonkittynet
Mine is the 336 x 280 square after each page’s content. Gets 5x the clicks any other location I’ve tested. Colours do best on mine when the links and text are the same as the site text colour.
p.s. Lisa, make sure you post the results! Very curious what positions and sizes everyone does best with.
Brad´s last blog … A Visit to Sailor Mars’ Hikawa Jinja
Follow on Twitter: @kalililla
Changing from link unit to ad unit at the top of each blog post helped alot! Also moving my skyscraper higher in my sidebar has yielded better results. I haven’t been able to get adsense to show up in my feed though.
Lisa where is your 300×250 Medium Rectangle unit alongside your YouTube videos? ON this blog or your YT site?
Kali Lilla´s last blog … Vote for Slow Food for Kids
It’s on my static site on various places. For example http://www.2createawebsite.com/prebuild/quick-website-overview.html Haven’t put any on my blog yet due to the spacing.
I haven’t had any luck with those link units. I don’t like them. They look nice because they fit into small spaces but people have to click twice before you earn any money since they have to click the category first.
Follow on Twitter: @kalililla
Oh i see it now. That looks good! I might have to try that. Thanks for the tip and the great info you provide!
Kali Lilla´s last blog … Vitamix vs Blendtec Showdown!
Follow on Twitter: @extramoneyblog
One practice that has boosted profitability from Adsense is as such:
One of my sites had 3 ad units per page. The second unit (toward the middle but still above fold) had the highest CTR. So i took the top most unit out. Since Adwords is a bidding system, the highest bidders often appear on the first blocks of ad on your page. Thus, I essentially moved the higher paying vendors to the ad block getting the highest CTR. Boosted earnings over 30%…
Big square ad blocks a paragraph into the content (above fold) do best for most our websites…
Big square blocks on ad do very well for me on all my websites when placed next to a video (just as you guys have been saying)
Yes – Lisa, please do post a summary of results. Would be very interesting for the community to see…
Melva, perhaps the reason why you are not making much from your website is the fact that visitors are leaving upon hitting the first page (since you have an Adsense ad on it) ? Just a thought …
Dubai City Information´s last blog … duty free in Dubai
Follow on Twitter: @learnCV
after a lot of practice, 350 x 200 and by the way. only ONE ad per page, to ensure that I will get the advertiser that has the highest bid.
Avraham Saltoun´s last blog … Every Dream Has a Message
I use several sizes of adsense units on my sites, but the one that earns the most is the 336 x 280 unit. I use the same link and text colors as the rest of the site and I usually have this ad unit floated to the right of the text. I usually place this unit below the fold because I don’t want my site to seem like there is little content and just a bunch of ads. My second best adsense unit is the 160 x 600 and I usually place this on the left side of the page underneath the navigation menu and so this unit is below the fold. I also use the 468 x 60 link unit but it doesn’t perform as well as the two above mentioned ad units, despite that several of my sites have the link units placed above the fold. I’ve never had much luck with the 468 x 60 text ads in any position on my pages.
I sometimes use image ads but these don’t seem to generate many clicks, although I kind of like the looks of the image ads and sometimes use them anyway.
This is a Google heat map – the darker colors supposedly represent the most clicked spaces on a web page http://www.small-business-software.net/heat-map.htm
PowerPoint Templates´s last blog … Tarantula Spider PowerPoint Template
For me it is currently the 728×90 banner ad which runs above the main content on every page (not the homepage), it gets me 3 times as more clicks than others. But that may change as last week I implemented a 336×280 box ad to appear half way down the content, justified left with the second image on the page to appear directly below it, drawing attention to it. So far in just that week I have noticed a steady amount of clicks coming from it and hopefully it will surpass the 728×90 banner.
As for colours the one thing I have found is that the title of the ads needs to be a prominent colour so it attracts the eye.
But the big thing for me was that link ads never really got any decent traffic for me, so tend to avoid them.
My best performing ads are the biggest ones. I’ve changed my site template recently and also put bigger ads. There are only two of them: 728×90 at the top and a 336×280 between the content and comments. They work 1.5x better than the old ones (mostly 468×60).
Follow on Twitter: @londonevent2010
Hi Lisa,
Our team have learnt many ‘tricks of the (AdSense) trade’ since first visiting your site, and visiting the websites of the people who post on this forum. I’m pleased to report nearly 3 times higher revenue as a result!
Horizontal skyscraper works best for us, no borders, ad bg colour same as page bg colour, links and title same colour as page links.
Daniel
Follow on Twitter: @krenee76
I’ve actually recently removed all but one Adsense unit from my blogs. I’ve left only one, the 5 link unit that I post at the bottom of each posts.
Yes, my adsense revenue has declined, but people are staying on my site longer, clicking through to more related articles and commenting more.
I made this decision maybe a month ago when I decided I want people to read my content, not run off to some other site to read theirs. In my mind, all the hard work I put into my writing just isn’t worth the few cents to a few dollars worth in clicks. My goal right now is to continue to increase my readership. Maybe once I’ve reached the goals I’ve set in those areas I’ll return to using more prominent Adsense units.
Kiesha @ WeBlogBetter´s last blog … Original blog content vs. original ideas
Follow on Twitter: @LeoNetworks
The single 300 x 250 works best for me, right under the title of the post (and a short intro paragraph).
A link unit across the top, just under the site title/header does well too.
Make Money At Home´s last blog … Trent Brownrigg Interview – The $48,000 Site Flip
Follow on Twitter: @DatingGodsWay
definately the 300×250. i used to always place the 468X60 at the bottom of the page but now i’m also trying the 300X250 at the bottom of some pages to see how that works out. I’m not making huge money with adsense yet but this has been my biggest month so far so something is working.
building lasting relationships´s last blog … Stick By Eachother Through Difficult Times.
Follow on Twitter: @couponcandy
Indeed, the 300×250 ad unit has increased my clicks overnight. I’ve been stunned and amazed to see these results after only commencing with this size ad unit last week. I have to wonder what it is psychologically that draws a reader into wanting to click the ads on this semi square unit?
Michele Cohen´s last blog … Organic Foods Delivered without Stress
Follow on Twitter: @tamingtime
I don’t have adsense on Taming Time at the moment. But for my other site a big block centered above the fold gets me a good click through rate of 3 – 5 % (is that ok to say?)
Michelle´s last blog … Feb 24, Why Do People Procrastinate? Steps to Overcoming Procrastination
My best performer is the 336×280, near the top of the page and in the center. I’ve tried all kinds of positions and coloring, and for my target age group (college students) the CTRs are never high, but this has produced the best results. With text and images enabled, and a generic blue color for the links and plain black for the text and url address.
Rectangle (300×250) and large rectangle (336×280). But it depends also on the ad placement. Just below the article title they perform best.
Follow on Twitter: @jackiepajo
I had been searching for this kind of site because it really helps me a lot especially about adsense and how to make money online.Finding this kind of blog is so usefull for me.i got lots of idea reading the articles and comments.It really works.Thanks!Goodluck!
Jackie from Money Blogging´s last blog … How To Avoid Getting Your Adsense Account Terminated
I use a google search bar right under my heading and then a 336 x 280 just below that. This converts well for me. I also use a 468 x 60 under any videos I use on my websites.
Mark McKnight´s last blog … Bunton Lawn Mowers
Follow on Twitter: @harvestwages
hey Lis,
i just came across this post, which is inspiring as most of your other post on adsense.
For me i believe picture ads before my content works best.
Yet i will try other alternatives in order to make the right judgement.
innocriss´s last blog … Parental Guidance and Leadership – Which of These 6 Styles Best Describes You?
Hey everyone,
I’m a bit new to AdSense adds and wonder if anyone would know the answer to a problem I have. I have an insurance blog where I write about various topics. One page that has generated a lot of interest (about 100 hits per day) was about whether or not life insurance pays out if you commit suicide. For some reason, that page gets more traffic than any other on my site, but no one who goes there is actually looking for insurance… they already have it, so I thought adding AdSense link to some suicide prevention page would be a good converter there, however, when I put in the ad, google automatically threw in life insurance ads there, since most my site is about insurance, I guess.
The question is, can I specifically tell google I want the add to be related to suicide and not insurance???
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Chris Huntley´s last blog … Return of Premium Life Insurance
You can’t really control what shows, but you can block certain domains through your AdSense account if there are specific ads you don’t want to show. The reason you aren’t seeing a lot of suicide ads is because there probably aren’t a lot of suicide ads in the AdWords database. With AdSense, you are at the mercy of what ads are available to show.
But be careful. If you block too many domains, Google may start showing PSA’s or the ads may become even more unrelated.
Follow on Twitter: @mikidookie
Thanks
Follow on Twitter: @freegoodtips
Yep that’s true, you have no control over what Google serves to your website, and there’s probably not enough Adword Advertisers for the page that you’re getting the clicks from.
But one thing you can do though is try to go with Affiliate Marketing for that page.
You can sign up with clickbank, shareasale, etc… it’s free, the commission is up to 75% depends on the Company, the choice is yours!
Ben @ Make Easy Money´s last blog … Do You Want to Make Money Online Now?
Hi Lisa,
I stumbled upon your very informative website. i have a business website with over 600 pages. I have two 160 by 600 ad blocks running downt the left hand side. While I earn good consulting income from my site, I am very disappointed with my Google ad performance. From what I read here it seems that a 300 by 250 or 336 by 280 ad under the page title might produce better results. My website is http://www.askartsolutions.com. I would appreciate any feedback on improving my adsense income.
Art
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