Have you tried the 300×600 unit on your site yet?
I finally added it to one of my higher trafficked pages (within the content) just to see how it will pan out.
The first week…
I had deplorable click-thru rates and less-than-stellar earnings.
I was tempted to take it down, but then I remembered a situation where the earnings got better with time so I decided to be patient.
Next week…
Earnings were up a bit and the click-thru rate began to improve slightly (still lower than my overall average but better).
Week three…
The click-thru rate surpassed my personal average and the Page RPM (earnings per 1,000 impressions) is also better than my site’s average.
Due to the AdSense terms and conditions, I am not allowed to reveal my CTR or Page RPM.
So What Happened?
Could this unit have attracted a placement advertiser?
Maybe.
Of course, it’s hard to really know for sure, but sometimes when this happens it’s because a placement advertiser has outbid the contextual ads that are displayed.
For those who don’t know, Placement Advertisers can bid on an individual unit on your site directly and they outbid all the contextual ads.
So imagine an AdWords advertiser telling Google…
Hey, I want to put my ad on this particular page.
In order to land that spot, they have to outbid all the other contextual advertisers — which of course earns Google and the Publisher more money.
As I’ve already mentioned, I’ve noticed this before with other new units. They’ll start out with terrible earnings, but as the unit matures, the Page RPM (earnings per thousand views) begins to pick up.
Many times this could be due to Placement ads taking over that spot.
Understanding The Different Ads
Contextual ads are the most popular kind of ad. These display because the content on your site is relevant to the ad. There is an auction taking place behind the scenes and the highest bidders (along with other quality signals) win the placement.
Placement ads are not as common, but can you earn you the most money since they advertiser has to outbid all the contextual ads.
Interest-based ads are shown based on your visitor’s web surfing activities. So if they just went to Overstock.com to do some shopping, they may see an Overstock ad on your site instead of an ad that is related to your content.
You can actually turn off Interest-based ads in your account, but I’m not entirely sure why this is even an option since my units are still showing Interest-based ads. I see them myself and I also notice earnings from “Interest Based Ads” in my account.
So that’s always been a bit of a mystery to me. If anyone has insight on this, I’d love to hear it.
How to Check Your Earnings Breakdown
To see how much you’re earning with the various kinds of ads, go to the Performance Reports tab and click “Targeting Types.”
This will display a pie chart and reveal what percentage of your earnings come from Contextual, Placement and Interest-based ads.
Most of you will find that you earn more from Contextual ads. If you are earning more with Placement, congrats because you are really maximizing your earnings and you’ve attracted the attention of advertisers who want to advertise on your site specifically.
By the way, to ensure your units are available to placement advertisers, always create a Custom Channel for your units and opt to target it.
Wait it Out
So the moral of the story is experiment and be patient with the results — especially if you are adding a unit to a high-trafficked page.
Remember, advertisers love pages that get a decent amount of traffic and have units in a prime location (especially if it’s a larger unit.)
So don’t be so quick to remove a new unit for low performance. It may pick up in the long run.
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Need more tips? Check out this overview of Google AdSense.
Being patient is like waiting forever BUT it really worth because time flies. 🙂
Thanks alot Lisa for this incredibly awesome post.
Thank U very much Lisa for the tips. Please, I hope to apply for goggle adsense soon; and I really want to know the amount of traffics one can record in a day to be qualified for goggle approval.
I am so glad that I found this information on your site. I am considering using the same size ads on my new site. My hopes are that they will work well.
yeah i also added on my blog but sometimes ctr goes down…. i think the ads 300×600 textual ad best for in sidebar
honestly i applying all your tips and get some improve in my adsense account… thanks lisa.. your are the my real seo guru
I am patiently hoping that my Adsense earnings will increase over time. Thank you for this advice Lisa! I hope I can reach the minimum threshold this December so I can use it for renewing my Hosgator hosting.
Thanks Lisa – helps me a lot – I’m just getting started. I created custom channels and I’m wondering if 1) I should do this for all three ads on my site (all in sidebar) and, 2) Should I try and individually configure ads for certain posts? I’m using a WordPress plugin to get started and have 3 image/text ads in the sidebar across the entire site except for the homepage (theme issue). I have one post that gets over 10K unique pageviews a month and that’s making me some revenue. There are a couple of other posts that are in the thousands. I’m going to keep reading to figure all this out. Thanks a bunch for your articles and any insight here.
Sir , i have a question that is related to Google ad-sense. some few days ago i placed google ad unit in my blog and this ad unit is not mine .means one of my friends offer me to use ad unit of him to my blog. now i want to apply for google ad sense for blog. and in present time i remove my friend’s ad unit from my blog so please tell me what should i do.
my blog is lifemets.blogspot.com
Thanks
Hello Lisa,
I have always adored your writing and approach towards internet income strategies.
In fact, I saw your YouTube videos on niche blogging and AdSense for Beginners. I was really motivated since then.
I love your writing and gain a lot from it every time. This article is nothing different. Thanks and great work.
Thanks for the above advice. Honestly i am frequently change my google ads size. It is because i am not sure the location of the ads are suitable or not. After reading this article, i realize my mistake. We should be patient and not for frequent change.
hi Lisa! your site is really great! and your speech in every video inspired me! Im a new in web designing and dont have that much knowladge. I just want to ask is there a possibility to get rejection from google adsense ? My site do not contain any adult or voilent material. i have 4-5 pages and in future gonna add more.
As you say, “earnings require patience.” Patience is waaaaayyyyy toooo long. Being patient, is making me lose my hair! C’mon earnings/traffic!
Earnings are more about traffic. Are you getting enough traffic I wonder?
Weill, I am currently drawing more and more traffic, I hope to see results soon. Cheers! 🙂
Hello Lisa, I became a fan of yours since I saw one of your YouTube videos and now I found your blog. I made a website with WordPress 5 months ago, I posted 240 articles in this time and I tried to get some traffic. For now, the traffic is very low and I earn almost nothing from Adsense and Infolinks. My CTR’s are also very low. Do you have any advice, I would appreciate it a lot. Thanks!
I’ve adsense but I’m making just cents so far 🙁
Any tips to increase my earnings?
here’s my blog http://emitez.com/
Hi Anis
Earnings are all about traffic. The more traffic you have the more you will earn. So I would spend time promoting your site and that will help. Of course, experimenting with ad sizes and placement can help too.
i still doubt adsense as my main sourse of income. But i hope i gain success in future. Very nyc post 🙂
Earning and specially good earning need patience and for good return you need to wait alot
It one of the many ways to earn profits online. The more click your website gains the more dollars you earn to improve your site as well as your life. that is what I think about Adsense.
Lisa, i totally agree with the “patience” thing even though it’s not an easy thing to do. I recently changed my theme and as for now, I am currently testing the 728 x 90 under my posts and it is performing well. I may try the 300 x 160 very soon.
Ooops! I meant 300 x 600 NOT 300 x 160
Oh I was gonna say…. that’s a new one! lol
lisa can I stil apply for Adsense even with a WordPress blog?
tnx.
Yes, as long as you have a self-hosted one and not a blog on WordPress.com.
I like 300×250 banner size & its more beneficial.
being patient is really hard, but the results are great. Thanks for posting about it, just really helps
Regarding your Point of “Interest Based Ads”. Believe me, i tried to find details about it and i always came back to where i started. I found nothing.
The Content writers works according to keywords. Keywords are analyzed based on their price. Then site owner will believe that the ads will be displayed based on its content. But actually it doesn’t. What is the use of those high paid keywords then?
No matter what we do. Even f we switch it off from Adsense settings, i am irritated that it still showing interest based ads from browsing history. I don’t know why that option is there even.
I imagine about you thought actually, although I’ve not been approved with Google adsense. I really want to ask, some people said that, our earning is also influenced by our web traffic? Is that true? And if a web reaches about 10.000 view/ today. Is this thing considered as a high, average / still low traffic?
Thank you
Hi Lisa. I know adsense Earning require traffic on the website as well as the patience.
I read somthing about the Google DFP. But didn’t get so much about it.
Although I tried to experiment with it, but I coudn’t do it well.
Kindly If you know about Google DFP and adsense combination, share it.
Regards
Yeah, Lisa it really pays to be patient not only with Adsense but with any other things we do. Do you have any experience with the new 970X90? Would like to try it out on my site.
Thanks
Yes, I’m testing it on my forum. Most advertisers are still using the 728×90 so I see very few 970 ads displaying yet (which is what Google said would happen). For last month, that unit represented only 5% of my earnings.
Good one, i think i will try it. But how about text unit, is it helpfull on content?
Yes it works. To increase CTR you need to have image related to your niche.
Thanks for this information. I now know the different types of ads there are and which ones to give priority. Also haven’t tried the 300 x 600, but definitely will.
Its been two months, I created my new blog waiting to apply for ad sense after one more month.
Thanks for this article, i’ll practise following your instruction
Yes its really cool i have also tried it in my blog at first 3weeks my earnings are slightly low. After that i seen a great change in my earnings .
Nice tip about the 300 x 600. Thanks.
I’ve always has really poor returns from image ads, especially anything in side bar. I need a new strategy somehow I feel!
I recently moved everything over to wordpress and my CTR and earnings have dropped off. I’m not sure if there’s a settling in period. Any thoughts on this one Lisa?
cheers
Jamie
Hey Jamie,
Funny how different niches reveal different results. Image ads REALLY increased my earnings.
I don’t know if the move to WordPress had anything to do with it. Did the move happen recently? If so, May has been a low month for a lot of publishers so I wouldn’t worry about it. It could be seasonal. Give it some time.
Thanks Lisa. Yes, I just moved in April and have to say WordPress is a really classy, intuitive platform to work with! Pretty happy.
I will give it a month or 3 to settle in I think. As you say, May has been kinda slow.
Best.
You’re always keeping us inspired, Lisa. Keep doing what you’re doing. We appreciate positive people like yourself online and helping fellow netpreneurs succeed! 🙂
It works for me keyword in good content article. I think lisa gives away gift way with video will increase a lot of traffic.
I think it’s also important to realize that the Google Adsense algorithms are also optimizing, automatically over time, what kind of ads work best with your site. So any genuine Adsense testing has to be done over multiple days, ideally weeks.
just come accross this post and i think you are right lisa it happen to me aswell patient is the word and you will succeed in the end
I have tried to experiment with the 300×600 ad unit but did not get any good results at all. I however only tried for 10 days. Maybe should stick around with it a little longer to see if the results improve like you recommended. Thanks Lisa for another great post.
Wow. This is all new to me. I’ve had AdSense for almost 5 years but I’m a small-time blogger writing about my full-time travels in an RV and a sailboat — not big commercial stuff. However, reading this, seeing your stats, and looking at your Niche Website book, I see I’m really missing out. Thank you. I’ll be back to read more!!!