You don’t typically hear from me twice in one week, but my stats show how much you guys love AdSense-related posts, so I hope you don’t mind a double dose of Lisa this week. 🙂
I was playing around in the AdSense Performance reports as I often do, and decided to create a few graphs showing the breakdown of different earnings by category so we can compare our stats. Here are the ones I focused on:
– % of Earnings by Unit Size
– % of Earnings by Ad Type
– % of Earnings by Targeting Type
– % of Earnings by Product
If you haven’t switched over to the new interface (which isn’t so new anymore), then you’re missing some great reports — especially if you’re a stat junky like me.
In November, they will be shutting off the old interface and you will be forced to use the new one. So you might as well get acquainted if you haven’t already.
So let’s start with the first report I ran…
One of the reasons I redesigned my static site was because I wanted a column to accommodate larger widgets, images and the 300×250 AdSense unit. Many of you told me how well the unit converted for you and boy were you right!
My CTR (click through rate) for the right column unit on 2 Create a Website increased by 65% and my Page RPM (page revenue per 1,000 impressions) increased by 59% in August. I also switched from all text ads to text and image ads. The new 300×250 unit was the biggest reason for my record month in August 2011.
For awhile, the 728×90 unit was winning consistently, but it tied for 2nd place last month.
Text ads have always performed best for me so this is no shocker. But I will say that text and image ads on my static site outperform my blog by far.  Text ads performed so poorly on my blog, it wasn’t even worth the time and space.
My blog tends to receive traffic from a lot more savvy users (particularly IMers, seasoned Webmasters and bloggers, etc.) compared to my static site.  In general, these people are less likely to click on ads. And of course, traffic has a lot to do with it as well. My static website receives a lot more traffic than my blog.
The 728×90 unit is the only one that converts here. I don’t get that many clicks, but my Page RPM (page earnings per 1,000 impressions) is fairly high and makes it worthwhile.
Contextual Ads
I would imagine most of you probably earn more from contextual ads like me. These are the ads that are simply targeted by page content. In general, ads with the best bid and quality score end up on your site.
Placement Ads
Placement ads can earn you more per click because these advertisers are willing to outbid all the contextual advertisers to place an ad on your site specifically. It’s very important to ensure your site is optimized and accessible to placement advertisers.
To do this go to “My Ads”, click “Custom Channels” and click the channels you want to make “targetable.” Next to Targeting, check the box that reads “Show this custom channel to advertisers as a targetable ad placement.”
Prior to doing this, (last Summer) my percentage of earnings from placement ads was 6% of my overall earnings. It is now 12%. That’s a 100% increase. So make sure you set your channels to “targetable” and become accessible to people who want to bid exclusively on YOUR site.
Interest-Based Ads
These are ads that show up based on where the user has visited. So if they were on a car website before coming to your site, they may see a car ad even though your website is not about cars.
I have turned off Interest-Based ads in my account (Under “Allow and Block Ads” / “Advanced Settings”), but I learned that 3rd party networks can still serve them up. So that explains the 7% in earnings even though I have opted out of Interest-Based ads.
This report shows that most of my earnings come from the Contextual ads and images on my site. Hosted AdSense for Content is related to the YouTube Partner program and other 3rd party ads that may show on your site.
This breakdown has been pretty consistent for me over the years. There was a slight increase in the Hosted AdSense for Content over the past year (YouTube), but nothing major.  I combined Search and Feeds because they were roughly the same and so low compared to the other categories.
What About You?
So how does your breakdown compare? Any similarities?
Keep in mind, the reporting Interface doesn’t breakdown the percentage. I just did some simple math to figure that out, and I created the pie charts in Excel to make everything easier on the eyes. 🙂
I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat!
I get best results using 368×280 ad blocks that have the look&feel of the website. Haven’t tried leaderboard ads yet, but I will in the future.
Hi Lisa
Just found your site, as my Adsense performance this month (Oct) has gone down hill by 30% on last month with one particular site. I use the big ad (text and image) as I understand that if you see image ads it is because no one has bid for text ads which pay higher, so at least you’re covered so that some Adsense will show. I put my 300 x 250 at top left, see you have in right sidebar top. I may move to see if that has any impact. All my sites are WP and I’ve recently just customized a Market Theme ecommerce site using WP. Have targeted all adsense units on the page and turned off content, like you. Do you believe your Adsense changes for the better as you gain PR? Interested to hear your opinion on that point. Good solid info here from you and so well written, thanks, will enjoy reading more from you.
Thanks Lisa for this information. Im using adsense 336×280. Whic is best for me and makes me good earning.
Even I would say not much people now make money with the 728*90 header but definitely 336*280 and link units now days make good money…
I agree with you Ashish, that it is difficult to make money with 728*90 and therefore I have removed these now.
I am trying Google Adsense section targeting at the moment but the result will show only after 2 weeks. They said income will increase after applying those codes and have more relevance ads to users. Well, let’s see how things working later 😉
Very comprehensive details you have here. Some of the info are really in-depth and it does solve a lot of problem that i am having here. Thanks a lot
This is fascinating. I have pretty much just let whatever the defaults are for adsense run on my videos. I didn’t realize that by tweaking, it would really help with my earnings. I’ll be checking out all of your tips so thanks for sharing what works and what doesn’t.
I do have a question about earnings that I’m hoping you can help me with. For my September earnings, I noticed that it doesnot include any youtube earnings (every month I’ve had youtube earnings and my traffic level is about the same). Are the youtube earnings now part of the adsense content-host earnings? Since there is a new interface I can’t tell. Thanks for your help!
pretty nice way of delivering your point through graphs.. nice post..
i enjoy these adsense ones. Not surprising to see adsense for content the largest earner.
I commonly use 468*60 and 160*600. But here I see that I should try other adverts… I think I should make an experiment. I`ll try to write the results here in 2 month (hope this time would be enough to understand).
You got a very informative blog that give us a guide for our sites in earning more revenues. Thanks for sharing this superb article.
Hi Lisa
I have just startad with Adsense and I am very happy that i found your site today. You seem to have written many post about Adsense, I gonna stay on your site a while!
I must try the 300×250 Ads thats seem to perform very good for you our your sites. Thanks for the tips!
Ylva Jansson
Sweden
Nice! I am currently learning all about adsense to get some profit on my site, so your article is really helpful. Thanks!
I haven’t tried the 300 x 250 but I put the 728 x 90 on all of my blogs this month and they are converting really well. I am almost equal 6 days in to my entire earnings for the month of September. I just added a 300 x 250. I hope it does equally as well.
I wish they made it easier to drill down. Say text ads on which site got clicks. Unless, of course, I am missing something??
hello
how are you.
i have more traffic on my blog http://swabi-info.blogspot.com/ but my adsense earning is very low about 5$ per week.
plz give me some suggestions that i can earn more money.
thankfull
My stats differs somewhat from yours
The ad that gives the most clicks are 728*90 it gives about 50% of all the clicks, then it’s 160*600 it has about 25% of the clicks.
And 95% of all clicks it on text ads.
But in the end, I believe it’s the website content that decides which type of ad is the best.
On my currency rates site I have tried almost every ad sizes, and in the end 728*90 ang 160*600 is the two bets ads for that site.
Even though i got more clicks on the size 428*60, I changed it out with the 728*90 size because it give 3 times more earnings pr. click.
I do also have to admit I’m a stats junky like you, I check my adsense account at least 10 times a day. 😉
That is a very nice breakdown insights. I’m still experimenting with my website on which ad type and size that work best with my audience.
My earnings fluctuate too much without much of a change in traffic. wondering why :-/
Thanks for the helpful tips here. I can’t increase my earnings in adsense since mine was approved.I’ll follow your tips and start by using the new interface. Thanks a lot.
I have seen the new interface but switched back to the old one because i was more familiar with it. So, they will be discarding the old one for the new one. I am going to switch right away and get myself acquainted. With the features you just mentioned, its even a must NOW.
Thanks Lisa, love to contact you but can’t find your email on your site.
John Benjamin
I did the same thing until a couple of weeks ago. Took a minute to get used to everything.
Most of my sites have a large adsense block right under the heading in the center of the page. I have now started to experiment with the smaller rectangle block and wrap text around it under my heading.
The click thru isn’t as high but I think Google likes it more because it is sending me more traffic and thus generating more impressions. I think Panda wants to see more text above the fold and not just a large adsense block.
Hi Lisa,
I just wanted to echo everyone else’s sentiments and just say this is an awesome post. I’ve been trying to increase my adsense revenue and this will definitely help! Thanks for sharing this. Additionally – I’ve been hesitant to switch over to the new adsense but should probably get on that.
Hey nice post Lisa. Your insights can help increase AdSense income of many publishers including me. I don’t do much experiment on AdSense myself, so I think this could help. The first thing I am gonna do now is to switch to the new interface….
Thanks so much for the break down. Helps people understand Adsense from another user.
Still I don’t make $20 per day! I hope the information from this blog will take me high on my earnings and one day I will tell my figure here!
There are several things you can try, to increase your earnings.
1) Try changing the ads sizes.
2) Changing the colors to either look like the rest of the site
For example the one you have in post, it’s white, green, blue and red, try changing it to the same colors as the site. For example use the orange color for the title and url in the ad and have the same gray color on the text.
which advertising do u use accept adsense ?
Thanks Lisa ! every time I read your adsense post I get a reason to go and review my adsense and my blog.
Your giving a great great information. Stay well and keep earning.
Clejah
Very thorough article and presentation Lisa! Your stats are looking great too. I am not very involved in my stats, but I am involved enough to know that the my best performing ads are the 728×90 image, and the 300×250 text.
– % of Earnings by Unit Size = 42% for 728×90, 27% for 300×250, 18% for 468×60, and 13% for 160×600
– % of Earnings by Ad Type = 61% for image and 39% for text
Not so sure about targeting and product, will have to look into those more keenly.
Anyway, way to go Lisa! Thanks for sharing.
Lisa,
What a fantastic article! I’m a bit of a data junkie and specifically recognise the value and power of the Pareto principle (80/20 rule). I’m about to start a new blog and this info you have provided has been fantastic to help me focus my advertising approach (which I have never done before) into something that will work. I’ve been following your blog for a while and it is always great value. Thanks again and again.
this month i hope my adsense earnings will bulish
Come to think of it, before this analytical tools are driving me nuts! Thanks to your suggestion of using 300×250 units. It really paved the way. Keep coming up with brilliant ideas.
I too use analysis tools… one of these days when I have time I’m going to sit down and really scrutinize my blog, using your article here as a rough guide. You always inspire me!
Blog On!
Although I have nt checked the stats like as you mentioned in the post but Lisa, I see an increase in my earning after putting a adsence block of 300X250 at the bottom of the post. I will analyze the stats and will come, however I see the majority of earning comes from contextual eaning.
Thanks for the tip on the analysis tools. I have been one of those people who have been reluctant to switch to the new interface, but now I am forced to do it. I played with the analysis tools you suggested. It really helped me discover where I was and was not making money on my current ads.
Hey, thanks to your website and help, I started my SBI site two years ago (and yes, I used your website to subscribe so you’ll get the money). Yesterday I got my FIRST Google Adsense check. Not a big check… but Hey it’s money and it is getting better. Thanks for the article about the stats that the reports you are looking at.
Congrats, Anna!
I was suggested by a couple people to try and implement 300×250 units, but never really took the time to do it, but after reading about your success Lisa, I think I’m going to set some up on a few sites this weekend to start testing them
Thanks for sharing, it’s very insightful.
I’ve never been very good at using adsense, I never earn more than $5 a month :/
Thanks Lisa for this great post and take this new details about ad-sens. I also suffer from this i see their no reproductive news about any of the click i am going to change this and get new one thanks for the support.
I’ve always been stubborn about sticking with text ads only on AdSense, because despite the stats Google keeps throwing at me trying to get other types of ads on my site, when I did that my AdSense income decreased dramatically. Seriously wasn’t worth my time. I have to assume that for whatever reason, image ads and such don’t work well in my niche.
Yeah I hear ya, Stephanie. I’ve definitely noticed that image ads perform differently depending on the site I use them on. It took me awhile to figure out where they convert best.
Excellent post Lisa! It’s evident that you invested a considerable amount of time on this one.
I like to explore my Adsense reports found within Google Analytics.
My largest website/blog has Adsense embedded in many different places throughout the post pages.
I’ve monetized pages several times in relation to which ads get the most clicks (or return the highest percentage CTR) in relation to where they are located on the pages that perform the best.
Thanks Jordy, yes I love checking Analytics to see what pages earn what. You could say I’m somewhat addicted to those reports. lol
a very nice article….love the way you write…:)
Lisa , you are my secret mentor . This is the first time i am commenting on your site since i met you back in 2009. You really inspire me.
My name is Emeka from Nigeria. I have been following your post since 2009. I started adsense after reading you free ebook .
Though i have not gotten any paycheck i believe i will. Most problems i have is due to slow internet and no constant electricity in Nigeria. Hope to start commenting frequently on ur site
Hang in there, Emeka! You will get there. 🙂
Hey Lisa, I admit I have a lot to learn when it comes to AdSense and what will perform best on my blog. I was ecstatic when I got my first $100 payout back in July and everyone said that after getting the first payout, the rest will come more quickly.
I’m using a plugin called AdSense Optimizer that lets me quickly turn ads on and off but it doesn’t help when it comes to the Internet-Based and Contextual ad options.
I need to roll up my sleeves and learn how to use this new interface. I’ll swing over to YouTube and watch some of your vids (again). Thanks for the encouragement.
Lisa, I’m having a problem viewing my ad units. I think it’s because I use a plugin called AdSense Optimizer to generate the ads. I’m using 3 different units that I configure inside of the plugin, but when I look at my AdSense breakdown, none of these units show up on the list.
Hmmmm… Yeah you might want to think about disabling that because that could also be affecting your income. If it’s not showing in your reports it makes me wonder if your clicks are being tracked.
Some plugins come installed with the plugin designer’s adsense id. Make sure that you change that to your own. HTH.
great post plus i love your youtube videos
Great post as always, i enjoy these adsense ones. Not surprising to see adsense for content the largest earner.
Wao that’s awesome… Miss please guide me i am working very hard to earn through adsense but not getting success… waiting for u reply
Wow Lisa, I received a mail on Tuesday that the old interface will soon be retired and I went over to the new interface and was trying hard not to get lost 😀 And your post has helped me dig around even more and achieve something.
For me image ads perform poorly on this site. I would have taken off the image ad in the header a long time ago but I just don’t want to leave it blank. I don’t like text ads in the header either so I am stuck with it till I find how best to use the space.
This is my own breakdown
Ad size:
468X60 – 58% (looking at my ad units, 40% of this came from the txt ad for this size, then 18% from the image)
160X600 skyscraper – 35% This used to be my best performer till I added the 468X60 text ad.
468X15 – 7%
Ad Type:
Text – 73%
Rich media and Image – 9% each
Flash, animated – 6% and 3% respectively
Targeted
Contextual 72%
Interest 17%
Placement 11%
The placement surprised and made me happy at the same time. So someone actually wants to specifically advertise on my site? Yay! 🙂
By product
Content 74%
Hosted 24% This is doing quite well considering that I was only invited for revenue sharing towards end of August.
Search 3%
So like you, text ads trump image ads and Adsense by Content rules. I will still leave my interest based ads enabled because it pays more per click. The CPC for my niche is quite low so some more coins can be made from these interest ads 😉
Thanks for sharing, Flo! Always great to hear other’s stories. Congrats on the placement ads too!
In August and September 2010 (one year ago), my earnings for those two months dropped drastically to the point where I missed my monthly check. I hadn’t changed anything the previous few months, so I didn’t know what caused the drop, but I was determined to correct the issue.
I began to play around with the various ad sizes and locations. I eventually tried the 300×250 size and quickly saw an increase in the number of clicks, ePM and ePC. I had been using the larger rectangle in the same position.
Since that I time I have seen a 4x increase over the past year in earnings, so I am a happy camper.
The important thing to do is to try different AdSense sizes and placements to find the one that works for your site.
Four times!!! That’s fantastic, Paul!
Hi Lisa!
What a treat to have 2 posts in one week!
As far as Adsense goes, I’m not as in-depth with stats as you are, however, it’s funny because I was just having a conversation about this today – about which unit sizes work best for me. Hands down – ever since I made room for the 300×250, my earnings have improved dramatically – what used to take months to earn suddenly added up in a month! Without even looking at any additional stats, I went on to mention that the 468×60 was next line – and what do you know – that’s what you have here!
I almost gave up on Adsense – I remember commenting about that here maybe a year ago. Well, I’m glad I didn’t – I didn’t go out of my way with switching colors and testing out a bunch of different things, but I just made this one change and without any real expectation, it worked!
Thanks for sharing this!
I remember you saying you were going to stop using it! So glad things have picked up for you, Kiesha!! With your blog’s popularity I figured SOMETHING had to work. Good to hear. 🙂
Lisa, this is amazing. I am going to check now the interest based ads and try to turn them off, by what is served on my site I suspect they are on.
Although it is cool for them to be served because you are interested in those products or services, it is weird to see for example Google Adwords ad on my pet niche site 🙂
I will have to do this for myself, the analysis. Loved it. I increased my Adsense income by removing ads from non performing pages and experimenting with colors and placements.
I tried the header ad but it was a disaster because of the bad targeting so the ads were really unrelated.
I was also thinking about why did you redesign the static site and it makes sense. I was actually thinking of doing the same for my SBI site, but I have to be sure that I can pull off the navigation in the header and move the left column navigation up and place it horizontally. If I am not mistaking you have a tutorial on that so I will have to check it out and decide.
Thanks so much for the second post this week 🙂
Thanks, Brankica. Well, I do have a video on my YouTube channel about how to create a horizontal and I provide the code as well. Is that what you mean? Let me know if you have any issues! Here’s the vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IEoe1FxXaI
Hi Lisa, I am totally new to adsense and very lost. The ads I have set up are for companies that compete with what I am doing. I am a patient advocate who helps people and their families when they are overwhelmed with the many issues that arise when faced with illness, such as knowing the questions to ask, researching information on diseases and insurance follow-up. I was getting ads advertising “become a patient advocate” but I don’t want them to become advocates I want them to hire me!! I then deleted the ad and tried to set up another ad. Now, nothing is showing up. Please let me know what I am doing wrong and how I can get more appropriate ads. Love you Youtube channel. This is the first time I have visited you site. Thanks for great information.