Google AdSense for Dummies

Details:

• ISBN: 047029289X
• ISBN-13: 9780470292891
• Number Of Pages: 384
• Publisher: 10392390
• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• Audience: General
• Author: Jerri Ledford

Jerri Ledford is a self described "Google geek" who has written more than a dozen books on Google applications and search engine optimization. She maintains a blog about Google products at www.googlegeek.com. She is the coauthor of Google Analytics 2.0, also from Wiley

You can get paid for online ad placement with Google AdSense! If you've ever considered using AdSense to improve revenue for your Web site, Google AdSense For Dummies will get you started. It's loaded with tips to help you implement a successful AdSense program.

Google AdSense advertising is extremely common on any site with changing content -- especially blogs. Google's service is free to use, easy to implement, and provides advertising based on the keywords Google finds on your pages: Write a post about fried chicken, and you might get Google AdSense ads for cooking supplies and restaurants. And these ads are contextual on a page-by-page basis, so every permalink page on your blog has its own set of topic-appropriate ads.

Each time a reader clicks a link in one of these ads, you earn money. You choose where the ads are on your pages, what they look like, and even what kinds of advertisers to display. You can see Google AdSense ads on the Apartment Therapy blog.

AdSense lets you generate income with ad placement on blogs and Web sites. Google AdSense For Dummies shows you how AdSense works, how to analyze cost per click and track AdSense results, and how to earn money from your blog or Web site without selling a product. Discover how to:

• Register and set up an AdSense program

• Track results with server logs, AdSense reports, and Google Analytics
• Boost AdSense income with search engine optimization techniques
• Apply Google guidelines by including relevant links and content, making your site easy to navigate, using a sitemap, and keeping links in good repair
• Fine tune your Web site with beefed up content to please Google and boost effectiveness
• Earn more with AdSense for RSS, streaming video, and referral units
• Design appealing ads and search boxes, and deal with ads from competitors
• Add video units to your site, design mobile ad units, and understand referral units

In Google AdSense For Dummies, author Jerri Ledford, a self described Google geek, helps you make money with AdSense.

As a website owner, you can apply to Google with your website or blog to become a publisher for their ad network. It is a simple process where you provide honest information to Google about your self and your site. They then evaluate your site to see if it qualifies to be included. Most sites will be included as long as they have some quality to them and the you offer some original content on your site.

Once you are approved, you are approved for all your websites and you do not to reapply for each one. You must carefully read the Terms of Service for Adsense so you make sure that you are following the rules and that your sites comply with the rules.

You first step is to log in to your Adsense account with your chosen email and password. There you will find many things that may overwhelm you at first. It is not as overwhelming as it looks. There are four main tabs; Reports, Adsense set up, My Account, and Resources.

The first tab is the reports, you will not see nothing much here yet but you will as you earn. This tells you how many views the ads on your sites have had, how many clicks, and how much you earned. You can check for various times. If you have channels set for each site, you will see what sites earned what. I will explain channels further down in the article. You can also get advanced reports for extended periods of time breaking down in several ways. You can play around and see the reports that best fits what you are looking for.

The Adsense setup tab is all about setting up your ads. Here you can get the code, which is a java code, for all the ads , search box, and referral products that Google offers. You can change the size, design, and filter out things you do not want on you site like an ad from your competitor. At this tab you also can add channels.

Channels are simply a way to track an individual ad or a website URL, By setting these up, you will know which of your sites are making money and which ones you need to work on. They are easy to add and delete and I highly recommend you do one for all the sites you use Adsense on.

The third is My Account, which is a place to edit your main information like name address, email, etc… The final tab is a resource tab of other tools and services that Google offers.

Once you find what ads you want and where to place them, all you need to do is place the code in your website template or in the code of your website. Depending on what kind of coded site you are using will depend on how you do this.

If you are using a self-hosted word-press, it is best to install an Adsense plug- in to place the code on the sidebar as long as your template is widget ready. For the header and footer, you will have to place it in those files. I am not a coder so I will not give too much advice on that.

If you are using a free blogger.com blog, it is even easier to install the code. All you do is go to your dash board and find the layout and you can just add your AdSense with a few clicks by clicking add page element and dragging it where you want it.

For all other pages, you need to add the code in the appropriate files where you want the ads to be.

Once you have the code installed, Google will find you, there is nothing else you need to do. The ads will be based of main keywords from your content. If you chose to include both links and image ads, you may see a picture ad once in a while.

You get paid a small percentage every time someone visits one of your ads, purchasing or sign up for a product or does a search through the search box. If it is an image ad that is placed on your site, you will get paid a small amount for every 1000 people who view the ad.

Many people have made some huge amounts of money using Adsense. The key is to have a large amount of traffic and to follow the rules. The more popular your site, the better the chance people will click on the ads and you will earn money.

You can also include a Google search box on your blog. Users who use the search box from your blog get targeted Google ads in their search results -- and you receive money from any ads they click.

You can sign up for Google AdSense by opening a Web browser and following the steps at Google's AdSense sign up page.

After you finish the application, Google reviews your blog, and if it approves your application, you have to provide some additional information: Social Security number, Employer Identification Number, and so on. The review Google conducts ensures that the Web site the ads are placed on meets Google's editorial guidelines (for example, no obscenity).

After Google completes its review, you receive instructions on how to customize and place the ads into your blog templates. You may need a little help from your technical staff or some HTML skills of your own.

The ads appear automatically on your pages based on the content of your blog after you add the code to your templates. Visit the Google AdSense site to customize the look of your ads, check your earnings, and remove certain advertisers (such as your competitors!) from the ads that appear on your site.

Not at all an online money making scam, Google Adsense strategy is the key to making money with Google Adsense.

You cannot however simply place Google Adsense ads on your site and then forget them.

To begin with, there is an art to where and how you place ads on the site you own.

First of all, the Google Adsense program does not permit you to place more than a certain number of ads on any given page (it is normally 3, but check with the Google Adsense program).

Second, you will have to decide whether you want the maximum of 3 ads on each page (recommended by most Google adsense gurus, but not by everyone), and to decide this you will have to experiment. Testing is primary within Google Adsense strategy.

In addition to this, a solid Google Adsense strategy involves two elements:

• the look of the Google Adsense ads
• the positioning of the Google Adsense ads

Google adsense strategists normally recommend that you place three ads on every page of your website.

Google adsense ads should be placed, as a general statement, to the left of the site, so they are the first thing a reader's eyes hit, and/or smack bang in the middle, so that the Google Adsense ad is right in the middle of the website visitor's field of vision. These are essential Google Adsense strategies.

Another commonly suggested Google Adsense strategy is to put a rectangular ad just below the title of your page, with a wide width and not so wide a depth(up-and-down). A Google Adsense search bar might also be experimented-with in this position.

Another idea is to put a Google Adsense ad of the same dimensions immediately below where the reader stops reading (the end of a blog post or block of text on a page). The theory is that the visitor thinks "OK I've finished reading that, so now what?" This way you given him or her the option of clicking onto your Google Adsense ad.

Google Adsense ads can also be tweaked. You need to familiarize yourself with all the pages on the homepage of the Google Adsense program...

Once you earn $50, you will be sent a PIN number through the postal mail to the address on file. You will need to confirm this number before you can ever receive a payment. You can not get paid until you have reached $100. It takes up to a month depending on your payment method and where you live to receive payment following the end of the month you reached at least $100.

I recommend direct deposit but they will mail a check or in some parts of the world they will send Western Union but this involves a fee.

A few things that are not allowed by Adsense are:

• No Adult sites
• You can not click or ask others to click your ads
• You can not alter the code
• You can not display an image with the code
• No Pop-ups
• You can not try to hide the fact that it is a Google ad
• You can not list them as a sponsor of you site
• You can have only three of any one kind of ad on your site

There are many other rules that you should take the time to read carefully. If you break the rules, there are no second chances, you will be banned and that means banned for life.

If you try to open another fake account or even with your same information, you may get approved. However, they will catch you prior to paying you any money. Just do the right thing and follow the rules from the beginning you should be fine and hopefully make some good money.

If you apply once and you are turned down, don't get upset, say That Blozzz and fix your site and reapply.

Editorial Reviews

Synopsis

You can get paid for online ad placement with Google AdSense! If you've ever considered using AdSense to improve revenue for your Web site, "Google AdSense For Dummies" will get you started. It's loaded with tips to help you implement a successful AdSense program. AdSense lets you generate income with ad placement on blogs and Web sites. "Google AdSense For Dummies" shows you how AdSense works, how to analyze cost per click and track AdSense results, and how to earn money from your blog or Web site without selling a product.Discover how to: register and set up an AdSense program; track results with server logs, AdSense reports, and Google Analytics; boost AdSense income with search engine optimization techniques; apply Google guidelines by including relevant links and content, making your site easy to navigate, using a sitemap, and keeping links in good repair; fine-tune your Web site with beefed-up content to please Google and boost effectiveness; earn more with AdSense for RSS, streaming video, and referral units; design appealing ads and search boxes, and deal with ads from competitors; and, add video units to your site, design mobile ad units, and understand referral units.

In "Google AdSense For Dummies", author Jerri Ledford, a self-described 'Google geek', helps you make money with AdSense.

From the Back Cover

Here's how to earn money from your Web site without selling a thing!

If you want to make your Web site or blog earn its keep, using Google AdSense makes a lot of sense. It also makes sense to find out how AdSense works and how to make it work for you. This friendly guide cuts through the geek speak and shows you what AdSense is, how to make your site Google friendly, how to use AdSense for Search or Content, and more.

• Fine tune your Web site beef up your content for Google approval as well as to boost effectiveness
• Apply Google guidelines include relevant links and content, make your site easy to navigate, use a sitemap, design for the user, and keep links in good repair
• Discover other types of AdSense use AdSense with video, mobile, and RSS
• Learn to love units add video units to your site, design mobile ad units, and understand referral units
• Get creative use AdSense as a page element on your blog and design knockout ads and cool search boxes
• Make them pay increase your income from AdSense for RSS, referral units, and streaming videos
• Use some sense track your results using AdSense reports and Google Analytics

Open the book and find:

• Answers to FAQs about AdSense
• Tips for building a content rich Web site
• How search engine optimization can boost AdSense income
• What to do about competitors ads
• Secrets for designing ads with appeal
• How to set up AdSense for mobile and RSS feeds
• How the AdSense referral program works
• What server logs and channels can tell you

How To "Tweak" Your Ads To Make Them "Click"!

Ad Formats : Dress your ads for success!

How would you like your ads served? Banners? Skyscrapers? Rectangles? Squares? What about borders and background colors?

The choices can be overwhelming. Many people let Google decide for them- preferring to stick with the default settings. Big mistake! From my own experience I can tell you that it s like swapping a hundred-dollar bill for a ten-dollar on e.

For almost one year I settled for just a tenth of what I could have been making just because I didn't bother to control the looks and placement of my AdSense ads.

The various ad formats, colors an d their placement on the web page can be done in thousands of combinations. You can literally spend hours every day experimenting with every possible combination. But you don't want to, do you?

Let me give you a few ground rules that have sky-rocketed the CTR s on my top-grossing pages:

Don't "Look" Like An Ad

People don't visit your website for ads. They want good content.

If you make the ads stick out with eye-popping colors, images or borders, that makes them easy to recognize as ads and people work extra hard to avoid them.

The same goes for ads that are tucked away in the top, bottom or some other far corner of the page. So easy to ignore!

If you want people to click, make the ads look like an integral part of your content.

Today's visitors are blind to banners, mad at pop-ups, weary of ads and skeptical of contests and giveaways. So how do you win their confidence? Simple Don't make your ads look like ads!

Let s begin by reviewing each of the different types of ad available from AdSense and explaining their uses... then I'll introduce you to a few simple choices that rocketed my CTRs to incredible heights.

Meet the AdSense Family

Google serves its ads in three flavors, with each of those flavors coming in a range of different shapes and sizes. It is very important to understand the differences between each of these ads. Some are ideal for particular locations. Some should never be used in certain locations. And some should never be used at all.

The sample page at http://www.google.com/adsense/adformats lets you see all of the different kinds of ads at once. It even has links to sample placements that demonstrate how the ads can be used.

For the most part, I'd recommend that you ignore those sample placements.

I'll talk about location in more detail later in the book, but for now just bear in mind that many of the ads in the samples are just too out of the way to be noticed.

You can use them as a starting point if you want but you'll save yourself a lot of time and money by taking advantage of the experience of myself and others, and following the recommendations here.

Text Ads Google's Finest

Text ads are probably the types of ad that you're most familiar with. You get a box containing one or a number of ads with a linked headline, a brief description and a URL. You also get the Ads by Google notice that appears on all AdSense ads.

There are eight different types of text ad. The most popular is probably the leaderboard. At 728 x 90, it stretches pretty much across the screen and while it can be placed anywhere, it s mostly used at the top of the page, above the main text.

That's a great location. It s the first thing the reader sees and it offers a good selection of ads to choose from. When you're just starting out and still experimenting with the types of ads that work best with your users, it's a pretty good default to begin with.

Of course, you can put it in other places too. Putting a leaderboard ad between forum entries for example can be a pretty good strategy sometimes and is definitely worth trying. Overall, I think you'll probably find that one of the smaller ads such as a banner or half-banner might blend in more there and bring better results.

And I think you can often forget about putting a leaderboard at the bottom of the page, despite what Google's samples show you . It would certainly fit there but you have to be certain that people are going to reach the bottom of the page, especially a long page. You might find that only a small minority of readers would get that far, so you re already reducing the percentage of readers who would click through.

Overall, I'd say that leaderboards are most effective blended into the top of the page beneath the navigation bar and sometimes placed between forum entries.

Banners (468 x 60) and half-banners (234 x 60 ) are much more flexible.

Like leaderboards you can certainly put these sorts of ads at the top of the page, and lots of sites do it. Again, that's something worth trying. You can put up a leaderboard for a week or so, swap it for a banner for another week or so, and compare the results.

A banner or a half-banner would leave too much space on one side and make the ad stand out. It would look like you've set aside an area of t he page for advertising instead of for content. That would alert the reader that that section of the page is one that they can just ignore.

When you re looking for an ad to put in the middle of the page though, a half-banner can be just the ticket.

While a leaderboard will stretch over the sidebars of your site, just like the navigation bar, a 234 x 60 half-banner will fit neatly into the text space on most sites.

This sort of ad should be your default option for the end of articles and th e bottom of blog entries.

But for the most part, stay away from the 468 x 60 banner ad block!

One of the first things people do wh en they sign up for AdSense is to grab a 468 x 60 ad block.

Big mistake.

I have a theory about why they do this. It's the same theory that explains why the 468 x 60 block does not entice clicks.

Most site owners have the mindset th at when they put Google ads on their site, they must place the code that conforms most to traditional web advertising. And that would be...? Yup, the 468 x 60, the ubiquitous banner format that we h ave all come to kn ow an d love and... IGNORE.

Everyone is familiar with the 468 x 60. And that s exactly why the click-through rate on this size is very low, even among advertisers who use images on their banners.

The 468 x 60 blocks screams, " Hey! I am an advertisement! Whatever you do, DON'T click me. In fact, you should run from me as fast as you can !"

In all but a few special cases, I have found the 468 x 60 ad block to be completely ineffective, and recommend ignoring it the same way your visitors do.

Now, that doesn't mean you can never use it. You just have to know what you're doing and do it smartly. You have to do everything you can to make sure that that ad block looks absolutely nothing like a traditional banner ad.

At my site, I ve done that by surrounding the ad with text. Because there's no border around the unit, the ads blend into the text and look almost as they're a part of the article.

If I had left that unit in the middle of some empty space at the top of the page for example it would have looked exactly like the sort of banner that users have trained themselves to avoid. It wouldn't have picked up any clicks at all.

(Note, I could probably have used a half-banner here too but in general, I like to give my users as wide a choice of ads to click as possible.)

While this use of a 468 x 60 works for me and it can work for you too if you blend it into the page properly I'd stick to other formats, like the, half-banner if you're not 100 percent sure that you can pull it off.

When this ad unit fails, it can fail big.

Google also offers five different kinds of rectangular ads: buttons (125 x 125), small rectangles (180 x 1 50), medium rectangles (300 x 250), large rectangles (336 x 280), and squares 250 x 250.

In fact, all of the rectangles can be slotted into the same spots on the page... with the exception of the button.

Probably the most common use of rectangles is at the beginning of articles. You can wrap the text around the ad, forcing the reader to look at it if he wants to read the article. That s very effective.

But you can really put these sorts of ads anywhere on the page. On my site, I ve put two rectangular ads right at the top of the page so th at they take up the bulk of the space the user sees before he starts to scroll. That's a very aggressive approach that might not work on every site. It's worth trying though because if it works for you, you can find that it brings in great revenues.

If you're wondering which size of ad would be best for the position you've got in mind, my advice is to start with the large rectangle, the 336 x 280.

Why should you choose the 336 x 280 ad block? Simple .It gets the most clicks! My studies have shown that this format looks most like real content added to a page. I've dabbled with every size Google offers and this is the size th at consistently has the best results. Other people have told me the exact same thing. That's all I need to know!

Second best is the 300 x 250 rectangle.

This ad block size is really useful when you want to have two sets of ads side by side. They fit on most web pages just perfectly.

Buttons should generally be used in a different way to other rectangles. Like th half-banners, they're distinctive for their small size. While that means you could slot them in anywhere, I think they work best when slipped into the sidebars.

For example, you might have a list of links to frequently-read articles or other sites on one side of your page. Putting a button ad at the end of a list like th at could help it to blend in well.

The final types of text ads are those that run vertically. These come in three sizes: skyscraper (120 x 600), wide skyscraper (160 x 600 ) and vertical banner (120 x 240).

Clearly, these are useful options for filling u p the sides of the page.

I would also recommend using the 'wide skyscraper', text-only ads on the right hand edge of the screen in conjunction with the 3-Way Matching I discuss later in the book.

If you think about it, nearly all PC users are right handed (even left-handed people like me control their mouse with their right hand because it's how we were 'brought up' to use a mouse.) By placing the ads on the right hand edge it's psychologically 'less distance' between your right hand and the screen.

This 'closeness' in my opinion makes the user feel more comfortable and therefore more likely to click through to a link. They feel more in control of th eir visit experience.

Typically you can often divide sites into those that have plenty of content at the sides (especially on some blogs), and those that have nothing on the sides.

I think putting vertical ads in space so that they form the border of the main text makes the page look a lot cleaner. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to get more clicks. If you're putting a vertical banner in an area where you have other content then just make sure, as always, that you blend them in well so that they look like the rest of your content.

Image Ads Built To Be Ignored

Text ads should always be your first pick when you start to load up your site. Image ads should always be your last choice.

A text ad offers many advantages over image ads:

A. With the right formatting, a text ad 'blends in' with your site content. An image ad will not give you the same freedom with its appearance, as the only thing you can play with is the size and positioning.

B. You can squeeze more text ads into the space that a conventional banner takes. People love to have more choices!

C. Properly formatted text ads don't look like clutter. Banners do!

D. People hate banners and avoid them at sight. Many tests confirm that people are much more receptive to text ads related with your content.

I just can't think of a reason why anyone would want to take an image ad from Google. Text ads perform so much better, in my opinion, you're better off sticking with those and ignoring image ads altogether.

That doesn t mean you can't use images to subtly draw people click on ads. But images that are ads just scare people away.

Link Units Great Little Stocking Fillers

If you've ever bought Christmas presents for children, you've probably bought stocking fillers. You dole out hundreds of bucks on some state-of-the-art electronic gizmo, toss in a couple of toy cars that cost a dollar each just to fill up space and give the kid more to unwrap... then watch him spend 90 percent of his time playing with the car that cost 10 percent of your total gift budget.

AdLink units have the potential to be equally profitable.

They're very small, almost unnoticeable... but when used well, they can be extremely effective.

AdLink units let you place a box on your site that contains four or five links. They come in sizes ranging from 20 x 90 to 200 x 90, and are really meant to be placed on a sidebar.

Because you can place both AdLink units as well as other ad units on the page, you might find that the choice helps: if a user doesn't spot something interesting in one type of ad block, he might spot it on another.

Where AdLinks differ from other types of ads is that they on ly display a list of topics that Google believes are relevant to the content of your pages. They don't display the ads themselves. When a visitor clicks on a topic, Google pops up a new window with targeted ads.

It can be argued that the AdLinks are ineffective because people have to go through two clicks in order for you to get paid. That's right, you only get paid for the second click (but that does mean you can check to see which ads your users are being served.)

But it can also be argued that if someone is taking the time to click on a topic, then they are probably very interested in the link, and are likely to click an actual advertisement on the resulting page. Some people have found that just about everyone who clicks on an AdLink will click on the ads that appear on the next page.

I have tested AdLinks on multiple sites and have seen vast differences in results. That makes it more difficult to say whether or not they are for you.

In the first case, I placed the AdLinks on an in formation-based site with a very general audience. The results were nothing to write home about. Let's just say that you could just about buy a large candy bar with the CPM I saw.

In the second case, I placed the AdLinks on a product specific site with a narrow audience. The results were fantastic! We're talking about a CPM that is greater than what someone might make flipping burgers in one day.

The conclusions should be obvious. If you're going to use an AdLinks unit campaign. You need to put them:

• On a site with a specific field of interest. A general site will give you general ads and few clicks.
• Above the fold with few other links. For AdLinks, this is crucial: If your users are going to click a link, it should be a link th at gives you money.

It s also a good idea to keep your AdLink units for sites with high-paying keywords. If someone comes to your site seeking out information or a product on a top-notch keyword, they tend to be more likely to click as a result.

Let s take a look at an example:

Chris Pirillo's site at Lockergnome.com is an excellent template for how to do AdSense properly. While I don't have access to his AdSense statistics, I have watched his sites long enough to speculate as to his success.

The center column of his page is classic AdSense placement. He is using a medium or large rectangle with blue links, black text and subtle URL. The ads are placed inline and right justified. People start on the left and drift to the right. My testing has also shown that ads on the right perform best.

He is using a 120 x 600 skyscraper ad in sidebars, as many people do. Chris has also thought outside the box and used the white space next to his bullet points for this page. Right justifying the skyscraper block and placing it inline is a slick move.

But look where his AdLinks are: in the top left column of the page, above the fold. That means you can see Ads by Google as the first item. As long as those AdLinks are very targeted to the content on the page, they could generate 1 percent to 2 percen t in clicks. If you have the space and they fit in your sidebar, I would test them on your site as well.

There are two kinds of link units: vertical units and horizontal units. Chris Pirillo's site is a great example of the right way to use vertical link units.

But horizontal link units can be at least as effective. Since they were introduced, they really have become an extremely useful tool.

Some users have reported increases in CTR as high as 200 percent using these units!

Instead of piling the links one on top of the other which is great for putting above lists of links but stand out too clearly when placed in text the horizontal ads blend in perfectly when placed on pages with articles.

You can still only use one AdLink unit per page and users still have to click twice before you get paid but they're definitely worth slipping into a long article. You probably shouldn' t put them at the bottom of a page where they'll be very easy to miss, but there are plenty of other places where these sorts of ads can work very, very well.

For example, a horizontal ad unit can be a great alternative to a leaderboard. Its much more subtle and takes up less space on the page definitely something to experiment with to see which of the two brings you the highest revenues.

Or you could use them to separate forum or blog entries. As a horizontal unit, they can be very effective as frames that give people somewhere easy to go when they reach the end of a text unit.

One great use for horizontal link units though is on directory pages. If you have a Web page that contains tables of links, slipping a horizontal link unit above or below them or both can make the ads look like a part of the directory.

It almost makes you wan't to build a directory just to try it out!

To sum up the different types of ad format then, Leaderboards are best at the top of the page; Squares and rectangles can be embedded into text itself; Vertical ads and buttons should slip down the side of the page; Vertical link units should be placed next to link lists; Horizontal link units can go at th e top of th e page, between blog entries or above and below directories; And image ads shouldn t be used at all.

Those are the general rules governing ad formats. They're worth knowing because they're a good place to start.

They're also worth knowing because you can't break the rules until you know what they are... and that's when the fun really begins!

Expanded Text Ads Shrinking Control Or Expanded Income?

Take a look at the ad format samples on the AdSense site and you'll see a bunch of squares and rectangles filled with ads. Most of those ad units will contain more than one ad. On those units that do contain just the one ad, like th e button or the half-banner, the ad will fill the space neatly an d look pretty subtle.

You might be surprised then to put a skyscraper or a leaderboard on your site and find just one giant ad, written in super-sized text.

All the effort you've put into picking the right ad for your site, testing to see which formats work best and calculating which will give you the most clicks will have gone right out of the window.

You've prepared your site to serve multiple ads that look like content, and instead you're handing out a single ad that just screams Don't click me!

This can happen sometimes, but it s not a reason to panic. It might even be a reason to celebrate.

There are two possible reasons that Google is sending you these expanded text ads.

The first possible reason is that you've been keyword-targeted. Google keeps track of your results (just like you should be doing) and tries to serve up the number of ads for your page that will bring in the highest amount of income. That might be four ads in a unit .or just the one.

Frankly, I'm a touch skeptical that showing one ad is going to bring me more revenue than showing several, but I m prepared to give AdSense the benefit of the doubt.

If I see that Google is giving me one ad, I'll compare the results for that one ad to the previous results that I've had serving multiple ads in the same unit. If I find that my revenues have dropped I can either block that ad using my filters or just ask AdSense not to give me any more single ads.

But if I find that the expanded text ad is giving me more money, I might still be worried. I know that users are more likely to click ads th at look like content. I also know th at they prefer to have a choice of ads rather than just one option.

If I'm getting more clicks then with just one ad then , it could well be that I have been doing something wrong with that ad unit in the past. I would want to look at how well it's been optimized and whether its in the right place to bring in the best income.

It could well be that this single ad is a high-payer and works better with little competition. But it could also be that getting that one ad is a warning that something was wrong with the way you've laid out that ad u nit on your site.

You might want to try some different strategies to see if they'll increase your revenues when the multiple ads come back.

There is another possibility though. You might have been site-targeted.

This is a whole different ball game. It means that an advertiser has spotted your site and asked Google to run their ads on it on a pay-per-impression basis.

You're no longer dealing with tempting people to click, so you don't care how much your ad looks like an ad. In fact you might even want it to look like an ad, if that's what will keep the advertiser happy.

The most important point to bear in mind here is that you want to make sure that you're not losing money. It might be very nice for the advertiser to have exclusive control over a particular spot on your page but if you can make more money serving CPC ads in that space, you need to make sure that your site is working for you and not for the advertiser.

Again, watch your stats for a week and see if the revenues you receive for your impressions are h igher than those you receive for your clicks.

Most publishers find ads which pay by eCPM pay better, especially sites with high traffic rates. After all, you're getting paid for every visitor who comes to your site rather than just those that click, so all you have to do to increase your revenue is increase your traffic. As long as each impression pays more than you're paying for the traffic, you're going to be making a profit. That should be easy to calculate.

If you find the revenues are lower though , then you'll want to boot that ad off and go back to serving conventional ads. You can do that by opting out of showing site-targeted ads (you're automatically opted in).

In general, the biggest problem with these sorts of campaigns is not lower revenues, its that you've got no idea how long they're going to last, which makes it difficult for you to take advantage of them. If you knew , for example, that you were going to get paid per impression for the next two weeks, you'd want to buy in as much traffic as possible for that period, provided that you were paying less than what you are bringing in.

And because you don't care about CTR, You could also lay off the optimization and focus on making your site more attractive to users.

But you can't tell when your site is going to be used for a CPM campaign and you can't tell how long its going to last either. That means there's little point in making major changes to your optimization ; you might have to rebuild it the next day.

The best strategy to use when you spot a site-targeted ad on your site is to keep a close eye on the cash flows. Buy in more traffic if you can do it profitably, but for the most part, just enjoy the extra income!