AdSense Goes Seasonal

[wrmineo]

Just noticed this on Google AdSense today:

NEW We've added seasonal spirit to our ad units - you now have the option of displaying themed colors and graphics in your ads during holidays and special events. Visit our What's New page for details.

It took me a second to figure out how to get this "turned on" though, but it seems like it could be pretty neat for most sites.

Here's some more information in case you haven't seen this yet, or want to learn how to do it easily without fumbling through like I did:

What are themed ad units?

As part of our ongoing effort to provide ad designs that will improve results for both advertisers and publishers, we now offer themed ad units - ad units that display themed colors and graphics during holidays and special events. You can view examples of themed ad units by visiting our Ad Formats page.

Whenever themed ad units are available, we'll display them only to users in the appropriate locations, as determined by user IP address. For example, Fourth of July-themed ads would be visible only to users located in the U.S., while users throughout the world might see ads with a New Year's Eve theme.

You can enable or disable themed ad units by following these steps:

1. Log in to your account at www.google.com/adsense.
2. Go to the My Account tab.
3. On the Account Settings page, scroll down to the 'Ad Type Preferences' section and click 'Edit.'
4. Depending on your preference, check or uncheck the box next to 'Enable themed ad units when available.'
5. Click 'Save changes.' Your selection will apply to all your AdSense ad units.

[Eric Giguere]

Just wrote about it in my blog. Definitely buried where you wouldn't normally notice it. They should add some sample themed ads for people to see what they'll look like.

I wonder what they do about overlapping holidays?

[MorgansMom]

I saw one of these on a Christmas site. Wasn't sure if it was an Adsense thing or if the webmaster had played around with them.

They stuck out but in a good way. I thought it was cute.

I think I'll look into it for a few of my pages. Thanks for posting the info.

[sachin410]

Nice.

I enabled them.

I wonder what Indian users will see.... In India we have one or other festival every few days.

[wrmineo]

Originally Posted by Eric Giguere

Just wrote about it in my blog. Definitely buried where you wouldn't normally notice it. They should add some sample themed ads for people to see what they'll look like.

I wonder what they do about overlapping holidays?

If you go to your AdSense for content tab, under "Ad Layouts" you have a "view samples" link and they're at the bottom of that page - but they're showing Halloween and Thanksgiving examples.

[aeiouy]

I want to check these out. I also see a blurb about getting your stats e-mailed to you.

Can't get the information page to come up though.

[stephfoster]

One problem I see is that your decision is applied to your account as a whole. As I understand it, you can't decide which pages or sites get it. I'd rather be able to decide for myself.

I'm giving it a quick try, though. Be watching my stats pretty hard, just to be sure.

[Eric Giguere]

Originally Posted by wrmineo

If you go to your AdSense for content tab, under "Ad Layouts" you have a "view samples" link and they're at the bottom of that page - but they're showing Halloween and Thanksgiving examples.

Yeah, I was looking for the Christmas ones. Well, I guess I'll see them out in the wild... too bad we can't use our own artwork for the backgrounds, but I guess that would lead to some, uh, interesting ads...

[smindsrt]

too bad they waited until now. I don't feel like changing stuff for the 10 days we have left.

[fryman]

One question: once you enable them, that's all you need to do, or do you also need to replace your adsense code on your pages?

[wrmineo]

Originally Posted by fryman

One question: once you enable them, that's all you need to do, or do you also need to replace your adsense code on your pages?

Darn good question fryman and I honestly don't know. I have enabled that option, and have not replaced any code so I'll check some of my currently running code and if I see any changes, I'll report back.

[fryman]

I have a Christmas site that has been doing very well these last days... if this feature works I am sure my CTR will go up to the sky

[imjustagirl]

Originally Posted by wrmineo

If you go to your AdSense for content tab, under "Ad Layouts" you have a "view samples" link and they're at the bottom of that page - but they're showing Halloween and Thanksgiving examples.

Here is the link

http://www.google.com/adsense/adformats?hl=en_us#themed

[cornelius]

ok i enabled them,

my ads were nicely blended in before

lets see if the ctr goes down or up

[clancey]

It appears you do not need to changed AdSense code.

[Zapita]

does it depend on the color of your ads? i enabled the option and haven't seen anything with the theme in my sites :/

[jackburton2006]

Originally Posted by Zapita

does it depend on the color of your ads? i enabled the option and haven't seen anything with the theme in my sites :/

Likewise. Although I'm not sure how this will help my CTR, as it would sort of overwrite my reason for "blending" the ads in in the first place...

[FlashVictim]

I think they are quite tacky and don't look very professional...

[Jesse Abram]

I was debating about using them or not, I haven't seen what they look like, perhaps I'll check.

[hyipfarm]

i cant wait to see Santa on my site