Why is google consistently telling me to do the image&text ads instead of just image ones? I have tried both and honestly the combo image+text yields higher ctr! Is it just due to the nature of the site and type of content. Would image ads work best on an automotive site or both text&image?
Thanks for the tips. Really nice optimization tips. I think experimentation is the key. Experiment, experiment and experiment till you get the best CTR.
I would like to tell you image ads, but i really don't know. Try image ads for 5 days, then compare the results over a 5 day period with image+text ads. This way you'll know forsure!
I also think letting google decide between showing text or images is the best course of action. I also implemented the 2 ads side by side in several sites, I get honest results, but the 5% (which is always my minimum goal) isn't always guaranteed even with this ad placement, it depends widely on the kind of audience your niche attracts (non technical is the best for clicks)
Is it the best course of action for you? or for google? You have to realize they're sometimes optimizing for themselves.
I believe my interest and google's interest are the same when we're talking about adsense. They want the highest eCPM from all their publishers, me too that's what I want, the most money each time I generate 1,000 ad impressions.
Update: My CTR has lowered a bit, closing in at 4.2 or so. Still a LOT higher. People post your results back!
the problem is that it is not allowed to post adsense stats, only gross payments are allowed in adsense's tos, otherwise I'd talk freely about my stats, I don't care, but since it is forbidden by adsense I don't want any problem with them.
I dunno. Low CTR is because of Google Image search....people look for the image/photo and ignore the rest of the content.
Just a quick update, my CTR has settled down a bit now that my repeat users are getting more accustomed to the ads. I'm seeing approx a 3.5-4% CTR on a daily basis. Still a big improvement!
I got a message from the adsense team saying text+image ads gives you a higher CPC. This is because there are more ads that are competing for the same keyword, and google will automatically display the ads with the highest CPC.