What was your best Adsense optimization move?

Discussion in 'AdSense' started by bargainr, Apr 4, 2006.

  1. #1
    For some it's the move of putting images near/next to/above/below the adsense unit, for others it's a close blending, and for some others its leaving few outgoing links on the page. For me... it was removing minor visual "barriers" around the adsense unit.

    If you look at my blog (http://www.bargaineering.com/articles), there's a clear sense of a header, two sidebars, and a "main" panel between the two sidebars. What you see now is that the sidebars aren't visually separated from the main panel... a week or so ago you would've seen small gray lines. Why did I put them there? Because I felt it would make the text in the middle easier to follow (and it probably did). What it also did was, in making the text easier to read, "blocked" some readers from seeing the ads.

    In the week that I've made the seemingly "meaningless" (it's obviously not to me now) adjustment, my CTR has increase nearly a full percent and earnings have increased 54%. The sad thing is I read about it (on DP no less) countless times but never thought it mattered... and I was totally wrong.

    What was your best optimization move to date?
     
    bargainr, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  2. Caydel

    Caydel Peon

    Messages:
    835
    Likes Received:
    47
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    you may want to double check that link - it seems broken to me
     
    Caydel, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  3. athlonin

    athlonin Guest

    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #3
    I like your site, pretty clean looking even though you have a lot of advertisement. The borderless adsense works well, along with the placement in the top left region of your page.


    BTW, the link you provided includes the ) at the end so I had to copy and paste manually.
     
    athlonin, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  4. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

    Messages:
    5,296
    Likes Received:
    282
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #4
    The adlinks at the top, below your site's logo, is an amazing money earner. I think it makes up about 3/4th of all my Adsense earnings. Also, the 234x60 banners have performed incredibly, which I didn't think it would do, seeing as how it only displays one ad.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 4, 2006 IP
    Will.Spencer likes this.
  5. Webmaster-Now

    Webmaster-Now Peon

    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    2
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #5
    Moving back from 3 banners per page to one.
     
    Webmaster-Now, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  6. briansol

    briansol Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    221
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    110
    #6
    So I heard...

    I tried it, and it performed miserably. 1-2 clicks a day.

    I guess it all depends on the site.
     
    briansol, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  7. Burta

    Burta Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,199
    Likes Received:
    146
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    165
    #7
    My big money spinner was getting Adlinks on my sites. When Implemented well they are amazing.
     
    Burta, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  8. upendrah

    upendrah Peon

    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    just check it out..u would have clicked it straight away from the post, which i also did and got the same broken link: It seems this symbol ( has been added to the end of the link...Just check this man....

    http://www.bargaineering.com/articles
     
    upendrah, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  9. upendrah

    upendrah Peon

    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #9
    I have planned to create a site...Please check this site
    www.jobs-junction.com (this is not my site) out and tell me whether they have kept the ads in a optimized way or any changes are required, Since i have planned to create a similar site with the way the ads they have placed in the site..I especially request jackburton2006 to reply..
     
    upendrah, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  10. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

    Messages:
    5,296
    Likes Received:
    282
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #10
    Hey, upendrah,

    Whoever did that site did a very poor job. The two skyscraper ads on the front page are just too much. They either should have gone with one, or bite the bullet and put both ads on top so it could be seen easier (although I wouldn't have done that; I believe less is more, and two skyscrapers on the same page is too much).

    If I was them, I would add a leaderboard adlink at the top, below the banner logo, and keep one skyscraper, because it seems like they have no content to put in the columns. Then I would optimize the single article pages with similar ad placement, except use an adlink at the top, and a 336 box at the bottom. I'm shock they haven't put any ads in their article pages; they're basically ignoring about 60-70% of their potential revenue.

    When placing ads, newcomers make the mistake of doing too much, believing that the more ads they put, the more they'll make. Not true (in most cases). It's much more effective to spread the ads out across your entire site; an adlink and banner on each page is plenty.

    Good luck with your new site, and keep in mind that you an optimize your ad placement all you want, but in the end it's the content that will bring in new visitors and keep the old ones coming back.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  11. Will.Spencer

    Will.Spencer NetBuilder

    Messages:
    14,789
    Likes Received:
    1,040
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    375
    #11
    jack:

    Can you show us a mockup of the design you are recommending?

    I am very interested! :)
     
    Will.Spencer, Apr 5, 2006 IP
    Seiya likes this.
  12. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

    Messages:
    5,296
    Likes Received:
    282
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #12
    Hey, Will. It's really nothing special, just something I've found that works for me. Here are the links I recommended someone else who had the same question check out:

    Both ad placements are very unobtrusive and give the impression of simple navigation. As well, they don't clutter up a site at all.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  13. Seiya

    Seiya Peon

    Messages:
    4,666
    Likes Received:
    404
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #13
    My biggest money increase wasnt from any optimization moves but from getting more traffic. *hint hint*
     
    Seiya, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  14. Burta

    Burta Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,199
    Likes Received:
    146
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    165
    #14
    Actually I second this one - my revenues keep going up with each tweak that I make, but these days I spend loads more time on tweaking my SEO or writting content than I do tweaking my adsense layout. I mean there is only so much blending and positioning you can really do, so once you find a method of ad integration that is pretty decent it's more important to then focus on the traffic or content of your site.
     
    Burta, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  15. Seiya

    Seiya Peon

    Messages:
    4,666
    Likes Received:
    404
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #15
    Indeed, you have to accept that some people just won't click. So we have to get more of the ones that will. :D
     
    Seiya, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  16. j3r0m3

    j3r0m3 Peon

    Messages:
    161
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #16
    definitely more to learn from the pros here
     
    j3r0m3, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  17. Deano

    Deano Sail away with me.

    Messages:
    890
    Likes Received:
    41
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #17
    For one of my sites (white background) red link units really made a difference (3x that of black), whilst on another site (creamy brown) background the opposite was true. Guess every site will behave differently.
    Of course Seiya has the main optimisation tip, increase your traffic :)
     
    Deano, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  18. sebastya

    sebastya Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,449
    Likes Received:
    46
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    138
    #18
    More & more people are finding out about adsense and therefore they don't click other peoples ads. I think adsense will die out within the next 2 years
     
    sebastya, Apr 5, 2006 IP
  19. Burta

    Burta Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,199
    Likes Received:
    146
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    165
    #19
    As long as there are advertisers there will be adsense. It is the perfect supply and demand system, the prices are flexible and based around a basic form of economic commerce we find a average price when supply = demand, and in this situation webmasters are willing to sell their adspace whilst the price is high - so even if the deamdn for space from advertisers is reduced that would just see a number of publishers leaving Adsense because the returns aren't great which would see a drop in supply. Either way as long as webmasters can earn $.05 - %.10 cents a click Adsense will stay alive... and seeing I'm an actual company owner and use Adwords myself I find it hard to believe that MOST website owners lookign to promote their site aren't will to pay 5 - 10 cents for a visitor... god knows I'm paying more than that and I'm happy to be as well.
     
    Burta, Apr 5, 2006 IP
    Caydel likes this.
  20. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

    Messages:
    5,296
    Likes Received:
    282
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #20
    I think not. Go to a mall right now and ask the first 10 person you meet, at random, if they've even heard of Adsense, much less know what it is. All 10 will say No. Then, ask another 100. Maybe -- maybe -- one will say Yes, but I doubt it. I think you'll have to ask the first 1,000 person you meet before one person will say, "Um, I think I've heard about it -- maybe."

    Point is, it just seems like everyone already knows about Adsense because we are "in the game" (as it were), but we are a small, small, small minority.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 5, 2006 IP