Adding Advertising to Your Website with Google AdSense

Any website, no matter how small, can generate revenue. On the Web, one of the primary ways of generating revenue is from advertising; you place an ad on your site, and whenever a visitor clicks through the ad to the advertiser's website, you collect a small fee.

The problem with this scenario, of course, is that you're not in the advertising business; you have no sales force to sell advertising on your site, nor do you have the technology required to place the ads, track click-throughs, and then collect funds due from advertisers. You might be able to generate a bit of revenue, if only you could get the ads placed and managed.

This is where Google AdSense comes in. The AdSense program places content-targeted ads on your site, sells those ads to appropriate advertisers, monitors visitor click-throughs, tracks how much money is owed you, and then pays you what you've earned. Granted, a typical personal website or blog isn't going to generate a lot of click-throughs on its ads, but even a few click-throughs a week will generate a bit of spare cash that you didn't have otherwise. All you have to do is sign up for the program, insert a few lines of code into your web page's underlying HTML code, and then sit back and let Google do the rest of the work.

Google AdSense is actually two programs in one. Google AdSense for Content is that part of the program that places targeted ads on your web pages; Google AdSense for Search lets you add Google search to your website, and thus generate even more traffic and advertising revenue.

Understanding Google AdSense for Content

The main part of the AdSense program is dubbed Google AdSense for Content. This is the part of the program that puts ads on your web pages, and then generates revenue whenever visitors click on the ad links.

AdSense ads aren't just random advertisements; Google utilizes the same technology it uses to analyze web pages for its search index to determine the content of a page and place a content-appropriate ad on that page. For example, if your web page is about teeth, Google might place an ad for dentists; if your web page is about books, it might place an ad for book clubs. And so on and so forth.

The nice thing about ads that actually relate to your page's content is that they're more appealing to your site's visitors. One can assume that if you have a page about teeth, your visitors are interested in all things teeth-related, and thus are likely to respond positively to ads selling teeth-related merchandise and services. At the very least, the ads Google places should be more relevant to your toothsome visitors than, say, ads for motor oil or Viagra. And the more relevant the ad, the higher the click-through rate will bewhich means more profits, for both Google and you.

Even better, AdSense ad selection is automatic; you don't have to do a thing. Google automatically crawls your page to determine its content, and places ads appropriately. Your involvement is to activate the AdSense service, insert the appropriate HTML code (just once), and then sit back and let Google do everything else. You don't even have to notify Google if you change your site's content; AdSense automatically monitors your site for changes, and places new ads accordingly.

Understanding Google AdSense for Search

Then there's AdSense for Search, to which you get access when you sign up for AdSense for Content. The Search component lets you add a Google search box to your website. This is a good thing, as it keeps users on your site longer; they don't have to leave your site to conduct a web search.

Keeping visitors on your site longer increases the chances of them clicking through any ad placed on your site. In addition, you now collect a small percentage of the ad revenue when a visitor clicks through an ad on the search results page. It's only pennies (or fractions of a penny) per click, but it can add up fast.

You can actually put two different Google search boxes on your web pages. You can utilize the standard Google web search box, of course, or you can create a box that lets visitors search within your own website. Either option is free; you can choose either or both.

As to how you get the ads onto your site, it's a simple matter of feeding some key information to Google, having Google generate the appropriate HTML code, and then you pasting that code into the code for your web page. Once the code is inserted, the AdSense ads automatically appear. And every time a visitor clicks one of the ads on your site, you receive a percentage of the fee that the advertiser paid to Google. It's that simple.

How to Profit from AdSense

If you're like me, one of the first questions you have about AdSense concerns the moneyjust how much money can you make from the AdSense program? There's no easy answer to that question, unfortunately.

First, you have to know that Google simply doesn't disclose how much money you can make; it doesn't tell you how much it charges its advertisers, nor what percentage of the take you receive. That's right, when you sign up for the AdSense program, you're doing so with absolutely no idea what your earnings will be. It doesn't really sound like a fully informed contractual agreement to me, but that's the way it is.

That said, we do know in general how the AdSense program works. The ads you display on your pages can be placed on either a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) basis. That is, the advertiser pays either when someone clicks an ad, or when someone simply views the ad. You have no choice on whether you get CPC or CPM ads on your site.

Whenever an advertiser pays Google (for either a click or an impression), you receive a cut of that payment, in the form of a commission. How much of a commission you make depends on how much the advertiser is paying Google for that particular ad. The payment varies by advertiser and by quality of content; competition for the most popular content and keywords causes advertisers to bid up the price accordingly.

What does that mean in terms of dollars? It all depends; I've heard of payments running anywhere from 2 cents to $15 per click. You get a percentage of that. (And what percentage that is, Google doesn't disclose.)

So the amount you earn is dependent on the price that advertisers are paying, the amount of targeted traffic your site receives, and the number of visitors that view or click the ads on your site. To that last point, there are things you can do to improve your ads' visibility and click-through rate; I'll impart some tips in the "Ten Tips for Improving Your AdSense Earnings" section, later in this chapter.

Joining the AdSense Program

Signing up for the Google AdSense program is easy enough to do. You start at the main AdSense page (www.google.com/adsense/), and then click the Click Here to Apply button. On the next page, shown in Figure 37.1, you get to fill out an application form. On this form, you need to supply the following information/make the following choices:

Figure 37.1. Applying to the Google AdSense program.

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• Account type (individual or business)

• Country or territory (U.S. or otherwise)

• Website URL (Google needs this to generate the HTML ad code; enter the top-level URL of your site only)

• Website language (English or otherwise)

• Products (AdSense for Content and/or AdSense for Search)

• Contact information (your name, address, and so on)

• Login information (your email address, password, and so forth)

Google will now verify your email address by sending you a confirmation email. Follow the instructions in the email message, and then Google will review your application. The review period typically runs two to three days, and then Google will notify you of your acceptance and you'll be ready to log into your AdSense account and get started with the rest of the process.

Adding AdSense Ads to Your Website

Once your AdSense application has been accepted, you can log into your account from the main AdSense page (www.google.com/adsense/). To add an ad to your website, follow these steps:

1.	Select the AdSense Setup tab, shown in Figure 37.2. Figure 37.2. Getting ready to set up an AdSense ad. [View full size image]
2.	Click the AdSense for Content link.
3.	When the AdSense for Content page appears, as shown in Figure 37.3, select whether you want to display an ad unit (a block advertisement) or a link unit (a list of linked topics). If you choose to display an ad unit, you also need to pull down the list and select the type of ads you wanttext only, image only, or text and image (default). Click the Continue button to continue. Figure 37.3. Choosing the type of ad to displayan ad unit or link unit. [View full size image]
4.	When the next page appears, as shown in Figure 37.4, select the ad format and color scheme you want. Available ad formats include three sizes of horizontal ads, three sizes of vertical ads, and five sizes of square ads. Click the Continue button to continue. Figure 37.4. Choosing the ad format and color scheme. [View full size image]
5.	The final page, shown in Figure 37.5, displays the code that Google generated for your ad. Copy the code from this page and then paste it into the HTML code for your web page.

Figure 37.5. The final ad codecopy it into your web page's HTML.

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If you want to include the same type of ad (format and color) on every page of your site, you'll need to copy the final code into each page's HTML. If you want to generate different types of ads on different pages, you'll need to repeat this entire process for each different ad type on your site.

Note that Google generates different ads for the unique content on each page of your site. You only need to create new ad code if the format of the ad (size, type, color, and so on) changes from page to page.

Adding a Google Search Box to Your Site

If you want to add a Google search box to your pages, follow these steps from the main AdSense page:

1.	Select the AdSense Setup tab.
2.	Click the AdSense for Search link.
3.	Click the Get Started Now! button.
4.	When the AdSense for Search page appears, as shown in Figure 37.6, select whether you want to include Google Web Search only or Web Search plus Site Search; if you select the latter option, you'll need to enter up to three URLs for your site. Figure 37.6. Adding Google search to your site. [View full size image]
5.	In the Search Box Style section, select the logo type you want (separate Google logo or the words "Google Search" on the Search button), whether you want the Search button below the search box (it's to the side by default), the background color of the search box, and the length of the search box.
6.	In the Site-Flavored Search section, check the Customize the Type of Search Results option if you want search results tailored to the contents of your site.
7.	In the More Options section, select your site's language, whether you want search results opened in a new browser window, and the page encoding for your site.
8.	Click the Continue button to continue.
9.	When the next page appears, as shown in Figure 37.7, enter a URL for the logo you want to include on the search results page, as well as a destination URL for when the logo is clicked. Figure 37.7. Configuring your Google search options. [View full size image]
10.	Select a color scheme for the search results page, as well as any other options at the bottom of the page.
11.	Click the Continue button to continue.
12.	The final page, shown in Figure 37.8, displays the code that Google generated for the search box. Copy the code from this page and then paste it into the HTML code for your web page.

Figure 37.8. The final search box codecopy it into your web page's HTML.

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Again, you'll need to copy this code into each page on your site where you want a search box to appear.

Making More Money with AdSense Referrals

Google offers yet another way to make money by referring your site's visitors to other Google products and services. For example, you can earn $2 every time a visitor installs Google Pack from a button you put on your web page, or $1 if a visitor installs Picasa. At present Google lets you refer the following items to your site's visitors:

• Google AdSense

• Google AdWords

• Google Pack

• Mozilla Firefox

• Picasa

You can add one referral button (and one button only) to each of your web pages. Just follow these steps:

1.	Select the AdSense Setup tab.
2.	Click the Referrals link.
3.	When the Referrals page appears, as shown in Figure 37.9, check the product you want to refer, then click the Continue button. Figure 37.9. Selecting a product to refer. [View full size image]
4.	When the next page appears, select the type of referral button you want to use, and then click the Continue button (see Figure 37.10). Figure 37.10. Choosing the type of referral button to display. [View full size image]
5.	The final page, shown in Figure 37.11, displays the code that Google generated for the referral button. Copy the code from this page and then paste it into the HTML code for your web page.

Figure 37.11. The final referral button codecopy it into your web page's HTML.

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Monitoring Your AdSense Performance

Once you have AdSense ads active on your website, you can monitor the performance of those adshow many clicks you're generating, and how much that means in terms of earnings. Just go to the AdSense site and click the Reports tab. The default report, shown in Figure 37.12, details your page impressions, clicks, click through rate (CTR), the effective cost per 1,000 impressions (eCPM), and total earnings; you can show this information for today, yesterday, the last seven days, this month, last month, and all time.

Figure 37.12. Viewing your AdSense performance.

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Additional custom reports can also be generated from this page. For example, you can view performance by day (as shown in Figure 37.13), top queries by day (for AdSense for Content), and other similar reports.

Figure 37.13. An earnings-by-day report.

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Ten Tips for Improving Your AdSense Earnings

Just putting an AdSense ad on your website doesn't guarantee that you'll make a lot of money from it. The key to generating significant earnings is to get a lot of visitors to view or click-through the ads; that means both increasing your site traffic and the visibility and appeal of the ads themselves.

To that end, here are ten things you can do to improve the earnings potential of your AdSense ads:

• Tip #1: Give your ads prominent position. If you hide your AdSense ads, no one will see themand if no one sees them (or clicks them), you won't generate any earnings. Place your ads in a prominent position, and your earnings will increase. The best position is one that a visitor can see without scrolling, which means near the top of your page, either centered above your main content or in the top left corner. It's also important to place your ads near important content; you want visitors to see the ads when they view must-read content. (A good position is directly below the end of an article or other editorial content.) Also good is placement near navigational elements, such as menus and back/up buttons.

• Tip #2: Display text and image ads. When you create your AdSense ad, you have a choice of a text ad (shown in Figure 37.14) or image ad (shown in Figure 37.15). You should choose the option to display both types of ads. That's because some advertisers choose the text format only and others choose the image format only; when you opt to display both types of ads, you have a wider pool of potential advertisers who can display their ads on your page.

  Figure 37.14. A text ad.

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  Figure 37.15. An image ad.

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• Tip #3: Choose a large ad format. When it comes to advertising effectiveness, bigger is better. It should come as no surprise that wider ad formats tend to outperform narrower formatseven if the narrower ad is also taller. It's all about readability; visitors can read more text at a glance with a wider ad than they can with a taller one. Google says that the most effective formats are the 336 x 280 large rectangle, the 300 x 250 medium rectangle, and (contrary to the previous advice) the 160 x600 wide skyscraper; I've also had good luck with the 728 x 90 leaderboard and 468 x 60 banner.

• Tip #4: Format your ads to look like they're part of the regular page. Here's a test: What type of ad performs bestone that stands out from your regular page template or one that blends in? Contrary to what you might initially think, it's the ad that blends in that performs best; visitors tend to view such an ad as part of the page content, rather than as an ad. So when it comes to choosing ad colors, go with a color scheme that is similar to your page's color scheme. Avoid colors that contrast too much with your page's colors.

• Tip #5: Surround your ad with images. You can draw more attention to your AdSense ad if you surround it with imagesattractive images that your visitors would want to look at, anyway. This probably means putting an image above or below (or both above and below) the AdSense module. It's even better if the images have something to do with the ad content. For example, if you have a page about notebook PCs, and you're fairly sure that AdSense will serve up an ad related to notebook PCs, then surround that ad with pictures of notebook PCs. This approach not only draws attention to the ad, it actually makes the ad appear to be more integrated into your page's content.

• Tip #6: Put multiple ads on your page. If you have a large web page (one with a lot of scrolling content), you have room to put more than one ad on the page. Google lets you put up to three ad units on each page, in addition to one link unit and one referral button. The more ads you include, the more earnings you can generate.

  Caution

  Just because you can put multiple ads on your page doesn't mean you should. If you make your page too ad-heavy, you'll turn off visitors who might think your site is nothing but adsand not enough content.

  
  

• Tip #7: Add link units to your pages. You're not limited to placing just ads on your page. AdSense also lets you place link units, like the one in Figure 37.16, anywhere on your page. A link unit is a list of topics relevant to your site's content; when a visitor clicks one of these links, he's shown a page of ads related to that topic. You'll earn more money when the visitor clicks one of these topic-related ads.

  Figure 37.16. An AdSense link unit.

  

• Tip #8: Add AdSense for Search to your pages. You're missing out on potential earnings if you don't add AdSense for search to your site. There's certainly no harm to be done by including a Google web search or site search box to your site; if and when visitors use the search box, you'll earn money. It's as simple as that.

• Tip #9: Configure AdSense to display alternative ads. There's no guarantee that Google will always have advertisers interested in purchasing space on your site. For those times when ads aren't ready to serve, let AdSense display alternative ads instead. It's better to have something filling that ad space, rather than have open space on your page; plus, running a public service ad is a good thing to do.

• Tip #10: Improve your site's contentand increase your traffic. Here's the most valuable tip of all. The better and more timely your site's content, the more visitors you'll attract. And the more visitors, the more click-throughs your ads will receive. To increase your ad revenue, improve your site; it's as simple as that.

Commentary: Content-Sensitive Advertising The neat thing about both AdSense and AdWords is that they use Google's search technology to serve content-focused ads. And an ad that is somehow related to the content of your site will be more interesting to your visitors than an ad about a random product or service. Google uses a rather complex algorithm to determine the content of a page before it serves an appropriate ad. It's not just simple keyword matching; Google's algorithm analyzes keywords on your page, word frequency, font size, and the overall link structure to figure out, as well as it can, what a page is about. Then it finds an ad that closely matches that content, and feeds that ad to the page. For example, my personal website (www.molehillgroup.com) is all about the books I've written. On a recent day Google served up ads for "Top Book Club Selections" and "Books for Dummies"; the individual page for my book Absolute Beginner's Guide to eBay had ads titled "BidSlammer Snipes eBay," "eBay Sniping Since 1998," and "Bidz.com Auctions." That doesn't mean that Google always gets it right. A recent post on my blog deriding the dental profession was accompanied by an ad for dental hygienist insurance and another for a dental school. Close, but no cigar. That said, enhancing ad selection by matching ads to page content is a good thingfor both advertisers and consumers. As an advertiser, this technology helps to identify more likely buyers; for consumers, at least you're seeing an ad that has something to do with the page you're reading. It's much better than the kind of random mass-market advertising we're used to in most media, and it's a good application of Google's core search technology.