Adsense Tutorial

So, you have decided to go ahead and use Google AdSense for generating revenue from your website. Google AdSense doesn’t need you to sell any products or services. With Google AdSense, you are just selling advertising space on your website. And the best part is that Google doesn’t discriminate between websites; so, any website owner can enroll with Google AdSense program (as long as it adheres to the Google AdSense program policies). Moreover, setting up a Google AdSense account is so easy that you can literally start generating revenue within 15 minutes.

For enrolling to the Google AdSense program, go to https://www.google.com/AdSense and click on the ‘Click here to Apply’ button. You will be presented with an enrolment form where you need to fill-in some details like your website information (URL and website language), the Google AdSense products that you wish to use (i.e. AdSense for Content or AdSense for Search), your contact information, your email address and your preferences. You will also need to select an account type (business/individual) for your AdSense Account and agree to the various policies, terms and conditions of Google AdSense program. The account type will not affect your revenues in any way; it is there just to determine if the payment is to be made in the name of a company or an individual. The email address and the password that you provide during the enrolment process will be required by you for logging into your account later on. Note that you will be referred to as publisher by the Google AdSense program; so when you return back to the Google AdSense website, you will be asked to enter your login details as an ‘Existing Publisher’.

That’s it. You can now submit your application form for Google to evaluate and get back to you.

Once you are done with setting up your Google AdSense account and once Google has approved your application, you are ready to use Google AdSense for earning revenue from your website. Just login into your account using your email address and password, click ‘AdSense Setup’ in the top menu and select the product type (i.e. ‘AdSense for Content’ or ‘AdSense for Search’). You will be presented with various options for customization of your AdSense Ads. Here we will take a look at setting up ‘AdSense for Content’ only (however, the setup for ‘AdSense for Search’ is quite similar and equally easy).

The first thing that you need to choose is the Ad type (Ad unit or link unit). Based on the Ad type you choose, you will need to specify the type of ad (text, image, etc for Ad unit) or number of links per link unit too. Google AdSense program allows you to use a maximum of three ad units and 1 link unit per web page (and you must use both, in order to maximize your AdSense revenue).

The next thing is to choose the Ad layout. There are various layouts available but large rectangle (336x280) and wide skyscraper (160x600) are preferred over others (since they help get more impressions for you and hence help you make more money).

Customizing the colors of various parts of your AdSense ad is the next thing you need to do. Even though customizing colors is optional (as far as the Google AdSense program is concerned), it’s strongly recommended for making your Ads attractive and more effective. Your choice of colors must be governed by the look and feel of your website so that the Ad doesn’t look out of place.

These are the essential customizations that you surely need to do before you can start using Google AdSense Ads on your website.

Besides the essential customizations like selecting the Ad type, Ad layout and colors, there are some other customizations that you can apply to your AdSense account. In fact, some of these can quite easily be treated as essential customizations (based on the context of your website) e.g. ‘filters’ is one such customization that is quite important. Let’s take a look at what these additional customizations are:

Filters: Google allows you to set-up custom ad filters for your website (note that this is in addition to the screening of ad content that Google does by default). By setting up filters you can block competitive Ads and other Ads that you don’t want to display on your website. In fact, filters are a must if your website sells a product or a service (unless you want to promote your competitors through your website).

Alternate Ads: This is something that can help you in preventing underutilization of the ad space on your website. Alternate Ads are the Ads that you would want to show up on your website in case sufficient content-relevant Ads are not available. If you don’t specify alternate Ads and if there are insufficient content-related Ads available, Google AdSense program will serve charitable Ads to your website (Ads which don’t earn revenue for you).

Reporting and performance tracking: You can even customize the reporting and performance tracking options for your AdSense account. One important tool in this regard is the use of channels to study the performance of AdSense Ads from various perspectives. However, you might decide to take this up later down the line (maybe 1 month after setting up your AdSense account.

Once you are done with all the customizations, your AdSense code is generated in the AdSense Code box. You just need to copy this code (which is in the form of a programming script) from the AdSense Code box and paste it in your website as per the guidelines from Google. Since Google allows only three ad units per page, you can add the code at more than one place in your html code.

The next step is to save your web page to the designated web server (as per the instructions from your web hosting service provider). Please note that Google AdSense program does not require you to send over your website’s html code to them; neither does it ask to load it onto their servers or do anything else with it. The addition of AdSense code to your website’s code is the only thing that you need to do. Separate procedures are available with Google for people who want to use AdSense Ads with their blogs (you can check these on Google’s website for AdSense program).

Now that everything is done and dusted, you need to wait for a few hours (might be lesser than that) before Google’s web crawlers find your web page or blog that has AdSense code on it and you start seeing AdSense Ads on your web page or blog. You might see some PSA (charitable Ads) initially (almost immediately) but these will soon get replaced with the AdSense Ads that will earn revenue for you. If the content on your website violates the AdSense program’s policies, you might keep seeing PSAs even after few hours. In all such cases (or if you find objectionable Ads that don’t go even after you have applied appropriate filters), you will need to contact Google who will sort out the problems for you.

Link units and themed ad units are two variations of AdSense Ads that are meant to further increase the quality of AdSense Ads that get served on websites. Let’s take a quick look to see what ‘Link units’ and ‘themed Ad units’ actually are:

Themed ad units: As their name suggests, themed ad units are the ad units that are based on particular themes. These themes could be depicted by colors or special type of graphics that are representative of the event or occasion portrayed by the theme. The events and occasions could be things like Christmas, New Year’s Day, etc. Of course, the themed Ads can only be displayed if they are available from the advertisers and if you have enabled the themed Ads on your AdSense account (in ‘Ad Type Preferences’). Also, since the events vary across different locations, the themed Ads are displayed based on the location of the website visitor. Besides this minor difference, themed ad units work in the same way as the normal ad units.

Link units: Link units are another useful way of advertising through AdSense program. Though the basic premise remains the same (i.e. targeted advertising), the way link units operate is slightly different. Link units are meant to provide even more meaningful advertisements to the website visitors by presenting them with a list of topics (ad keywords) to choose from. The website visitors are then presented with only those Ads that are related to the topic selected by them; hence making their website visit more meaningful. The list of topics presented to the website visitor is based on the website content. So, the topics are relevant to the context of website. However, the ‘clicks’ on the topics doesn’t make any revenue for you; it’s the clicks on the Ads for that topic that earns you revenue. As far as implementing of Link units is concerned, it’s done in the same way as other AdSense type products -- you copy and paste AdSense code in the html code of your webpage. Note that you are allowed to implement only one link unit per web page.

While talking about Google AdSense, we must not forget that Google is primarily known for its search engine capabilities (in fact, it is one of the most powerful search engines available today). So, how could Google leave out it search engine capabilities from its AdSense program?

‘AdSense for Search’ is how Google includes search engine bit into the Google AdSense program. ‘AdSense for Search’ can actually be termed as a sibling of Google AdSense program and is one great way of increasing website revenue for website owners. To implement ‘AdSense for search’, you just have to include the Google search box on your website. Again, Google offers the code that you need to use for including Google search box. You just have to paste the code at whatever place you deem as the most appropriate place for Google search box.

When your website visitors use Google search bar on your website, they get almost the same results as they would by using Google separately through Google.com. When these website visitors click the search results, the website owner earns revenue (CPC revenue). You can even include AdSense Ads on the search results page and earn CPM or CPC revenue from them. Also, you can customize the search results page to suit your website’s theme. So, Google AdSense for search is one great way of making money just by including the Google search bar on your website. Besides that, the visitors to your website get an additional functionality through your website i.e. the facility to search the web using one of the most powerful search engine (without leaving your website).

‘AdSense for search’ is a great way of earning revenue through your website (and, in fact, one of the easiest ways too). A number of website owner actually use both the ‘AdSense for Search’ and the regular ‘AdSense for content’ in order to maximize their revenue.

Adding the AdSense code to your web page is a very straight forward process. You just need to copy the AdSense code from your AdSense account (as seen in the AdSense code box) and paste it in your html code. However, there are certain guidelines that you need to follow when pasting the AdSense code in your web page.

Firstly, you should never tamper with the AdSense code in any way. It should be pasted as such, in its entirety, without any changes or modifications; otherwise your AdSense code will not work. Moreover, you might end up violating the AdSense program policies.

Also, it’s important that you paste the AdSense code in the body tags of your html page. This is necessary for the code (java script) to run properly.

Further, you must ensure that you use a maximum of three ad units per web page (this is the limit specified by Google AdSense program) and not more than 1 link unit per web page.

Since content based Ad targeting is the main concept behind AdSense program, you need to ensure that you paste your AdSense code in the place where you have your main content pieces e.g. if you have your main content in a particular frame or a ‘DIV’ tag, your AdSense code should be pasted in that particular frame or ‘DIV’ tag.

Be careful when using WYSIWYG editor (What you see is what you get) editors. Such editors sometimes add few tags on their own. So, paste the AdSense code only in source code directly and not in the preview page or any other view of your web page. Always check the AdSense code for additional irrelevant tags before you actually upload your web page to your server.

Google AdSense program has given an altogether new purpose to websites. Besides serving content or selling products and services, websites are now being used to generate revenue through serving Google AdSense Ads. The webmasters employ various strategies in order to extract the maximum out of Google AdSense program. There is no formal classification available for these strategies (nor can all the strategies be determined), however, the following 3 classifications are said to be more prevalent than the others:

1. Traffic Generation: Since the revenue generation from Google AdSense Ads is based on the CPC (cost-per-click) and CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis, the more traffic your have to your website the better are your chances of getting good revenue through AdSense. Most webmasters are fully aware of this fact and employ various tricks to generate high traffic to their website. All such tricks fall under the category of ‘Traffic Generation’.

2. Converting traffic to Clicks: Clicks seem to be the best way of increasing AdSense revenue. Prompting the website visitors to click on the AdSense Ads can make a big difference in terms of the AdSense revenue that you earn. A good copy can make the website visitors more confident about your website and hence encourage them to go ahead click the AdSense Ads. Besides the website copy, the website owners apply several other means for getting more clicks. These form the ‘Converting traffic to Clicks’ category.

3. Attracting High Value AdSense Ads: Besides the traffic to your website, your AdSense revenue is also based on the value of the AdSense Ads. So, some Ads produce more revenue when they are clicked/displayed than the others. This is determined using the Adwords system. Some webmasters develop websites primarily for AdSense revenue generation. These webmasters choose the website topic and orient the content in such a way so as to attract high value AdSense Ads. These tricks form the “Attracting High Value AdSense Ads” category.

Google AdSense program is one of the best online advertising programs that are in use today. AdSense program is beneficial to all the involved parties i.e. the advertisers, the website owners and the website visitors. The popularity of AdSense program seems to be the most among the second group i.e. website owners. A number of website owners today use AdSense Ads on their websites in order to earn good revenue on a regular basis. They use a number of tricks and tips in order to maximize their revenues.

Besides the regular tips, there are some other AdSense tips which a number of people miss out on unless they are very careful:

1. Use multiple ad units: Google allows you to use up to 3 ad units and one link unit per web page. Since your revenue earnings are dependent on ad clicks and ad impressions, a higher number of ad units can potentially increase your AdSense earnings. However, do not go with the maximum allowed ad units if you don’t have enough content on your web page; this might offend the website visitors.

2. Use wider Ad format: Though Ad formats yield different results for different websites, the wider Ad formats (like rectangles) are generally known to be more effective than their narrower counterparts (there is a scientific explanation for this, but we can leave that out since we are more concerned with the results).

3. Limit the filters: Filters are useful for blocking the Ads that you don’t want displayed on your website e.g. Ads of competitors. However, too many filters can seriously limit your revenue earning potential from AdSense Ads. So, limit the use of filters to minimum.

Google AdSense program offers more than one way of earning revenue from serving Google AdSense Ads. Though ‘AdSense for Feeds’ is one of the more recent ways of advertising using Google AdSense Ads, it’s in no way less effective than the others. Here, Google places the Ads of the advertisers in the relevant feed articles (again, note the most important characteristic of the Google AdSense program comes into play here too i.e. ‘relevant feed’ not just any feed).

The feeds are in the form of articles, headlines or summaries. These content formats allow the users to easily access the content from several publishers (content owners) at one place. This is achieved through feed aggregators like Bloglines etc. Again, Google uses its technology to determine what advertisements would be contextually suited for a particular feed. You get paid as the publisher of original content and hence make easy money. As for the readers, they as such get a rich experience because they can see the relevant advertisements with the content that they are interested in. Moreover, they can also choose the feeds that they want. Users can click the advertisements to visit the advertiser’s website and check if their products and/ or services are of any use to them. Of course, the Advertisers benefit too. They get targeted advertising which means only the really interested people get to know about their products and services (and hence there are more chances of a better conversion rate for sales).

So, the prime concept for ‘AdSense for feeds’ remains the same as the Google AdSense program; only the orientation changes a bit. But note that Google is currently beta testing ‘AdSense for feeds’. Beta test for the program quickly got fully subscribed, so Google is not accepting any more applications for AdSense for feeds.

It’s only a matter of time before Google AdSense for feeds hits the internet and opens another revenue earning opportunity for website owners.

AdSense for feeds is currently in beta testing phase and the content publishers are just waiting for the flood gates to open in order to start earning revenue through the AdSense Ads in their feeds. Here are the top 3 tips that will help you fully capitalize on this revenue earning opportunity:

Content quality: You will earn Google AdSense revenue only if people subscribe to your feed. The more subscriptions you get, the better are your chances of success with AdSense for feeds. Since most people would be looking for quality content, you need to make sure that your feed contains up-to-date quality information that is presented to the users in an easy-to-understand language. Besides that, the feeds should be free from grammatical and spelling mistakes.

Content quantity: Include as much content in your feeds as you possibly can. Again, the aim is prove that the feed is useful and comprehensive (so that more users subscribe to it). If you feel that the complete article cannot go into the feed, include a good summary of the article.

Limit the ad units: If the users find that your feeds contain too much Ads, they might not subscribe to your feeds at all (and the whole purpose of feeds would get defeated). In order to ensure that you get good subscription to your feeds, you should limit the ad units to one per feed. Another good way of ensuring that your feeds don’t look like an advertising medium is to place the Ads either at the end of article or after having sufficiently discussed the topic.

So, get ready for enhancing your ‘AdSense for feeds’ revenue with these tips. Your wait may soon be over. Keep the tempo going and keep checking Google’s AdSense blog for updates about the launch of AdSense for feeds.

The revenue that you earn from Google AdSense program is totally dependent on you and your abilities. Here are some tips that you can use to get the best results from your AdSense Ads:

1. Use channels: Channels help you in conducting a better analysis of the performance of your AdSense Ads. You can use custom channels to check what web pages are making more revenue and which ones are not doing so well. In fact, custom channels can be used for conducting analysis on multiple aspects at the same time. You can use this analysis for making amendments to your AdSense Ads or website content in order to get better results.

2. Ad customization and positioning: Shape, Size and color are the three properties of your AdSense Ads that you can easily control and customize in a way that the Ads don’t look out of place when served on your website. You can either make your Ads stand-out from the rest of the content on your webpage or you can make them blend with the overall webpage. Moreover, you can identify the hot spots on your website and position your Ads accordingly. Ad customization and Ad positioning are, in fact, the best ways to attract more clicks to your AdSense Ads.

3. Content quality: ‘The best generally overcomes the rest’ – is a very true saying. If you host quality content on your website and provide regular updates to your visitors, you can expect more traffic to your website. This will in turn lead to more ad impressions and possibly more clicks.

4. Use AdSense Ads on all pages: If you have multiple web pages on your website, you should include AdSense Ads on all of them. Since the visitors can enter your website through a number of different pages, having AdSense Ads on all the pages will surely increase your earnings.

You can customize these reports for advanced performance tracking. Though simple customization of basic reports is useful too, it’s the ‘channels’ that really help in conducting a detailed performance analysis. Using channels you can get data broken down and presented in a number of different ways e.g. you could compare the performance of one set of pages against another, you could compare the performance of one ad format against another etc. There are various options available with channels and it’s just a matter of exploring them and using them to your benefit.

Besides viewing the reports online, you can even download your reports (in CSV format – comma separated values format). If you don’t want to login to your AdSense account very frequently, you can set up email-able reports which automatically get emailed to you or whoever you designate.

Google AdSense advertising system stands like a star among the other advertising system. The popularity of Google AdSense program can be judged from the fact that most websites today serve Google AdSense Ads. In fact, some of the websites are just so full of Google AdSense Ads that the rest of the content on the website is much dwarfed. These are the websites that are especially targeted at earning revenue through Google AdSense system.

Some website owners use wrong/ illegal tactics in order to increase their revenue from Google AdSense program. One example of misuse of Google AdSense program is websites that do not contain any useful information but, instead, have a lot of keyword based content that is targeted at fooling the search engines. Such websites are categorized as “AdSense Farms”. Sometimes website owners might use a large number of websites in order to create even bigger “AdSense Farms” that have completely useless content. However, this might lead to disqualification from the Google AdSense program. Another misuse of Google AdSense program is seen in the use of free content e.g. content from Wikipedia to attract traffic to the website. Google is always on the lookout for such websites and they keep upgrading their technology in order to bypass such websites. So, never use such methods that can get you barred from Google AdSense program. And remember, it’s difficult to outsmart Google on this front.

There are sufficient tricks and legal tactics available for getting more traffic to your website and for increasing the earning potential from your website. Use those tricks and track the performance of your websites in order to increase your revenues.