Adsense Optimization

[Chris]

I'm trying out all sorts of adsense optimizations on my literature site right now.

One thing I did before was try randomizing the color of the link.

Then I tried having links the same color as my normal links.

Now I'm trying having links be the standard blue.

Believe it or not the random color so far is in the lead.

[Emancipator]

can you elaborate on how you randomized the link color? I usually try to have mine blend in as much as possible, example
http://www.avixion.ca/news.php?id=7

I think a thread on adsense optimization and what works, like this one is a great idea.

[Chris]

Well at the end of all my research I plan on writing a very long (7-10 page) article on it.



<?php

print('<? $rn = rand(1, 6);

switch($rn){
case 1:
//blue
$color = "0000FF";
$channel = "2764923058";
break;
case 2:
//red
$color = "FF0000";
$channel ="1104747216";
break;
case 3:
//green
$color = "06E30B";
$channel = "5236918995";
break;
case 4:
//light blue
$color = "02E3E0";
$channel ="9610675451";
break;
case 5:
//purple
$color = "8D1DE3";
$channel ="8927703813";
break;
case 6:
//yellow
$color = "FFFF00";
$channel ="0122181530";
break;

default:
$color = "FF9900";

break;
}
?>');

?>

That is how I did the random color... and I know the php might look a little weird but it was set to run through my caching system. So that file was used to print a php file which then processed the code.

[Emancipator]

i gotcha.... i didnt realize you used php to modify the google adsense code. Interesting concept, and I certainly will read the article once its done. I have found that using the smaller banners ( like at my link ) in a position near the top seems to work well.

[Masetek]

Emancipator you chose a nice page for an example!

I have tried the blue and blend in modes, the blue was the leader. Then I changed my default link color of the site to blue and it increased again. Thats interesting about the random color...guess it just draws attention

[KLB]

i gotcha.... i didnt realize you used php to modify the google adsense code. Interesting concept, and I certainly will read the article once its done. I have found that using the smaller banners ( like at my link ) in a position near the top seems to work well.

I personally use PHP to control the channels each displayed ad uses. This allows me to have only a few includes for various AdSense formats and then set the channel code on a page by page basis.

I'm very interested in any pragmatic look at color usage with AdSense. I'd like to know what works best.

[Emancipator]

Emancipator you chose a nice page for an example!

I have tried the blue and blend in modes, the blue was the leader. Then I changed my default link color of the site to blue and it increased again. Thats interesting about the random color...guess it just draws attention

Damn i grabbed one at random. I should probly have picked one with a bit better taste. Sorry guys

[Chris]

blue isn't good either, like a 20% dip in CTR (not that my CTR fell 20% literally, but the blue CTR is 80% of what the brown (blended) ctr was).

[Emancipator]

are you doing this test on different sites wtih different layouts? Because it could be that color is what works best with your template. Just trying to throw a rock in your algorithm :P

[Chris]

Well, ya, brown works best because it matches. I never assumed anything else. But no... I don't have time to test on multiple sites. Besides, I'm talking small optimizations here, trying to increase my CTR from say .5% to .6% or something on that scale. With my literature site's traffic that could be a nice bit of extra money each day, on a lot of my other lower traffic sites it'd be pennies.

[Emancipator]

yeah true that chris.

[Masetek]

Damn i grabbed one at random. I should probly have picked one with a bit better taste. Sorry guys

LOL, I wasnt complaining!

Chris - when you said you tried different colors, what colors did u try? I mean did they really stick out compared with the rest of the site?

[Cutter]

When you do random colors to specific ones perform better than others?

[Giles]

I did a random coloured javascript ad but It kept stuffing up and I ditched it.

[Chris]

With random colors, they all actually seem to do about the same.

And yes, the colors all stuck out.

[Chris]

I'm still doing my test but I have the rest of the article written and just need to fill in the blanks. 10 pages, 4000 words. Probably the longest article I've ever written.

One thing kinda throwing my test off is the CTR might drop but eCPM goes up... I wonder if adsense "Smart pricing" is somehow related to channel?

[KLB]

I've seen all kinds of wild fluctuations in AdSense the past several days. In fact yesterday I had the best total revenue day I've had in three months on half the traffic. Today I'm down to more normal revenue levels. I'm currently getting around 6,000 - 8,000 page views per day (typical summer doldrums for me).

[Chris]

heh, yesterday was my best day of the summer too.

[KLB]

I'll take your best day over my best day any day. - heh.

[Chris]

Ya well, I said summer, summer sucks for me too. Usually 50% of what I get in the school year.

[KLB]

I have a feeling your sucky summer is better than my hopping winter. ;)

For me my eCPM can more than double because the traffic I lose during the summer is actually low revenue traffic anyways while the traffic that generates most of my revenue drops only slightly.

[Masetek]

Funnily enough, I had my best earnings day yesterday and by the looks of today's stats Im going to beat it again. eCPM has gone up by about 30% or so

[Chris]

Yes, yesterday (your today) was better (by $2 anyways) for me as well.

[KLB]

My eCPM dropped by half yesterday from the day before (my highest eCPM ever, I think). Today my eCPM is starting off on the high side. It is almost like advertisers are really monkeying around with their ad campaigns as a result of this latest AdWords changes.

[Selkirk]

July has been good. What causes these month to month variations? February was dismal.

[Chris]

For me, and Ken too I'm sure, its that our biggest sites are used primarily by students & teachers and so they drop in traffic when summer roles around.

Also, in general in the summer more people vacation or spend more time outdoors, off the Internet.

[KLB]

For me, and Ken too I'm sure, its that our biggest sites are used primarily by students & teachers and so they drop in traffic when summer roles around.

I've been slowly trying to moderate the impact the school calendar has on my site by developing content that is more of interest to professionals than students. What I have found is that the professionals are a much more valuable source of ad revenues than students. Now I very rarely produce new content that would be mainly of interest to students (e.g. general chemistry tutorials).

[Chris]

Well this is weird. After a few really nice days eCPMs started out very very low today, and usually they are higher in the mornings.

[KLB]

I've been trying to figure out the hourly trend bit myself. I also am used to high eCPMs in the mornings with it tapering off near early evening (EDT). It almost appears that my eCPM has been increasing through out the day for the past few days.

Yesterday was really good, today is starting pretty good. Overall this week my eCPM is up, my CTR is up and my page views are up so I'm pretty happy.

[*infin8]

Ive noticed the best way to blend your ads in is to have no border box just the title/text/url displaying..

The random colour ads are very interesting and make sense. Wait in anticipation for the report. :)

[Skeewe]

I tried to experimenting with Adsense baners myself. So far I can only tell that way best performance for me are "large rectangle" formats blended in the middle of the articles.

[Chris]

Yup, that is really good placement