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Thread: Adsense placement optimization

  1. #1
    Site Contributor KLB's Avatar
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    Adsense placement optimization

    The dream of any AdSense web publisher is to get lots of traffic and have a high, legitimate, CTR on their ads. Well the past few weeks I've been working like the dickens to optimize the CTR part of the equation by trying to further tune my AdSense placement. Fortunately my efforts at AdSense optimization have been much more successful than my attempts at viral/guerrilla marketing.

    Since I joined AdSense back in 2003, I have tracked and micro analyzed my AdSense performance not just on section by section basis of my environmental chemistry website, but also on a banner slot by banner slot basis. Quite literally, I have spreadsheets and databases with dozens of graphs that allow me to track all of my ad revenues on a daily basis all the way back to my joining AdSense. My process has been one of experimentation. I make a change and then watch to see how things play out on my graphs. Slowly but surely I have tuned my placement and density such that my CTR and CPM today is higher than it ever has been in the past.

    There are limits I have imposed on myself in regards to ad placement and implementation. For instance I always make sure that my ads are distinct from my normal menus and content. My goal isn't to trick people into clicking on my ads, rather simply learning how to place them in spots where the user is most receptive to being enticed by an ad.

    The ad placement theory I have developed over the years based on figuring out ad placements where the user's eyes are most likely to scan across the ads and where the user is most likely to be interested in clicking on the ad. The resource I found most helpful in initially placing my ads was https://www.google.com/support/adsen...954&topic=8437.
    [img=https://www.google.com/adsense/images/placement.gif]
    The "hot zone" map from that page is a very good tool for determining what the ideal placements of ads are.

    Since Google allows a maximum of three AdSense banners I use the following placement strategy:

    Ad #1) 160x600 tower top left spot directly below page title. My theory is that when someone first visits a page their eyes naturally scan the upper left corner of a page below the title first as they are looking for the spot to start reading. Also if this ad slot is above the fold, it can catch people who quickly scan a page and move on if the page doesn't interest them. Of my three AdSense banners, this is usually either the best performing slot or second best performing slot.

    Ad #2) 160x600 tower ad on left below AdSense ad #1. This ad slot is used to catch the reader part way through their reading of an article when their eyes may be wandering or when interest in the page is beginning to wane. This ad slot is the worst performing of the three AdSense ads, but it is considerably better than other positions I have tried and abandoned. This ad might do better in the middle of the content the reader is reading, but I do not like the idea of breaking up content. It also wouldn't be easy to implement a mid page ad on my site.

    Ad #3) 336x280 at the bottom of the content area of the page but above reference sources and supporting documentation. Until recently I placed this ad below the reference sources and citations for my articles. I discovered, however, I could almost double my CTR for this ad by placing it above an articles supporting documentation. My theory for this is that once a reader has finished reading an article they are ready to move on to something else and thus are the most receptive to being enticed by an ad. The reason placing the above the supporting documentation improved the results so much is that most people don't care about the supporting documentation and move on to something else before scrolling past the documentation and thus weren't seeing the #3 ads when they were lower on the page. As a result of moving the #3 ad above the supporting documentation for articles, this slot is oftentimes the best performing of the three AdSense positions I use.

    In summary my AdSense slot #1 is designed to attract users when their eyes first begin scanning a page and to try and pick off users who decide they aren't really interested in the page they landed on. My AdSense slot #2 is more of an effort to pick up a few extra dollars by attracting the wandering eyes of readers who are losing interest in the article they are reading. AdSense slot #3 is designed to attract readers once they have finished reading an article and are ready to go elsewhere.

    For many of you this might seem like common sense, for the rest of you I hope it helps you tweak your own ad placement. Make sure to also read my thread http://www.websitepublisher.net/foru...ead.php?t=5611, which discusses how limiting the number of banner ads used can increase ad revenues overall.
    Last edited by KLB; 06-19-2006 at 02:27 PM.
    Ken Barbalace - EnvironmentalChemistry.com (Environmental Careers, Blog)
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  2. #2
    Gimme Fries with that!
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    great post but its cut off..

  3. #3
    Site Contributor KLB's Avatar
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    Everything was there, there was just a stray edit left over that I failed to notice.
    Ken Barbalace - EnvironmentalChemistry.com (Environmental Careers, Blog)
    InternetSAR.org: Volunteers Assisting Search and Rescue via the Internet
    My Firefox Theme Classic Compact: Based onFirefox's classic theme but uses much less window space

  4. #4
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    I think you're spot on with #1 and #3. I'm not sure about #2. I've had some trouble with google running out of good ads trying to fill up two skyscrapers. So, a click at the top might net me a few dimes or quarters, but a click at the bottom only earns a penny. With one skyscraper, I get less clicks, but end up making more money. I'm still experimenting.

    Don't forget the link unit.

  5. #5
    Site Contributor KLB's Avatar
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    What I have found is that when Google starts to run short on ads it shorts the worst performing ad slot. Also when a low paying CPM AdSense ad appears on my site, it is almost always in my #2 slot. Thus the #2 slot on my site does not hurt my AdSense performance in other slots. Remember that Google has a self interest to put the highest paying ads in the spots that tend to get the most clicks.

    Selkirk, the affect you may be seeing with using three AdSense slots is the user tune out and click siphoning I was referring to in my thread http://www.websitepublisher.net/foru...ead.php?t=5611. Basically the two ad slots are competing for the same clicks and thus lowering the CTR for both slots and possible lowering the click value for the two slots. To pull of the two towers and box ad layout I use, one has to have long scrolling pages consisting of really long articles. It is not uncommon for me to have multi-page articles that have upwards of 1,000 words per page. Thus very frequently the #2 and #3 ads are not displayed on the screen at the same time.
    Ken Barbalace - EnvironmentalChemistry.com (Environmental Careers, Blog)
    InternetSAR.org: Volunteers Assisting Search and Rescue via the Internet
    My Firefox Theme Classic Compact: Based onFirefox's classic theme but uses much less window space

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