How to win advertisers and influence ad competition

UPDATE: Sorry, the Onsite Advertiser Sign-up feature is no longer available.

For today’s optimization tip, I'd like to focus on a site targeting feature: Onsite Advertiser Sign-up. This enables advertisers to quickly and easily target cost-per-impression (CPM) ads specifically to your site, from your site.

As a publisher, you'll be automatically opted in to Onsite Advertiser Sign-up. You can also customize the landing page advertisers will see when they click on the ‘Advertise on this site’ link within your ad units. This is your opportunity to market your site to advertisers, so don’t settle for the default description – this won’t convince advertisers why they should site target you. Write a sharp and compelling paragraph to engage advertisers and let them know what your site’s all about.



You'll benefit when more advertisers sign up to advertise on your site, since more competition among ads means more money for you. Just remember - keep it advertiser-friendly!

Posted by Natalie Avdeef - AdSense Optimization Team

Search no further than your own site

If you haven't tried our AdSense for Search feature yet, now might just be the perfect time to put it to use -- we're pleased to announce that you can now display AdSense for search results within your own site. This way, you have the freedom to offer users web search while still maintaining the look and feel of your site. For example, you can keep elements like the header, footer, and site navigation panel the same for the search results page you create.

To use it, just choose the "Open results within my own site" radio button when you're generating your AdSense for search code. You'll also need to identify the page where you'd like to display your search results.



We'll give you two sets of code: one for the search box, and one for search results. Place the first set on a page where you'd like the search box to appear, and the second set on the page you'd like the search results to appear. Whenever users perform searches on your AdSense for search box, they'll be directed to the page on which you placed the search results code.

Since this new feature is part of AdSense for search, any Competitive Ad Filter and site-flavored search settings will still function as normal. You can also find detailed instructions for implementing this new option in our Help Center. Keep in mind that if you want your existing search boxes to take advantage of the new feature, you'll need to replace the search box code that's currently on your pages.

Posted by Nikhil Achwal - AdSense Optimization Team

Referrals around the world

Back in May, we launched our new and improved referral buttons. Now these new buttons are available for additional products and languages. You can choose from several different colors and options, and the buttons are in a sleeker, web-friendly GIF format -- all the better to blend in with your site.


Publishers have found that it’s most beneficial to place referrals where they're relevant. Do you run a photo blog? Try using a Picasa referral button. Looking to boost revenue for your web hosting site? Implement a Firefox referral button and watch your earnings grow.

Don’t forget you can also implement referrals in a text link format. Text links easily integrate into your site and often convert better than buttons. Here are a few tips on generating more revenue with text links:

• You can endorse products you've enjoyed using and encourage your users to do the same.
  
• Use text links to integrate the ad more seamlessly within your site content.
  
• Try having the text links inherit the font and look of your site, so they fit in with your current text style and size.

If you’re not already displaying referrals on your site, you may be missing out! Publishers have let us know that they’ve seen an increase in earnings since they implemented the feature. One publisher with a history-related site told us, “I get 3,000 uniques a day, and was only making about $15/day with regular AdSense for content. Today, I tried Firefox referrals and beside my regular site income, I've already made an extra $17.20 -- and the day isn't over yet.”

Not only will you benefit from the extra earnings, but your users will learn more about other products such as Picasa, Firefox, and AdWords. To begin displaying the new referral buttons, simply choose Referrals from the AdSense Setup page of your account, then select the product you'd like to refer users to on your pages.

Posted by Laura Chen - AdSense Optimization Team

Optimization Month, Week 3: The many features of AdSense

At this point, you probably know your ads like the back of your hand. You've removed the borders, relocated them above the fold, and are awaiting results. In the meantime, you might be asking: "What else can I do to optimize?"

I’m glad you asked. AdSense isn't just ads; within your account, there are a number of features that you might never have noticed. This week we'll be focusing on some of these less-visible gems that can also contribute to revenue increases. As the saying goes, don't put all your ads in one basket. ;) Diversify with some other features!

Maybe your site is full of great content users will love (if only they can find what they're looking for) or maybe you're already using your own search model, but don't have a way to monetize it. In either case, AdSense for search is a great solution.

If your users are always looking for new products and services to try, and you're looking always looking for a new revenue stream, give referrals a gander.

Once your ads are visually appealing enough to catch the eye, they still need to catch your visitor's interest. You can use section targeting to emphasize the important parts of your content (of course it’s all important, but who are we kidding? Not all content is created equal).

You know your site is great. Advertisers know your site is great. Wouldn't it be great if they could easily target ads right to your site? They can, using Onsite Advertiser Sign-up.

We'll explore these features in more depth throughout the week, so be sure to check in again for more details.

Posted by Jeff Conkey - AdSense Optimization Team

Phoebe's ad design tips

(Photo: Cody Ho assuming photo responsibilities for Phoebe Ho)

I can understand throwing away a penny here and there, but it would be pretty ridiculous to toss out hundreds of dollars every day. This is how I feel about optimization. There are many simple ways to increase revenue, but publishers often overlook how easy it is to make changes. Take the case of one publisher, who tried changing his 468x60 banner to a 300x250 rectangle and saw his revenue double! Afterwards, of course, he regretted not making the change earlier.

My goal is to make sure you don't have the same regret when you realize you could have already made extra money -- if only you'd optimized sooner. So in order of "biggest bang for the buck," here goes:

1) Make sure your colors are appropriate for your site and ad location. It's the easiest change to make that can increase your revenue up to 4x!

2) When choosing formats, remember: "Wider is better." Though you always want to be sure the format fits into the space on your pages, use 160x600 instead of 120x600 and try using rectangles as much as you can. 336x280 and 300x250 are our best performing formats. And since they support image and video ads, you'll even have more advertisers bidding on these ad spaces than other formats.

3) Like Geoff said earlier this week, "Set your site on fire!". Make sure you place the ads where your users will see them. This is why "above the fold" is so popular, because most users will not scroll below the fold line. In the same way, people often look for menu bars on the left side of a page so ads in that location are "hot." If your design layout allows it, sandwich the ads with content: placing a rectangle in the middle of a long article not only helps your visitors read those ads, but it also gives them a visual break.

Just try these tips -- it may take you 5 minutes or an hour, but you'll never know until you do if they will make you even more money. What have you got to lose?

Posted by Phoebe Ho - AdSense Optimization Team

Content is king

You already know that AdSense works by crawling your web pages for content, then delivering ads based on that content. This means that if your content is limited, our crawler may have difficulty identifying the information on the page. As a result, you may see ads that are not directly relevant to your page, or public service ads.

Here's a fix: Ensure that your pages are full of compelling content. The more targeted, full-text information you provide to our crawler, the easier it will be for our system to determine what your pages are about, and the greater the relevance of the Google ads will be. This enhances the effectiveness of the AdSense program, resulting in a better experience for your users, not to mention for the advertisers appearing on your pages.

Here’s a simple equation that spells it out:

1. A content-rich page = Highly-targeted ads
   
2. Highly-targeted ads + Interested users = Healthy clickthrough & conversion rates
   
3. Healthy clickthrough & conversion rates = Success!

Remember -- you can also use page section targeting to focus our crawler on certain sections of your page that may be more content-rich than others.

The Google ads appearing on your site then serve as supplemental content, providing useful information to your users that pertains to the content you’ve worked so hard to develop. So help us help you -- optimize your page with good content.

UPDATED for accuracy

Posted by Mike Gutner - AdSense Optimization Team

Co-optimization: Learning from others to earn more

If you've been trying out some of our Optimization Month tips on your site and wondering whether you're on the right track, you're not alone. Based on your feedback, we're excited to let you know that we've added a new category to the AdSense Help Forum -- Optimization! Now you can share your optimization results, ideas, and questions with other publishers in the AdSense community who are going through the same process.

There's no better way to learn than from the experiences of others, so why not get started during this Optimization Month?

Posted by Cathleen Jia - AdSense Publisher Support