Optimize Your AdSense Sites For Maximum Click-Throughs and Payouts (Part 2)
Relevant Ads
What are your readers looking for? If it's a search engine visitor, they are usually there looking for information on a topic -the keywords they typed into the search engine to get there in the first place.
Since they have come to your website looking for more information on that topic, you'd want your ads to be about the same subject so that your visitors pay attention to the ads (because they are relevant to they are searching for) and click on them.
In my experience, don't waste your time with AdSense banner ads - especially if your site is a content-only site. What I mean by this is that your site's primary purpose is to provide content information instead of trying to sell a product or service. Banner ads act as "distractors" instead of aiding in more clicks.
How To Combat Ad Discrimination
How do you circumvent the inherent dislike people have against ads?
By changing them into information (i.e. don't use something that looks like an ad).Quite simply put, your AdSense blocks should be less like ads and be more like the text on your pages. Since your visitors came to your website looking for information on a particular topic, your goal is to ensure that your ads look as much like that information as possible.
Targeted Ads
As AdSense uses keyword matching to deliver ads to your website (they first find out the most important keywords on your website and then deliver ads based on those keywords), it's important that you write keyword-focused pages.
If the ads are not relevant to your site's topic, not only will they be out of place but they will also become 'distractions' - visitors will cast them aside as 'fluff' that is outside the realm of information that they are looking for.
Make sure that each page on your site is focused on a single keyword phrase - use that keyword throughout your article as well as in all the right areas (title tag, header tag).
Restricting the focus of the topic you are writing about also lets you write keyword-rich content in a natural, conversational voice - you're not forcing the keywords in but instead talking about them as you would talk to another person.
Proven Ad Formats
Allowing for positioning, colors and keyword targeting, some ad formats still manage to get a lot more clicks than others.
i. 336 x 280 (large rectangle)
ii. 300 x 250 (rectangle)
Almost any of the AdLinks units seem to work well as long as they are incorporated into your content appropriately. (If you're not familiar with the difference between AdBlocks and AdLinks, see your Google AdSense account for more details).
The reason these formats get more clicks is because they resemble content areas more closely - and as you will read in the next tip, it's easier to position these ads in the most visible areas of your website.
Low CTR Ad Formats:
i. 468 x 60 (banner ad)
ii. 2160 x 600 (wide skyscraper)
The only time I've seen banner ads work are if they are placed at the bottom of an article - but even then the CTR is too low to merit any recommendations.
Avoid the low CTR ad formats and stick to the high CTR ones on your websites. In fact, use the 336 x 280 and 250 x 250 rectangle formats whenever possible. But make sure that you tie in this tip with the next two as well.
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