Internet Marketing Notes » Google Adsense

New AdSense Interface Now in Beta!

Jason — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:19:46 +0000

A new AdSense interface is now in beta!

It looks more attractive. I can see that much of user interface cues were borrowed from the Google Analytics interface.

Besides the visual difference, there are functional enhancements such as:

View daily stats in graphical format
View additional metrics e.g. amount earned from various ad, targeting, and bid types.
More options to manage ads that appear on your site
More streamlined process in making a change to several ad units simultaneously
Relevant help on every page
A message inbox for tips and alerts

Beta testing is currently limited to a few test participants. More publishers will get to test the interface over the next couple weeks.

Get the rest of the story here!

New Pricing Structure for AdSense and AdWords Referrals

Jason — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 08:35:14 +0000

Are you one of those who felt that it was too difficult to generate revenue from AdSense and AdWords referrals?

Well, there’s good news for you. Google has introduced a new pricing structure for both referral programs, which will be as follows:

AdSense Referrals:

When a publisher who signed up for Google AdSense through your referral earns their first $5 within 180 days of sign-up, you will be credited with $5.

When that same publisher earns $100 within 180 days of sign-up and is eligible for payment, you will be credited with an additional $250.

If, in any 180-day period, you refer 25 publishers who each earn more than $100 within 180 days of their respective sign-ups and are all eligible for payout, you will be awarded a $2,000 bonus (bonus payouts are limited to 1 per year).

AdWords Referrals:

When an advertiser you refer spends $5 within 90 days of sign-up (in addition to the $5 sign-up fee) you will be credited with $5.

When that same advertiser spends $100 within 90 days of sign-up, you will be credited with an additional $40.

If, in any 180 day period, you refer 20 advertisers who each spend more than $100 within 90 days of their respective sign-ups, you will be awarded a $600 bonus (bonus payments are limited to 1 per year).

It’s nice to know that the new pricing structure is actually a result of users’ feedback. Google listens!

Updated AdSense Program Policies

Jason — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 05:38:58 +0000

It has come to my attention that there is an updated AdSense Program Policy page.

The policies remain the same but they are now in a more readable format.

If you’re an AdSense publisher, it’s important that you read the new policies (even if you think you have a good grasp of the policies – a refresher is always good ). Many AdSense publishers unknowingly violate the terms — thus leading them to get banned from the program.

Click here for the new version of the policies.

Policy Clarification on Google Ad and Image Placement

Jason — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 04:45:07 +0000

Placing images along side Google AdSense ads has always been a controversial issue.

Apparently, AdSense publishers had observed increased ad click-through rates (CTR) when images are cleverly placed beside ads. I have not experimented with this idea although I knew about it for quite some time.

There was even this notion that such image placements would be legal as long as there is a visible border between the images and the ads.

Recently, Google has set the record straight on image placements beside ad units. Here’s what Google has to say:

We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads. If your visitors believe that the images and the ads are directly associated, or that the advertiser is offering the exact item found in the neighboring image, they may click the ad expecting to find something that isn’t actually being offered. That’s not a good experience for users or advertisers.

Guess what? Having a space or border in between the images and ads is a NO NO.

I have noticed AdSense guru Joel Comm had removed the images from his ads in his blog.

The policy does not imply that you can’t have ads on web page with images. The key thing to remember is that when placing ads (or images for that matter), do not go for arrangements that will mislead or confuse your visitors.

So, those of you who used to enjoy higher CTR because of the clever image placements better rethink of your ad layout optimization strategy now.

Google AdSense in Password-Protected Areas?

Jason — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:12:51 +0000

At present, Google AdSense does not support ads in password-protected areas. There is hope however that this limitation or restriction would go away.

According to Dave Taylor, the AdSense team is testing out a new capability called Site Authentication. A colleague of his received this invitation from the AdSense team:

You are one of a select group of publishers that has been chosen to try out our new Site Authentication feature. Site Authentication allows publishers to give our crawler access to login-protected content so that users can receive targeted ads. While there is no obligation for you to try out this new feature, you may find it helpful if you have pages of your site protected behind a login screen.

As an example, an online newspaper site may protect content behind a login for premium readers. Without Site Authentication, the publisher can’t show readers targeted ads on those premium pages because our crawler has not been able to access the content. Using Site Authentication, the publisher can now specify details for our crawler to pass the login screen and reach the protected content, allowing AdSense to serve relevant ads to the readers.

I’d think this would be great news for publishers of subscription-based or premium-content sites.

AdSense for Audio On the Way?

Jason — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:40:27 +0000

Wow! Contextual advertising over podcast? Is this a rumor?

A little over month ago, Jennifer Slegg (a.k.a. JenSense) stumbled upon an interesting job posting in Google. The position advertised is for Strategic Partner Development Manager for AdSense for Audio.

Some digging revealed that AdSense for Audio was originally slated for Q3 release, but it’s apparently going through some delays.

Podcasting consultant, Jason Van Orden raised some interesting concerns on how Google is going to measure the performance for an audio ad inserted in a podcast.

Measurement will be the #1 question for advertisers (since it determines their bill) and a potential headache for Google. Google has enough problems with click fraud.

Whatever it is, all this buzz in the blogosphere seem interesting. Let’s keep close watch on Google AdSense’s upcoming offering!

Google Wants Feedback on How to Improve Measuring AdSense Success using Google Analytics

Jason — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:15:59 +0000

If you are both a Google Analytics and Google AdSense user, Google is seeking your feedback on the following:

Which Google Analytics reports do you use most often in conjunction with your AdSense account?

Which reports or metrics would you most like to see added to Google Analytics to help you succeed with AdSense?

Google has created a topic thread in Google Group “Anaytics Help” for users to post their feedback.

Here are some of the feedback that I thought are interesting:

..allow webmasters to track the visitors clicking on AdSense ads so that unusual click activity can be quickly detected and submitted to Google.

..be able to tell what percentage and/or what actual number of visitors left the site via an Adsense ad.

..be able to mix Adsense and Analytics data and create a single report that I can mail to my clients.

..(have) the ability to see which google ads are being clicked on and how many times. Not just which banner is being clicked on, but which individual ad is being clicked on.

..like to see referrer information and user location before they came to the site and clicked the ad.

..like to see keyword used if ever visitor found the site through search results.

There were lots of other interesting suggestions. You can find all of them here and post your own feedback too.

Personally, I’d like to see see a single sign-on for both accounts and seamless integration between Google Analytics and Google AdSense reports. What’s in your wish list?

Firefox 2.0 Not Supported by Google AdSense Referrals?

Jason — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 04:11:47 +0000

I came across Barry Schwartz’s post saying that the recently released Firefox 2.0 is currently not supported by Google AdSense Firefox Referrals program.

Google AdSense program pays $1 per download of Firefox plus Google Toolbar from a referral. At this time, the referrals program only covers Firefox 1.5. [Update: Google has retired its referrals program in August 2008.]

Here’s a reply presumably from AdSense Support to a DigitalPoint Forums member’s query:

Thanks for writing in about the Firefox plus Google Toolbar referral button. We currently offer Firefox 1.5 in our referral download. We can’t yet say if or when we will offer Firefox 2.0, but I’m happy to pass along your comments to our engineering and product teams.

I noticed some web publishers are now contemplating whether to display the download Firefox/Google Toolbar button since it does not lead the users to download the latest Firefox release.

Comments anyone?

Create a Google Custom Search Engine and Connect to AdSense

Jason — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 10:52:37 +0000

Google has just unveiled the Google Co-op Custom Search Engine. Well, Custom Search Engine allows you to:

Create a highly specialized Custom Search Engine that reflects your knowledge and interests. Place it on your website and, using our AdSense for Search program, make money from the resulting traffic.

With Google Custom Search Engine, you can restrict sites that appear in your search results or simply give your chosen sites a higher search rank or priority. You can even later add sites for inclusion using Google Marker. Google will give you a piece of code for a search box for you to embed in your site or blog. You can also customize the presentation and functionality of the search engine. Also, you can invite others to co-edit your search engine using the collaboration feature.

Google Custom Search Engine vs Google Search

Here’s an example of a Google Custom Search Engine result page when searching Mac games on Macworld:

The screenshot below is from Google Search:

As you can see from the Custom Search Engine result, I could venture a guess that Macworld has tuned the search results such that pages from macworld.com and macosxhints.com were given higher search result priority.

Hmmm…does that ring a bell? If you operate a group of other related sites, you could possibly have your sites displayed at the top of the search results, therefore creating a higher chance of driving outbound traffic to your own sites.

Making Money with AdSense

Google also wants you to make money from your Custom Search Engine so that they can make money too . Via Google’s AdSense program, Google will place contextually relevant ads in the search results and pays you a share of the revenues generated by those ads.

If you already have an AdSense account, you need to fill out a form providing your AdSense email address, zip code, and the last 5 digits of your phone number. Google will use this information to connect to your AdSense account and allowing you to make money right away.

If you don’t have an AdSense account yet, you will need to fill out a form provided in the Google co-op control panel and follow the instructions to activate your new account.

Resources:

Google Co-op Custom Search Engine: http://www.google.com/coop/cse
Custom Search Engine FAQ: http://www.google.com/coop/docs/cse/faq.html
Featured examples: http://www.google.com/coop/cse/examples/

The AdSense Code is Amazon.com Bestseller

Jason — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 10:00:46 +0000

AdSense guru Joel Comm is making big waves on Amazon.com with his 260-page book, The AdSense Code.

The book has been recently ranked as high as #56 of all books sold on Amazon.com and #1 in the Computers & Internet category.

From the book description:

Hidden on the Internet, scattered among billions of Web pages, are the clues to an incredible secret.

For those who know the secret, the result is untold wealth. Each month, a small group of people – an elite club who have uncovered the mysteries of The AdSense Code- put their knowledge to use and receive checks for tens of thousands of dollars from Google. And untold numbers of additional site owners are regularly generating supplemental income via AdSense while they play, sleep and eat.

The AdSense Code is concise and very focused on the objective of revealing the proven online strategies to creating passive income with Google AdSense.

The AdSense Code reveals hands-on solutions to many of the concerns and challenges faced by content publishers in their quest to attract targeted traffic, improve content relevance and increase responsiveness to AdSense ads – using easy and legitimate techniques that have worked for those who know the secrets.

Google AdSense expert, Joel Comm, provides you with the keys you need to “crack” The AdSense Code and unlock the secrets to making money online.

Get The AdSense Code from Amazon.com here