Thursday, February 12, 2009

Seven Google Adsense Tips

Tip #1: Keywords Keywords Keywords



Google uses keywords as a major part of their algorithm to determine search results. This is simple – a website promoting golf clubs should include golf clubs multiple times on the website. This makes sense. Google will parse through the content on the website, find keywords for golf clubs and understand that the website is about golf clubs. Make sure the quantity of the keywords you are promoting is high. Google will detect keyword density and move your website ever closer to the desired number 1 page results spot!



Tip #2: Quality Content



While keywords are important, having a website that is nothing but keywords after keywords after keywords is not the way to go. Google is extremely concerned about quality content. Both you the webmaster and the casual surfer appreciate this. When searching for golf clubs, you want to see a quality site on golf clubs, showing specs, prices, different brands, etc. What you do not want to see is a website that says nothing but golf clubs over and over again. Therefore, Google not only looks at keywords but looks at content. Google’s customer is the web surfer. And the web surfer wants content. So, Google includes quality content in their search engine algorithms as well as keywords.



Tip #3: Update your Content



The more quality content you have, the better. But it is also important that you update your content. It is quality information that originally gets surfers to your site. But it is the continually updated content that keeps them coming. Would you go to the movies if theatres only played one movie? No. People love variety, and though your website may be about golf clubs all the time, what surfers want is your golf club site to include recent information and news about the golf club world. They need specs on the latest club technology. More users will come to the site and potentially click your Google AdSense ads.

This does not mean you have to update your website every day. Many Google AdSense practitioners we talk to update their content once a week but no later than twice a month. If you can update your content every day, well good for you and your free time! But many AdSensers use AdSense for parttime income, and once a week is sufficient to keep your website relevant.



Tip #4: AdSense Format



If you are adding AdSense to blogs, chances are the blog site mandates certain sizes of their AdSense ads. However, if you developed your own site, you can create custom sizes for your ads. Google adds a step in their wizard for creating AdSense ads of different sizes. A lot of research has been done that shows wider ads are more successful than other sized ads. Below are the three most popular and successful ad sizes.



160×600 wide skyscraper

300×250 medium rectangle

336×280 large rectangle



Tip #5: Choose your Color Wisely



Another step in the AdSense creation wizard allows you to choose the color scheme for the ad. Your ideal solution is to choose colors that blend into the color scheme of your website or blog. The background and border color should be the same color as the most prominent color on your website. We have had better success with black for the text color no matter what the text color on the website is. If not choosing black, the most dominant font color on your site should be used. Another major tip is to not use background or border colors. Experience shows that ads without background colors or borders get more clicks than ads with background colors or borders.



Tip #6: Layout and Positioning



Surfers do not browser the Internet looking for AdSense ads to click. Although that would be great to the AdSenser, surfers browse the Internet looking for quality content. Who knew! It is best to keep your AdSense ads in subtle but obvious locations. Though this may seem counterintuitive, it is not. The subtleness comes from the natural flow of the website and the placement of the ads. Say, you have a page of ten paragraphs. Put two ads at the end of the third paragraph and another two ads at the end of the sixth paragraph. A surfer reading the page content will eye the AdSense ads in a natural manner, during the course of regular reading. That is ideal. So, the placement of the ad is subtle enough that the ads work in the flow of the page, but the ads are obvious enough that they will be viewed by visitors.



Tip #7: Maximize the Ads



Google does not allow unlimited ads. This prevents Made for AdSense (MFA) sites or Free for All (FFA) sites from posting nothing but ads. Google has set a maximum of six ads per page, three AdSense units, two AdSense search boxes, and one unit of ad links. Maxing out your limit does increase the potential for profit, provided you are using the previous 6 tips.



In summary, use these 7 tips wisely. Keep them in mind when creating blogs or websites and adding AdSense ads. You will find that your click through rate increases, and your profit increases as well. Happy AdSensing!

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