In this post Todd Fratzel from Home Construction Improvement and Today’s Green Construction shares how he doubled the AdSense revenue on his blog with a few simple changes.
Several simple changes in my Adsense approach and layout have almost doubled my blog’s revenue. The results were so drastic and eye opening that I convinced a friend (www.oneprojectcloser.com) to make the same changes to his blog with even better results. The changes involve two simple ideas that can be easily incorporated into any Adsense monetized website or blog.
I’ve been blogging for over two years now and growing traffic, authority and readership slow and steady. Along with the steady increase in traffic the site has continued to increase it’s Adsense revenue at a similar pace with no sudden increases regardless of all the changes and adjustments I’ve made. That was true until I took the time to study many different published Adsense approaches. As I read all of these different approaches three distinct ideas came to the forefront.
Three Important Adsense Approaches
- Less is More – This concept is really simple yet I hadn’t really given it much thought before. First off the top ad is the highest paying ad and you want that in the best possible position.
Secondly, if you’re using all three of the allotted Adsense units on a given page then there are quite a few ads all competing for attention or a click through. However, if you only use one Adsense unit then you’re limiting the number of ads served and improving the likelihood that one of those ads will get clicked. Therefore, the theory is that an advertiser will be willing to pay a higher rate for less competition.
- Size Matters – If you read enough Adsense guides you’ll find that the 336 x 280 Large Rectangle is the most effective Adsense unit. It typically offers four ads and they are likely to be very related to the topic based on the position between the post title and body.
- Position, Position, Position – Placing your Adsense unit above the fold is imperative for success. This makes sense to me for one reason. Every day my site (and I assume most sites) gets a majority of it’s traffic from search engines. This traffic is generated from people searching for something. So when they land on my page and they decide that it’s not the content they were looking for then I want them to see the Adsense unit right where they land so that becomes an “outclick” option.
How I Doubled My Adsense Revenue
In order to understand the approach I used to double my Adsense revenue I’ll use two graphics that show the same post before the changes and after the changes. First – the before shot:
And here’s the after shot:
My Old Adsense Layout Included:
- 468 x 60 Text Only Unit located in the header area of my page.
- 468 x 60 Text Only Unit located between the post title and the body of the post.
- 468 x 60 Text Only Unit located at the end of the post before the comment section.
Revised Adsense Layout Includes:
- Remove the old 468 x 60 Text Only Unit completely and replaced with an affiliate banner. The idea here is to remove some of the units in order to address concept #1 of Less is More.
- Replace the old 468 x 60 Text Only Unit with the 336 x 280 large rectangle unit. This unit is above the fold between the post title and body which makes it a very prominent position. This change addresses both of concept #2 and #3 for Size Matters and Position.
- Remove the old 468 x 60 Text Only Unit completely. I actually replaced this with the new Chitika Jumbo unit which is also performing quite well. Again the removal helps address the Less is More concept.
Immediate Results
If you look at the graph of my Adsense revenue over the last two months you’ll see that the increased revenue was immediate. The changes were made as indicated by the Red Circle #1. As you can see my revenue went from under $150 per week to almost $300 per week. Immediate should be taken with a grain of salt, the increase happened over several days and it’s likely to take some time for Adsense to incorporate the reduced number of ads being served on your site.
Summary Of Improved Adsense Layout
While I’d be naive to think that this will double any and all Adsense revenue for any site I think the principal is worth evaluating on all sites. The concept is really simple; make one large, well positioned ad do all the work. This will make your page look cleaner and it’s likely to improve your revenue immediately. It’s also important that you follow some of the basic suggestions of blended ads that match the color and fonts of your site. So far I’ve done this on two of my sites and a friend’s site with the same result, improved Adsense revenue.
Note from Darren: I think that the key with optimizing a blog for AdSense (or other ad networks) is to experiment. The best thing that Todd did here was to try something new and to track the results. What he’s done has worked for him but it might not work for everyone – the key is to keep trying different combinations of numbers of ads, ad sizes, ad positions, ad design (color, fonts etc) and to try different ad types until you find what works best for your blog.
thank you Todd for the tips . the one that interested me most is “less is more” . i always clatter my blog with ads BUT they perform badly.
Some good tips there.
Great topic & info as always! I’ve recently had an interesting thing happen on a blog I publish for local events. Our HUGE summer event was last weekend, the hits to my site were 10X their normal numbers but my adsense revenue for that week was lower than usual. My thoughts are that people were looking for specifically the info that I had on my site and therefore weren’t looking for anything else… makes one wonder if you should make it so easy for your followers! (just kidding) but I thought it was interesting. I am giong to test out all in one adsense ypn wordpress plug in right now. Sounds like that might be worth a try while I’m getting my blog off the ground.
Wondering what peoples thoughts are on if the adsense should blend into the background , blend with the colors of the blog but stand out a bit more.. or have it be the generic google colors?
Sometimes, visitor which didn’t come from search engine does not affect your GA earning. So, no matter what type of position you change, it wouldn’t affect anything.
Experiment and tracking = chances of better earning for Adsense. Never be predictable.
Thank you for your tip! I am in the process of testing this on my site. I am not sure if users would actually like such a prominent ad space BEFORE the post text but we will see how it performs.
In any case, testing is important to end up at the most effective placement and sizes.
This is all good advice. It’s certainly made me rethink my adsense strategy.
Thanks everyone!
Yeah, I think too many ads do turn off readers.
I love it when I read posts like this. I am into split testing my adsense big time and each website will be different. But when you think an increase of Adsense clicks by 50% over your whole network can be acheived very easily by testing position, colour and size.
I orignally read Darrens split test post and tried it myself. I had a 500% increase in clicks and an increase of income by 145%
Test, test and then when you have your ctr over 25% more onto your next site.
Nice tips. less is more is the key. many ads will make readers gone.
I’m so glad I have read this post. Using your suggestions and changing font size (new adsense option) my CTR goes up 12x!!!
Incredible!
Thanks!
I can totally see the difference. As a consumer, I would be more attracted to an add, with more color and photo, compared to the text Honestly, I get annoyed by those tiny ads that shows only letters. I guess i am just a visual person.Thank you for a great post.
Thanks for sharing. I use Adsense very minimally on my site, in the sidebar. After reading the 279 days report by Chris, I decided to take Adsense off my main posts altogether. It really wasn’t worth it – the low payout, the poorer user experience, driving visitors away from the site to other sites. I’m now relying on my direct services (coaching, speaking) for my revenue streams; in the future I might consider affiliate marketing.
This one i actually read all the way thru, Its deadly when you post the graphics becuase i’ve never used adsense before and that really helps me.
can you have a look at my site http://www.therunningback.com and let me know where to place adsense when i get em?
thanks!
That is good position, place that always have eyes spot.
Hello Mr Problogger,
Really speaking I am your fan.
I do agree with you that size does matter in case of ads display but disagree with Position, I find that if your content is really worth reading then visitor will be there at your content space there at the side bar you can put a 160×600 or 120×600 Vertical Wide banner, This will have a maximum effect.
If someone (Even I) is searching something will love to land on content directly.
Please take this as my view not suggestion as I am too young (Blogging Field) to suggest. I am Just a beginner!
Thank you if you are reading this!
Rita.
I would always recommend experimentation. What works for Peter might not work for Paul.
Is Chikita context sensitive? In which case it will be against Adsense T&Cs to use it on the same page.
always being on track and experimenting is the key here to really earn good from adsense
It is important to always try different things whenever dealing with any type of advertising to see what works more or less.
I’m also meddling with google ads and its placement etc. Is it just me, I always thought that who would click on these ads… and now I’m doing blog about something I love and whenever I see related ads I can’t resist myself clicking on them…but I shouldn’t sigh..
Darren, would such a huge ad in prime real estate increase user irritability and decrease rereadership?
I love your way of posting http://www.teratips.com
Check Out my adunits please suggest me a better layout, i had put 336 * 280 at the top and 2 link units one is 700 * xx and other is 200 * xxx but my revenue is very less is counting like 1 cents my vistors is about 20-30 per day
Suggest a better layout please Thanks
http://byteyourhead.blogspot.com
I did some of the same things that he did, including replacing a 468×60 below the title with a bigger rectangle ad – and my adsense earnings jumped noticably – within a day or two.. It was amazing how much of a difference it made!
I’ve just recently placed a 468×60 below my post title (I had never had anything here before); it performs averagely. When it does get clickthroughs, they tend to pay more for some reason. But on average, it does not seem to do better than a sidebar high-up.
Darren,
Todd’s experiments are good to follow. But in my one website, I am using 468 x 60 text unit in the header area is effective then any other. Also I think large rectangle best of all if it placed in right position according site content.
Any way, as you mention about Todd Fratzel “What he’s done has worked for him but it might not work for everyone “. That’s absolutely right.
.
So far, this method has paid off! In the past three days, I’ve gotten 6 ad clicks. During the prior three days, only 2. I look forward to checking the stats when it’s been a month or more since I reconfigured the ads.
Thanks Todd for tips. Started experimenting with one of my sites, removed some ads and eCPM tripled, although CTR is still the same.
I tried this the day I read this post. I only added the 350 ad box and placed it above the fold and took away the vertical box I had below the fold. WOW what a difference. I practically tripled my clicks. I am so thankful to have read this post for sure!
I read this post earlier this week and decided to try the large rectangle block at the top of my site. WOW! I couldn’t believe what a change! My click thru’s increased exponentially! I really wasn’t a believer but was happily proven wrong. Thanks Todd and Darren!
Wow!
Step 1: I took one of these tips and placed the large ad box above the fold in the sidebar and took out my header banner ads.
Step 2: I took the kids to see the new transformers movie.
Step 3: Checked adsense and in three hours I’ve already double what I make in an entire day on this site!!
Unbelievable! Thank you!
we are just starting to look at adsense for a client and this has been very helpful. Seams a lot of people just ram adsense everywhere they can.
This idea is something I’d love to sink my teeth into! Before I saw this post, I was using 3 adsense units with hardly any profit at all.
I think trying out the new adsense layout is worth a shot. Hopefully it works for me.
Didn’t seem to work for me. I tried it and had an alarming and significant fall in my clicks. I used to use leaderboard unit for above the fold and the 336×280 unit for after post. After 2 days of seeing pathetic earnings from the switch, I decided to go back to my original units.
How do I go about getting my adsense unit between the title and body of my post?
That’s really a cool change i ‘ll try it at my blog as well thanks a lot for sharing.
Thank you for the excellent advice on Adsense placement. I have a fairly new blog and I am researching ways to generate traffic. I love your blog and read your posts with keen interest.
Very informative. I guess one has to keep on trying keeping the basic in mind. Thanks
I think one needs to focus on making a good blog before even adding adsense—but that is pretty obvious, i think.
I agree with you.
Can I be a complete n00b and ask why the 468 x 60 ads are considered the worst kind?
same colour which can mingle with your website will give good results…….
Based on what I read in other websites, 468 x 60 is the common ad size known to man and the tendency for us is to simply ignore this ad size. Although, I still believe it is how you make your adsense blend perfectly in your site that will matter most. In one of my blogs the 250 x 250 is getting the most clicks so far.
Thanks Darren! I’m using 468X60 ad format. From now onwards, I would like to experiment.
It is interesting to read all of the different theories on ad placement and the affect. It seems that there are some good general ideas but you have to take the ideas and try them and then experiment to see if you can make the ad placement even better for your website or blog. It may even be that every page can be different not just the site.
Great post and great information. Thonk you.
Jamie
http://www.everythingnorthwest.com