How To Maximize Your Adsense CTR - AND Earnings Per Click

Here are some things I have found out by using Adsense to build my business in the last years (in no particular order):

You will have 3-4 ads on your page MAX. (NOT ad blocks. ADS). The fewer Adsense ads show on a page, the higher the average earnings per click for you.

If you place more ads on your page, they will show ads that rank lower on Adwords (and are cheaper). You don't want people to click on ads that pay you $0.05. You want them to click on ads that pay you $0.50! Adwords are generally disproportionately expensive on the top positions. After a while, the bids "normalize" and you won't get paid as much for showing that "Adsense" on your site.

Also keep in mind that many options confuse people. Give them few links to click on.

Don't forget to create channels to track your ads. You can set up a new channel by following this path inside your Adsense account:

Adsense set up Channels Add new custom channels

Be descriptive in your channel name so you know what is going on and you don't get confused. For example, if you have a page on golf clubs and you are testing a 250X250 square on the top left of the screen, use a name like: golfclub250X250left

Also make sure that you don't use channels you have used in ads in previous different markets. I have found that this can confuse the system some times and your page can show ads for the OLD market you were in. This happens especially if there is not a lot of ad inventory in the new market you are in.

Make sure you use an "alternative URL" when setting up your ads. You may be able to see the ad just fine. But others may have super aggressive firewalls installed - and they may not be able to see the ads. You can set an alternative URL when you set up your Adsense ads. You can insert something like: http://www.yoursite.com/Subdirectory/alternative.html

Have something that would make sense to be there. Maybe links that point to your favorite affiliate programs. You can even model those links or ads after the Adsense ads that would appear on your page. Just use your affiliate link to link to those pages.

Let’s say that the alternative URL you use is a page on your site is called alternative.html. After a few days/weeks, check your server logs and see how many times that page loaded. This means that these many times your Adsense ads didn't appear.

If you get 1000 clicks from Adwords and you only get 900 impressions, that's ok. But if you only get 200 impressions and 800 of the people see your alternative ad, then something may be wrong with that market (or your page). In any case, keep in mind that an alternative URL can save your butt...

Many webmasters like the big rectangle. Why? Because it works! It gets very good CTR. However, I'm not sure that most people have actually tracked the profitability of their ads. Different markets can respond differently BUT, here are a few things to consider:

The 250X250 square, has almost the exact same look like the big rectangle. One ad below the other. But it shows three ads instead of four. What does that mean? It means that you give your visitors fewer options to choose from (but not too few) and they may decide to click more easily. Not only that but you now eliminated the 4th ad which would be, on average, the lowest paying of the four.

Can we push this even more? We can. We can create a similar block of ads with only two ads this time. Just create two 234X60 half banner ads and put one under the other. You now have a "mini rectangle" with only two ads. In many markets, two ads is the sweet spot not only as far as CTR but also as far as earnings per click go.

What about having only one ad then? This would definitely give you the highest earnings per click. But one ad usually doesn't give people that much of an option. If it's not compelling enough, they won't click it. I would have at least two ads on my page.

Note: if you use the trick with the two half banners one on top of the other, make sure that you use different channels. I found that, if I use the same channel name, the exact same ad can show twice on my page! Use different channel names. It makes sense from a tracking standpoint anyway.

Use the same font on your page that Adsense ads use. Not all ad blocks use the same font so you need to play Sherlock Holmes:

If you use Firefox, right click the ad, select "this frame" and then "view frame”

If you use Internet Explorer, right click the ad and select "View Source."

As an example, here's the font used in the large rectangle:

Title: font-size: 11px; font-family: arial, sans-serif;

Text: font-size: 10px; font-family: arial, sans-serif;

If you have been doing Adsense for any length of time, then you have probably heard that you can place images very close to your ads in order to draw attention there. Note that putting graphics close to your ads to encourage a higher CTR is not allowed by Google. In their own words: "[Adsense publishers] May not place misleading images alongside individual ads."

Can you still do it? Yes. Do many people do it? Yes. Will the Adsense cops get you? Maybe. But they will usually send you an email and let you know that you should remove the graphic. In order for them to do a manual review of your site, you must be getting quite a few impressions and clicks. By the time that happens, you will probably be on a whole new level success-wise and money-wise. Again, using images is not allowed. But I can tell you "off the record" that Google doesn't always enforce their rules. Many of their rules are deliberately vague so they have flexibility in how they develop their services...

As an extra “safety measure”, add borders around your image. Google believes that this makes the images more “distinct” so that your visitors won’t be confused…

Something that has been talked about a lot on forums and in Adsense guides, is the best colour for your Adsense ads. Your safest bet is to make the background colour of your ad AND the border of the ad the same as the background of your page (usually white). That way, the ads will blend with your content and they will look more like helpful resources and less like ads. The links in your ads should usually be blue or dark blue since online surfers have been conditioned to click blue links.

BUT HERE’S WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING:

Sometimes, you can get even better results by doing “whacky” stuff. Like using red or black links in your ads for example. Read the next section and you’ll understand what I’m talking about…