Most people think that just by placing the Adsense code onto their website will start earning them big checks! I am not ashamed to admit that even I thought the same when I was new.
But I soon realized that if I do not optimize my Ads, it is impossible to achieve a good income from Adsense.
In order to earn big Adsense checks, you have to have a good CTR (Click Through Rate) CTR is the number of clicks an ad receives divided by the number of times the Ads are shown. A high CTR means more people are clicking on your Ads.
In this article I would like to share everything I have learnt to boost my Google Adsense CTR. If you follow these tips, you will see an instant jump in your CTR.
In order to achieve a very high CTR ( 30% ) it is important that the following points are taken care of :
1. Google should serve Ads relevant to your niche.
2. You should have the right kinds of Ad formats place in the right places
3. Your Ads should be properly formatted
If you take care of all the three points above, you are guaranteed to have a CTR greater than 30% Have Google serve relevant Ads
We have to ensure that the ads that are being served by Google
are closely related with your content. This is very important
because if your ads are not relevant your visitors will not
click on them. Here are some tips to ensure that Google displays
relevant Ads on your site
Mention your niche keyword in your Title Tag :One great way is to mention your main keyword in the Title tag
of your page. This will tell Google that your keyword must be in
integral part of your content; otherwise you wouldn't have
mentioned it in the title.
Mention your niche keyword several times in the body of your content :Mention your keywords a couple of times in the body of your
content. This will tell Google what your page is all about.
Please do not go overboard with this. If you put your keywords
too many times, Google will think you are trying to spam.
Make your keyword Bold :It also helps to bold your niche keyword, so that it stands out.
You can also use H1 tag for highlighting your keyword. Again, by
doing this, Google will feel that the keyword is very relevant to
your site's content
Have descriptive names for your images :If you have images on your page, give relevant names to the
image files. For example, if your site is on bicycle, call your
images bicycle1.jpg and bicycle2.jpg and not image1.jpg and
image2.jpg.
Do not have too much content on your page :This is contrary to what many Gurus feel. Having too much of
content on the page has got two disadvantages. Firstly, your
keyword density for your main keyword decreases and Google may
not understand exactly what your page is all about.
Secondly, if you have too much of content on your page, your
visitors will get what they are looking for, and will not be
tempted to click on your ads. This will adversely affect our CTR
Use a descriptive file name :This tip is often overlooked by webmasters. But its quite
effective. If your page is on bicycles, call your page
www.yourdomain.com/bicycles.htm and not
www.yourdomain.com/bi.htm
This will again help Google understand what your page is all
about and hence it will deliver relevant Ads
Ad Formats and their placement
Google provides dozens of Ad formats that you can use on your
site. These ads are of different sizes. Some of them are
completely ineffective. But some are really powerful. Once you
know what kinds of Ad formats to use, you should take care of
placing them at the right places. If they are not placed
strategically, they will not be clicked on often enough.
Here are some tips to choose the best kinds of Ad formats and
optimum placements
Use Large Rectangle (336 x 280) as your primary Ad format :
The Large Rectangle (336x280) works like a charm because it has
proven itself to be the best performing format. If you place it
"above the fold", its magic!
Use Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600) on the Left/Right border :
The Wide Skyscraper 160 x 600 performs very well on the left or
right side of your screen. I prefer putting it on the left side
because it gets seen more than the right side..
Do not neglect the Link Unit! :A Link Unit is one of the most under-utilized Ad format. But if
used correctly, and in the right position, it can be really
profitable format if put in the right place. It is supposed to
be placed near your navigation menu. Most people will think
it's a part of your navigation menu and automatically read it.
And if the ads being served are very relevant to your niche, they
will click on it!
Try using a Link Unit format that has 4 keywords in them. This
is because the size of the ad text would be slightly bigger, and
look more like a navigational menu. Also make sure to make the
border color blend with your website's background
Hey, we also have Search Boxes! :
Don't forget that Google also provides us Search boxes that we
can put on our site. Do not put them above the fold. But them in
a less prominent place further down the page. Bottom of the page
or somewhere on the left side below the fold is perfect.
Do not expect much money from Search boxes, but anything that
comes in extra counts!
Avoid Image Ads :
Google also has an option whereby you can select image ads to be
displayed instead of your text ads. Try to avoid this because
people are more responsive to text than images.
Have your Ads above the fold :This is one of the most important tip to increase your CTR. The
term "above the fold", comes from newspapers. Any news above
the fold on the front page of a newspaper will be read more than
any other part of the newspaper. The same rule applies to
AdSense too.
Here, "above the fold" means the top position of your screen
that is visible without the user having to scroll down. So if
you place your Ads "above the fold", it will be visible to
everyone, and they won't have to scroll down. Your Ads are
therefore more likely to get clicked. Also, the area above the
fold loads before the rest of the page. So this is by far the
best location for Adsense Ad placement.
Try not to have any other links "above the fold" :
This may not always be possible. But if you can, remove all
links that are "above the fold". The only links displayed
should be your Adsense Ads. By having any other link, you are
giving your visitors the option of clicking on them. This will
decrease your CTR. If you do not have any other links, your
visitors will sub-consciously be forced to click on your Adsense
Ads. This will shoot up your CTR.
Do not neglect the bottom of your page! :
If you have followed the above points, you will find that most
people click on the Ads above the fold. But there will be some
who will go down the page. And when they reach the end, they
normally think "what next?" To help them, we should have an
Adsense Ad to bid them farewell!! By placing an Adsense ad at
the end of the page they will often click it!
Formatting Your Ads
We have all got something called "Ad-blindness". That means
we have been sub-consciously conditioned to ignore Ads. Most of
the time we completely ignore banners on web pages. We run away
from anything that remotely resembles and Ad!
The same is with Adsense. If we want to make our Ads noticed, we
have to make sure that they do not look like Advertisements. We
have to format our Ads so that they seem to be a part of our
content. Once your Ad blends with your page and your content,
you will see amazing CTRs.
Here are some tips to properly format your Ads so that they
don't look like Ads.
Make the background of your Ad the same as the background of your page :
If the background of your web page is white, make sure the
background of your Ad is white too. Our main aim is to make the
Ad not look like an Ad. If they look like an Ad, they will not
be clicked upon. No one wants to click on Advertisements, right?
We want our Ad to look as if it's a part of our content. So
make sure the background of your Ad is the same as that of your
page. This will do wonders for your CTR.
Remove the border of your Ad :
Again, this follows the same principle as above. If you put a
border around your Ad, they will look like Ads. They will scream
aloud, "This is an ad!" And this will kill your CTR.
If you remove the border, they will blend with your content.
You might think this is something trivial but many people report
a massive increase in their CTR, just by removing their border.
So let the border go by having a similar color as your
background
Provide ample free space around your Ads. :
Do not make your Ads look cluttered. Have enough free space
around them to make them look neat. And if you have blended it
well, your CTR would see an instant jump.
Remove additional titles like "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisements" :
Google allows you to mention titles like 'Sponsored Links'
or 'Advertisements' above your Adsense ads. I suggest you
do not mention anything like this at all. Why would you want to
tell your visitor that they are Ads when Google already displays
'Ads by Gooooogle'?
Change the Link color to Blue :
This has proven to have a positive impact on my CTR. This is
because the color Blue symbolizes a link. We have got used to
seeing links in blue. So if your Ads have a clickable blue link,
they are more likely to get clicked.
Make the color of your URL and the color of your Ad's text the same :
This again, is often overlooked. If the color of your Ad text is
the same as the color of your Ad URL, it will make the URL blend,
or melt, thereby making your blue link more visible. This will
make your Ads more clickable!
If you follow the above points, you can be assured to achieve
CTRs that most people only dream of. Achieving a CTR of 30%-40%
would be normal!
ABHI
