Optimization Month, Week 2: Designing Your Ads

What if I told you that by making some simple changes to your ads, you could increase your revenue tenfold? And what if I said that by making some small adjustments to where you place the ads, to your colour schemes, and to the type of ads you use, you could even increase your revenue by a factor of 100?

Before you say anything, imagine you're a website owner in the mid-1990s. You own a large web property, and you've decided to increase your revenue stream through online advertising. Advertisers pay you each time their ads show, on a per-thousand basis. You need to place the ads somewhere people will see them. Looking at your site, you think, where? How about along the top, and down the right-hand side? Yes, that's where you've seen them on other sites, so they must be the best places.

Now, let's try that scenario today. You own a large web property, and you've decided to increase your revenue stream through Google AdSense. Advertisers pay you each time their ads show through site targeting, and also on a per-click basis. You need to place the ads somewhere people will see and interact with them. But where?

That's what we'll help you with this week. Did you know placing a traditional banner at the top of your site can be less than ideal for AdSense cost-per-click ads, but great for site-targeted CPM ads? Or that colour schemes designed to make your ads stand out will often make your users ignore those ads. What's more, by having AdSense integrated with quality content, users will stop seeing AdSense ads as advertising, and instead see them as relevant links to something they're interested in.

After having worked on optimisation in AdSense for a long time, we've amassed much learning through test after test. Even more important, we've learned from our failures at least as much as our successes. And now all of this is available to you, our publishers.

So go on. Spend 15 minutes reading this week's posts. Then with the recommendations in mind, spend another 15 minutes making the changes you and your users feel most comfortable with. Here's hoping it'll be the best (and most profitable) 30 minutes you'll have ever spent!

UPDATED with picture

Posted by Ivan Heneghan - AdSense UK Optimization Team