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 learned to boost my Google AdSense CTR –
much of which was taught by Matt Callen through his AdSense course. If you follow these tips,
you will see an instant jump in your CTR.
In order to achieve a very high CTR (20% +) it is important that the following points are taken
care of:
Google should serve Ads relevant to your niche.
You should have the right kinds of Ad formats place in the right places
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 20%
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
Displaying 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.
IMPORTANT: Do Not go overboard with this. If you put your keywords too many times, Google
will think you are trying to spam. Remember, Google is not stupid… so don’t treat them like
they are.
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. (don’t go overboard though)
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. Also – give a related alt text to the image.
Do not have too much content on your page
This is contrary to what some 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 everything
they are looking for, and will not be tempted to click on your ads. This will adversely affect
your CTR
Use a descriptive file name
This tip is often overlooked by webmasters. But it’s quite effective. If your page is on
bicycles, call your page www.yourdomain.com/bicycles.htm and not
www.yourdomain.com/bi.htm
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 formats. 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 those 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!
Have your Ads above the fold
This is one of the most important tips 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 an 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 blatant 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 blatant 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’? So don’t add
any additional text around the ads that will show your visitor that they are advertisements…
Google already does this for you.
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.
All of these ideas will make your ads more clickable while still abiding by Google’s current TOS.
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