AdSense Optimization

AdSense Ad Placement Tips for Web Publishers

You can do everything right as a web publisher, but if you don't optimize ad placements, your revenues may never buy you more than an occasional cup of coffee.

If you're like most web publishers, you've put a lot of thought into the design of your content website.

After all, you're counting on this site to become a profit center. The easier it is for users to find what they're looking for, the easier it is for them to reward your efforts and share you site with others.

Now that your site architecture is set, you're ready to start placing Google ads on your site. You've left room for those ads to appear in a column on the right side of the webpage and you're ready to rake in the profits. But before you get too excited, have you given any thought to whether a columnar ad section on the right side of the screen is an effective placement?

As it turns out, a right-side column of ads isn't the most effective placement for a Google ad. In fact, that's probably one of the worst locations to place Google ads. If you're not up to speed on AdSense ad placements, it's time to educate yourself – fast. Here are some of the things Google and successful online publishers have to say about the placements you select for AdSense ads.

AdSense Placement Overview

Ad placement decisions require publishers to balance several competing functions and concerns. On the one hand, you want to place your ads in locations that maximize their visibility and result in high conversion rates. But at the same time, you don't want your ads to interfere with your site's primary function or to serve as a deterrent to your users.

With that in mind, the best approach to ad placement is to focus on what you're trying to achieve through the site and to view your ads through from your users' perspective. If an ad placement actively works against your goals and site function, then it may not be appropriate – even if the experts insist that it should result in higher click rates.

Placement Considerations

• Hot spots. For most publishers, the most productive ads are located in the center of the screen, between the content header and the primary content. This virtually guarantees that users will see it because they have to look at it in order to view the main content on the page. Sidebar ads to the left, far left, and bottom of the primary content can also be productive.
• Dead zones. Although we use the phrase "dead zones" with caution (testing might prove these placements work for your users), there are several areas that seem to yield little return. Contrary to popular belief, a column of ads on the right side of the screen usually doesn't generate maximum ad revenues. Similarly, blocks of ads on the bottom left or immediate right of the primary content tend to be low producers.

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