Google PPC: Content or Search?

December 8th, 2009

When advertising with pay per click Google gives the advertiser two broad options. Advertising in search results, advertising in websites content or indeed many choose to do both. Advertising in search means that results are displayed in Google under searches, and in its distributors search results. Google content advertising applies to those websites who choose to incorporate �gAdsense�h into their websites. As adsense rapidly expands, it is now viewable on millions of web pages throughout the web. However, many advertisers are shunning this in favor of merely advertising in search results.
There are several reasons for this, and the first is trust. This has been a result of smaller websites, through to adsense empires choosing to embark on Click Fraud. Although this issue occurs in search it is far less dominant. Those who commit Click Fraud on search are those trying to weaken a competitor�fs ROI. With Adsense the same applies, along with the website owner trying to increase his revenues using similar tactics.

Another reason why website owners are choosing to market out with content is the motivation of the buyer when he is on a website. Someone who is on a different website, other than the advertisers might be there for entirely different reasons. For example a website discussing the disadvantages of Adsense, would actually return adverts for those selling �gAdsense Websites�h for example. People may click on it, but they are unlikely to buy after reading a negative review. The other reason could be that the person on the adsense website was actually looking for what is the best color palette to use. The person therefore would not find the advert relevant, but might click on the advert in a care free manner.
Adsense websites are also often rejected by the advertiser because they feel it involves more administration. Checking through websites to see how relevant they are, and editing their bids to ensure they still appear on a page. With some words having a network of over 500 websites, it is surely a tedious and expensive task. Although this is the case, many also find that their Adwords account returns websites, that don�ft even appear to be trying to support their keywords. The example which is ripe, are those advertising under legal phrases who appear on adsense websites �gterms and conditions�h and �gprivacy policy�h pages.

Although many are rejecting content advertising, there are still those who feel it provides a similar ROI to search. A reason for this can be found through in the fact that more and more advertisers are only choosing search. As this occurs the advertiser has less competition so the price of the word reduces. Advertisers are also finding a good ROI from publisher�fs websites who decide to actively promote the advertiser�fs services within their content. An example of this can be realized from when someone is discussing printing services, and actually directly recommends the advertiser�fs services. This is a positive move for both the publisher and the advertiser, and a good way for publishers to move forward. Despite this, publishers still have to remember, to not be too obvious in doing this, or savvy buyers will definitely calculate the publisher�fs intention.

Another reason why advertisers are opting for content is to increase their scale, however this can also be done across other search engines. The fact however still exists that those who choose content advertising should choose the Google Adsense network. It is regulated far and above yahoo�fs and others equivalents whilst its superior network of publishers means the advertisers will benefit from being able to spread their message through a diverse range of websites.
Despite Adsense being the best PPC content distributor, it certainly doesn�ft compare to search for the advertiser. On search the leads are more qualified, more regulated, and less fraudulent. This has seen advertisers consistently choose search over content. Despite this advertiser�fs should always test adsense and see if it can provide the ROI they are looking for. Some advertisers say that content provides a better return for their business than search. This varies, however in general search remains King for PPC advertisers.

Adsense Doesn’t Just Make “Cents”, It Makes Dollars Too!

November 22nd, 2009

If you are one of the many webmasters today who are trying to make money on the internet by any means possible, then you may have already considered joining the Google AdSense program. If you haven’t yet made the jump to being an online publisher, let me be the first to tell you that you are definitely missing out of the chance of capitalizing on something that can be very profitable for you! Google AdSense is the most popular pay-per-click program currently online, they have offered pay per click, in one form or another, longer than any other search engine on the net.

If you are one of the many webmasters today who are trying to make money on the internet by any means possible, then you may have already considered joining the Google AdSense program. If you haven’t yet made the jump to being an online publisher, let me be the first to tell you that you are definitely missing out of the chance of capitalizing on something that can be very profitable for you! Google AdSense is the most popular pay-per-click program currently online, they have offered pay per click, in one form or another, longer than any other search engine on the net.

They’ve put a great deal of research and development into their keyword matching to ensure it is a profitable program. Not only have they been around the longest, but they also boast the biggest number of advertisers as well. Google requires website owners to conform to a number of rules, including: All pages must have at least one link that leads to it, without concealing pages. All links must be active and work.

There is a limit of 100 links per page. Creating a hierarchy should keep your navigation clean and well under the link limit. Tags, especially the ‘title’ and ‘alt’ tags should be explanatory and distinct. When designing your site, create one that is helpful to a user; don’t design a page for search engines. Make sure you clearly define what your site is about. Google forbids hidden text. Don’t colorize the text as the same color as your background, or even size the text so small it can’t be read. Google has been known to ban publishers who engage in these so called “black hat” techniques. Google strongly recommends that you include a site map page. They also strongly recommend you include a robots.txt file in your root directory.

The robots.txt file tells website crawlers, like those that will match the ads with your website, which pages not to crawl. This is especially important if you want ads for some but not all of your content or if you have password protected pages. Following the website design rules doesn’t make you bullet-proof, though. Even if you follow all of them, you may still be at risk of losing your AdSense account permanently or even temporarily. If you are indeed banned by Google to display AdSense advertisements on your page, you can file a re-inclusion request. Although not very successful many times, it still gives a publisher a chance to get back into the program. Here’s what you’ll need to include in your re-inclusion request: Your account name Your contact information A list of changes you’ve made to fix any violations A guarantee it won’t happen again Reports and evidence of click bombing, if you have any (more on this below) You should NOT include any threats to pull your business.

Visithttp://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py to contact customer support. Keep your email straightforward. The subject of your email should be “Re-inclusion Request” to make sure it gets to the right desk. Click Bombing Click bombing is when someone clicks on one or more of the ads that appear on your webpage repeatedly. While this seems like a great way to increase your profits, it is against Google’s policy and they are always searching for click bombers. While you can’t prevent malicious click bomb attacks, you can take steps to defend yourself should you be accused of it. Consider investing in a third party tracking software program that is approved by Google. Look for one that tracks IP addresses. Run reports often, and keep them stored separately from your Google account.

Should you be removed from the AdSense program, you won’t necessarily have access to run reports. If or when you are removed or fined by Google for AdSense abuse, make sure you send copies of your IP address reports along with your re-inclusion request. As mentioned before, even if you follow all the rules of appeal and properly request a re-inclusion, you are not guaranteed a reversal. It seems most requests to be reinstated are not acted upon by Google. Google’s policy has been always one of “protecting the advertiser by any means necessary”. Unfortunately, this may mean kicking a legitimate publisher out of the program needlessly if they’ve been targeted by a malicious person.

Earnings Calculations So how much money can be made in the AdSense program? Publishers can earn A LOT. From 10 cents a day, to over one hundred thousand dollars a day. Of course this is all dependant on how much traffic your website gets as well as how well you integrate the advertisements. But how does Google calculate per click how much that you, the publisher, gets paid? This is the fuzziest of all gray areas in the AdSense program. Google admittedly doesn’t disclose revenue share or whether the ads appearing on your site are cost-per-impression or cost-per-click. What they do tell you is how many page impressions (ads shown), number of clicks on the ads, page click through rate (CTR) and your earnings. Increase your impressions, number of clicks or CTR, and your earnings will follow.

Alternatives If you’ve been removed from AdSense or are just looking for another option, there are a few to choose from: Yahoo! Publisher Network is very similar to AdSense. Experienced webmasters who have used both Google and Yahoo! programs believe Yahoo! is second best, but still a very good, profitable program. As it becomes more popular, more advertisers will jump on board with Yahoo thus creating a PPC race with Google. Chitika – A pay per click advertising stream. They don’t have as many or such a variety as AdSense or Yahoo!, but are usually less expensive to advertise on. AdBrite is very similar to Chitika, though slightly smaller. There you have it in a nutshell, utilizing Google’s AdSense program to increase your own profits truly does make “cents”..and dollars. How much you can earn is dependant on how much targeted traffic you can get to your site as well as how well you can integrate the advertisements in the site design as well. Get on board today and start making money!

Top AdSense Tips

November 22nd, 2009

Google’s AdSense allows Web site publishers to display contextually relevant advertisements on their website. If a Web visitor “clicks” on an advertisement, the Web publisher will earn a percentage of the advertising revenue generated as a result of the click. Many webmasters have built content Web sites around the Google AdSense model. In many cases the specific intent of the webmaster is to profit from Google AdSense. Other webmasters use Google AdSense to supplement their revenue. Regardless of the webmaster’s intent, the following tips will help webmasters looking to profit from AdSense.

Top AdSense Tips:
Niche Sites
Targeted niche sites that have a clear theme, tend to generate more advertising revenue simply because it is easier to achieve decent search engine placement. Be warned though, you want to chose a niche where there is a sufficient number of advertisements available.

Target Keywords
When determining the site’s focus, consider how much the advertisers pay for the advertisements. If the site is focused on ringtones, the payout per click is going to be very small. Because ringtones are not high ticket items, advertisers will not spend a lot on pay-per-click advertisements.

With less obvious markets, use Overture to determine how much advertisers pay per keyword. The cost will usually be similar on Google. Search Overture for a keyword then click “View Advertisers’ Max Bids” in the top right corner. This will show the Overture inventory and how much is paid per keyword. Because the market has become very competitive, it will be difficult to rank well in search engines with a new Web site that is optimized for the terms that have the highest payout. Consider targeting terms that are moderately priced.

Aged Sites / Time
Over time, as a Web site is spidered by Google, advertisements will generally increase in relevance. In general, older Web sites will rank better in search engines. The closer the advertisements relate to the Web page’s content, the higher the “click-through” the publishers will see.

Coding
In order to minimize a Web site’s maintenance, place the Google generated AdSense code in the Web site template or an “include” file. This will allow you to easily experiment with different advertisement sizes and ad placement, and keep the Web maintenance to a minimum.

Tracking Channels
In order to know how effective a specific Web site or ad placement is, use distinct channels and subchannels within Google. This will allow you to discern what performs best on a specific Web site. Using channels will tell you what sites are making money, what advertisements are making money and what ad position is the most profitable on a specific Web site. Keep in mind that you should run an advertisement for a full week, in order to properly test its effectiveness, different days of the week will vary the Web traffic so comparing one week to another will give the most accurate reflection of how effective a campaign performs.

When testing different advertisement sizes, placement or color schemes, be sure to leave campaigns in place for one week. Different days will often result in Web traffic fluctuations. Comparing Web traffic week to week will give a clear indication of what ad formats perform the best.

Integrated Ad Placement
Many webmasters have been successful at integrating advertisements into a Web site. The easiest way to integrate an advertisement into a Web site is to remove the advertisement border. This will allow the ads to better blend with the Web page. Google recommends contrasting the link colors with the Web site colors to increase click-throughs. It is also suggested that webmasters randomize the color of the advertisements, so that frequent users will not naturally “filter” the ads.

Number vs Value of Advertisements
Up to three advertisements can be listed on each page.
This decreases the value of the advertisements served, so publishers should cautiously add advertisement units, as it dilutes ad inventory. In other words you want to serve the most expensive ads at all times.

Hot Spots
Like Web copy, “above the fold” holds true with AdSense as well. This means that advertisements that appear without having to scroll will be read more frequently. Hot Spots are areas on a Web page that result in a higher percentage of click-throughs. According to Google, the highest paying advertisements are located on the hot spots.

Google does not indicate if image advertisements or text ads perform better, so webmasters are encouraged to experiment with both.

Highest performing Ad Sizes

According to Google the 336 x 280 rectangle, the 300 x250 rectangle and the 160 x 600 sky scraper result in the highest number of click-throughs. Depending on the website’s design and layout, publishers may experience different results with different ad sizes, placements and color schemes. Expirement and track the results for each website to maximize the AdSense payout.

Choosing the Best Keywords for AdSense

November 21st, 2009

Ever wondered how to select the best keywords for your Adsense websites? Your focus is earning money as well as attracting organic traffic towards your website. Here is what you need to know while choosing a keyword, a scientific study that maps the ideal keywords for your next upcoming adsense website.

We shall first study how to choose keywords that lead to more Adsense money.
CPC – Advantages and Drawbacks
What does CPC indicate?
When we think of high paying keywords, the first thing that pops up in our mind is CPC. CPC (Cost Per Click) is the maximum amount of money an advertiser is willing to pay you for a click. Higher the CPC of a particular keywod, more will be the payouts you can expect by targeting that keyword in your AdSense websites. You can get the most accurate CPC from the source itself – Google.

However, CPC is not the only factor that tells the profitability of a keyword. There are many other factors that you should consider.
Drawbacks of CPC
- What if there are no advertisers bidding on a keyword having high CPC? Obviously, it means no one is going to pay you that high for a click.
- What if the traffic on the keyword is technical enough and does not click on ads (banner blindness)?
- What if Google gets loads of traffic on that keyword, enough to fulfill the desires of high paying advertisers? In this case, Google will only throw remaining peanuts towards you.

Obviously, Google will like to keep all the high paying ads within its own pages. So you see, CPC just shows you a small part of the entire picture. We shall explore the rest part of the picture…
Number of Sponsors – The Most Important Figure
Keywords with high CPC do not always come with high number of advertisers. There are many keywords in Google’s Adwords system that have a high price, but almost no or very less number of advertisers. Now, if you build a web page or website around a keyword on which no one is bidding, Google will try to fill the ad blocks with ads of the related keywords rather than the high paying keyword you were initially targeting. There is no guarantee that ads of the related keywords will be good converters. Therefore, there is every likelihood that your clicks will be passed through SmartPricing Filter, eventually resulting in lesser payouts.

Hence, it is important to see the number of sponsors bidding on the keyword in question. If there are more the advertisers, there will be more competition among them to get the top position. This means that there will be more revenue per click that they are willing to share with you. In other words, more sponsors mean more people fighting against one another other to pay you more Adsense money.
Number of clicks on an Ad
It refers to the number of clicks an advertiser gets when his ad appears on the top. If the number of clicks and number of advertisers is less, just ignore those keywords, no matter what their CPC is. However, if the clicks per month are lower than expected, but the number of advertisers is a good one – it’s the right choice for you. Such keywords are called “Niche AdSens’ keywords.” Here the word ‘niche’ is used in commercial context. This means that Google is not able to generate traffic on such keyword ads. This makes it difficult for it to exhaust the advertising budgets of the advertisers. Therefore, in order to meet its targets, Google happily shares high paying ads with you, resulting in more payouts. Try to find such “Niche AdSens’ keywords.”

Coming to Higher number of clicks – It indicates:

Either the traffic segment is ignorant about the online advertising concepts, and click on these ads unknowingly. This means you will experience higher CTR on your ads when placed at appropriate place. You don’t have to put in much efforts to fight banner blindness.

Or, the traffic is highly commercial and willing to purchase the advertised product over internet. This means that there are very little chances of your facing the SmartPricing phenomenon.

Number of clicks along with the other stats like Number of sponsors and CPC, can enable you to make more wise decisions while choosing keywords for your AdSense content.
Bidding Quality
It’s important to see the pattern in which people are bidding on a keyword. Suppose there are 400 advertisers bidding on a keyword. The top 20 of these are paying something like $15 per click, while the rest of them pay somewhere between $2 and $0.05. Now you might have found some decent tools that give you the average of top 3 or top 5 positions which is good, but not good enough. The point is that although the top 20 advertisers are paying higher, but the rest 380 advertisers are paying quite low. There is a high probability of your getting the ads of those 380 sponsors. Therefore, the average of the top 20 advertises can be really misleading. The solution to this problem is discussed in the later part of this page.

We have enough Adsense money now. Let’s build some traffic on your website.
Traffic Building for AdSense:
Choosing Niche Keywords
Niche keywords are the keywords that are highly searched by the web surfers, and are rarely used by your competitors. Less competition means more traffic to your website. Targeting ten niche keywords is easier and more fruitful that targeting a highly competitive keyword. Traffic from niche keywords when directed to a relevant page increases your CTR and conversion ratio.
Determining Competition
People generally take the number of results returned by search engines as the number of pages competing on a keyword. But it is wrong. The Search Engine Results get irrelevant after 10 – 15 pages. Irrelevancy further increases with the depth. The pages that have the keyword dumped in a corner are not competing against you, but search engines will still list them. In fact they have to.

It is assumed that if a webmaster is targeting a web page with a particular keyword, the keyword is used in the title as well as in the anchor text linking to that webpage. Such a page is listed higher by the search engines as it is dedicated to what you searched for. So how to filter out the most relevant results? Check it out!
Inanchor intitle and Its Precision – The Solution
In Google, you can easily determine the EXACT number of pages that are competing against you. You can precisely list out the pages that are using a particular keyword in their page titles or in the anchor texts linking to them.

The query can be applied as follows: intitle:keyword inanchor:keyword.

For example, if the keyword is “hair treatment”, the formula will be used in the following manner: intitle:hair inanchor: hair intitle: treatment inanchor: treatment. This figure gives you the exact number of pages that are ACTUALLY Targeting with these keywords, and not those that have just created a page or a small paragraph on the same topic. Google emphasizes on Anchors and Page titles. That’s the reason, it supports such a search query.

We shall now discuss some other traditional ways to determine competition.
R/S Ratio
Here, R refers the number of competitor websites for a particular keyword as per the search result of the search engine. And S refers the number of searchers using that keyword while searching their queries. This means that for better results, you have to choose the keywords with lower R/S ratio.

R/S ratio becomes polluted when someone uses the number of results as the number of competing websites. As explained above, counting the number of results as the number of competing pages is the biggest mistake one can make while choosing a keyword. However, the figure becomes quite useful when inanchor intitle is used to create R/S.
KEI Analysis
KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index) is a formula for measuring the effectiveness of a keyword. The formula was devised by Sumantra Roy. However, this figure also depends upon the number of searches and competition, but with a difference. This formula analyzes the number of searches and competition in such a way that if the searches increase, KEI increases; and if the competition increases, KEI decreases. Higher the KEI, more profitable will be the keyword. However, it becomes polluted when the number of search results are used as the number of competitors.
Determining Traffic
Determining traffic for a keyword is quite important before targeting it. Along with the competition stats, it lets you make out the niches present in any industry. Besides, it lets you predict (to some extent) how much traffic you can expect if you promote a website around a particular keyword. There are two known sources for determining traffic. Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool (now a part of Yahoo Search Engine) and WordTracker. When talking about accuracy, Wordtracker monitors the queries on some meta search engines that actually render it inaccurate . Reason? There is no known stat about how much of the community you are targeting is searching on those meta search engines. However, it’s a good tool to make out the niches.

In my opinion, Yahoo owned Overture gives you more accurate stats than Wordtracker. This is for the reason that Overture is a PPC engine. It can show you how many people are searching for a particular term on its vast network. A network which is bigger than any Meta Search Engine. Still, it is not that accurate, but at least better than Wordtracker. The tools that are predicting Google Searches for you are just doing guess work. No one knows the algorithm they use.