niche blog adsense optimization, part 2

Niche Blog AdSense

Part 2

ESATURTIAINEN

January 2, 2015

Acronyms

ADSENSE

AdSense is for webpages who want to show Ads and get revenue from showing them (publisher)CTR - Clickthrough Rate

How many percent of Ad impressions lead to a clickCPC - Cost-per-Click

How much is paid of a clickRPM - Revenue per Mille

How much is paid of thousand Ad impressionsGoogle takes 32% of what advertiser pays, 68% goes to AdSense publisher

ADWORDS

AdWords is for advertisers who want to show Ads in AdSense pagesCPC - Cost-per-Click

Advertiser defines maximum price what he pays per click. Simplified explanation is that the Ad who is willing to pay most is shown but the price is that of the second highest bid.

CPM - Cost per MilleAdvertiser defines maximum price of 1000 Ad impressions, clicks do not pay extra

TESTING

A/B-testingTesting where a modification is madeand both the original and variation is usedand difference is measured.Used both in AdWords and AdSense.

Introduction

NICHE MEANS THAT

Having a niche means that you know your visitors

Use it to get more Ad revenue

ADS JUST FOR YOUR READERS

(1) Selected Ads(2) Text or Image Ads?

(3) Context or Interest Ads?(4) CPC or CPM Ads?

(5) Mobile Ads?

ADSENSE...

AdSense is very limitedas compared to AdWordsIt won't tell you who your customers are and what Ads you show to them

It is Evil

GOOGLE TELLS YOU

What Ads are shownWhich Ad places are clicked

Contextual vs Interest-basedCPC vs CPM

GOOGLE DOES NOT TELL YOU

Which Ads are clickedWhat target group Ad hasIn what geographical areaHow much is the offer to show the Ad

NO

GOOGLE DOES NOT ALLOW YOU

Select different Ads todifferent sites/Ad placesShow only CPC or Interest-based AdsPrioritise AdsSet minimum bid

NO

AND IN SMALL AREAS

You can notblock Ads in some interest group

NO

= Finland

Except gambling

SECTION 1

SelectingAds

SELECTING ADS

You can not pick Adsbut you can block them

Ad Review Center

BAD NEWS

Google makes good work in selecting Ads to maximize

revenue.When you block an Ad,

you block highest-bidding Ad currently available.

WHY BLOCK ADS?

Service for your readersYou know your niche betterNiche is so small that Google does not get statistics rightThere are really stupid Ads

FOR EXAMPLE, BLOCKED ADS

I have a blog where I assume that readers are:

male, middle-aged, educated,settled house owners,

interested in green and outdoor life,engineerish

FOR EXAMPLE, BLOCKED ADS

I have recently blocked ads:- fashion, bras (male)

- moving (settled house owners)

- snake-oil (educated)

- non-economical cars(green)

FOR EXAMPLE, BLOCKED ADS

Additionally I block:- Ads that are not targeted

to all my readers(e.g. diabetes patients)

FOR EXAMPLE, BLOCKED ADS

Additionally I block:- Ads that are targeted to

companies- I assume that my audience

is not in business mindset

IMPRESSION SCORE

Ad Review Center tells you if Ad has HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW impression scoreBased on how much Google plans to show that ad

MY STRATEGY

If impression score is HIGH:- Block just offensive AdsAd is - brand new- or high-paying- or good hit to the content

MY STRATEGY

If impression score is MEDIUM:- Leave only Ads that have

something special for the target group

MY STRATEGY

If impression score is LOW:- Leave only Ads that fit

exactly to the content- Block Ads that have not

been active for a week to keep inventory clean

YOU JUST DON'T KNOW

Ad may be very good if it is targeted to right

geographic/interest groupBut it may be very bad

There is no way to knowIt is Evil

REALLY

Google makes it hard to block Ads

They tend to reappearYou must block the whole

domain name or Ad account

REALLY

With this strategy, there are ~50 Ads in your listBlocking Ads takes >10 minutes per day

REALLY

Blocking Ads will not pay back but it is:

Fun, you see Ads firstYou learn of your readersIt adds Ad revenue, when

done right

SECTION 2

Textvs

Image

TEXT VS IMAGE

Niche blog readers tend to prefer informative Ads

That means blockingimage Ads

Fancy animationswork even less

BUT

High CPC

High CTR

High RPMIMAGE

TEXT

TEXT VS IMAGE

It may seem that text gives more clicksBut it may be that long-term higher click price of image Ads makes it even

TEXT VS IMAGE, EXAMPLE

In one of my blogs,banner Ad works better

as textbut between articlesimage works better

TEXT VS IMAGE, EXAMPLE

CTR CPC RPMText: 80% 0.6% 0.30 1.60Image: 15% 0.3% 0.45 1.30Rich: 5% 0.2% 0.30 0.60

N=20000

SECTION 3

Contextvs

Interest

CONTEXT VS INTEREST

INTERESTAd is either targeted to YOU based on what Google knows of your interests

CONTEXTor it is selected based on what Google

knows of the PAGE you are visiting

EXAMPLE

CTR CPC RPMContext: 70% 0.5% 0.25 1.30Interest: 30% 0.6% 0.30 1.70Placement: <<1%

N=20000

AGAIN

High CPC

High CTR

High RPMINTEREST

CONTEXT

MIXED RESULTS

Testing has not shown that you can modify this to improve RPMOne high CPC may disturba month of measuringBoth => more competition

There is no option to use interest-only

MIXED RESULTS

Selecting Ads definitely adds your Context RPMBut total RPM may still be less than interest-based RPMIf you have not tested,use both

SECTION 4

Mobile

EXAMPLE

CTR CPC RPMDesktop: 60% 0.7% 0.30 2.00Tablet: 25% 0.4% 0.20 0.80Phone: 15% 0.3% 0.25 0.60

N=20000

WHAT?

Huge increase in RPM if we could get rid of mobile

users?

MOBILE IS A PROBLEM

Mobile Ad placement is difficult

BUT ALSOAdvertisers pay less

of Ads that are clicked in mobile devices

SECTION 5

CPCvs

CPM

CPC VS CPM

Advertisers usuallypay per click (CPC)But they can also

pay of display (CPM)

CPC VS CPM

Text Ads are more likelyCPC

Images are more likelyCPM

But not always

CPC VS CPM

You get better RPM with CPC

BUT you can not disable CPMWHY?

CPC VS CPM

CPM Ad is shown only if there is no better CPC offer

CPM RPM is intentionally lower

EXAMPLE

CTR CPC RPMCPC: 95% 0.5% 0.30 1.40CPM: 5% 0.90Others <1%

N=20000

CPC VS CPM

You need not worry it

SECTION 6

TestingA vs. B

TESTING

In AdSense there is a toolfor A/B testing

My Ads /Experiments

TESTING

You can define a modification to settings.

AdSense uses original setting and variation and makes measurements for

both

EXPERIMENTS

In a niche blog it may take a month to get reasonable confidence that the variation is better or worse

SECTION 7

Summary

ADS JUST FOR YOUR READERS

(1)Ad selection

Do, but keep HIGH

(2)Text or Image Ads?

Text but test!

ADS JUST FOR YOUR READERS

(3)Context or Interest Ads?

Both but test

(4)CPC or CPM Ads?

Do not care Nor can notbe changed

ADS JUST FOR YOUR READERS

(5)Mobile Ads?

By now,Concentrate to desktop users

ABOUT AUTHOR

ESATURTIAINENFreelancer,

Google Certified Digital Marketing Professional

http://esa.turtiainen.eu