Boost your multi-screen strategy with AdSense Responsive ads

Boost your multi-screen strategy with AdSense Responsive ads

Dark.net    September 25, 2017    Comment   

We know one of the biggest challenges publishers currently face is designing websites that adapt to different screen sizes, resolutions and user needs. Responsive ad units helps you deliver the best possible user experience on your pages: You can dynamically control the presentation of your website according to the properties of the screen/device that it’s being viewed on. Responsive ads automatically adapt to the size of your user's screen, meaning publishers can spend more time creating great content, and less time thinking about the size of their ads.

Today we’re happy to share some product updates to complement and strengthen your strategy, with new features for our responsive ad units and a multi-screen optimization score now available.

The new full width ads on mobile devices

Our experiments show that full-width responsive ads perform better on mobile devices in portrait mode. Previously Responsive ads fitted to standard sizes. The new launch will now  automatically expand ads to the full-width of the user's screen when their device is orientated vertically.

If you are already using responsive ads, your ad unit has been upgraded automatically for mobile users. Otherwise, we recommend that you switch to responsive ad units today.

Best practices to help improve your mobile performance

We are also happy to share with you other best practices to help improve your mobile performance. Check out this video get tips on how to create an excellent mobile experience for your users and potentially increase your mobile revenue. Let’s get started!

More information on Responsive ad units can be found in our Help Center.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these new features.

Posted by: The AdSense Team

AdSense 101: Create and share winning content

AdSense 101: Create and share winning content

Dark.net    April 26, 2017    Comment   

6 minute read




Content is everything we consume online. Users arrive on a site to be educated, entertained, inspired, or complete a task.

Content is how you win new site visitors, and how you entice them to return. So it’s important to remember that, though ads are driving revenue, content should be the focal point of every page.

With that in mind, part three of our series for new publishers focuses on how to plan, write, and promote great content. If you missed part one (AdSense 101) or part two (AdSense best practices), then check them out and get caught up.

The keys to engaging, shareable content

Be targeted, consistent, and frequent: Take the time to figure out who is reading your content and which topics they engage with most (we’ll get into the mechanics of this later on). Update your site as often as possible with fresh content, tailored to your audience.

Use video where possible: People crave video, users from around the world are now watching a billion hours of YouTube’s incredible content every single day! Video personalizes your brand and can boost the amount of time user’s spend on your site.

Be readable: Successful online content is scannable and snappy; follow these best practices to make sure your articles look enticing to viewers:

• Don’t use more than 7 sentences per paragraph 
• Keep your column width between 700 and 800 pixels 
• Organize your content with headers and subheaders.

Stay on top of trends: Use online tools like Google Trends to identify subjects your audience is interested in, and discuss them while they’re still fresh. Trends is also really useful for location targeting - identifying popular topics and keywords in your target areas. 

Incorporate evergreen content: Evergreen content is information that stays useful and relevant no matter when it’s consumed. While trending topics should be used to generate buzz, evergreen content will bring a consistent source of referral traffic that may boost your position on organic search pages.

Figure out what works, and do more of it

If you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to link Google Analytics and AdSense. Otherwise, the following recommendations will not be applicable for you.

Content groups allow you to bundle your content into different lists, to analyze the themes that drive most engagement with your audience. For example, if you run a digital marketing blog, you could create content groups around SEO, social media, PPC campaigns etc. 

After setting your groups, use the AdSense page report to view and compare metrics. You may discover that your audience is interested in one particular theme - if so, try to focus on that topic more at the expense of groups with less engagement. For example, if your foodie blog has more views on food truck review articles than any other group, then adapt your content strategy to include more of that content.

The Landing Page report in Google Analytics helps you understand where users landed on your site, and where they left from. This will give you insights into the type of content that draws visitors from external sites, and may highlight content that should be re-worked due to poor metrics.

To get the most value from the Landing Page report, track the following:

• Look for pages with high bounce rates. If you find that one or two areas of your site drive your users towards the exit, then ask yourself what you could do to improve them.
• If you’ve got quality content that’s not attracting new visitors, then play with the headline or experiment with different primary images to promote it. 
• Analyze page speed. 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load. If some of your pages are slower than others, then it’s likely they contain bloated elements. Consider compressing images or getting rid of animated files. Check out the tactical recommendations to increase page speed in part two of this series.

Plan ahead with your audience in mind

Use the Demographics and Interests tab in your Google Analytics account to understand who’s reading your content, and what their interests are (you’ll need to enable this feature before getting started).

The Demographics report will give you insights into the age and gender of your audience, and allows you to segment these groups to see how different people react to your content.

Use the Interest report to shape your content to your audience’s interests, and identify upcoming events they may be interested in. For example, if fans of your digital marketing blog are also interested in new technology and gadgets, you could mention these learnings across your social channels to increase your following.

At this point, you’ll have accumulated data from content grouping, as well as the Landing Page, Demographics, and Insights reports. Use it all to paint a picture of your average user, what they enjoy, what they dislike - then use those insights to build a content calendar.

A content calendar will allow you to plan a content strategy that’s focused on the topics you know your audience enjoys. Be sure to research seasonal events related to your industry or product, so you can discuss them while they’re still relevant.

Build an audience on social

Growing an audience on social media can provide publishers with a consistent source of referral traffic to their sites. As with content, the best way to compel users to follow your social accounts is to provide them with consistent value.

Here’s some tips to help you set up and maintain a strong social presence:

• Don’t be too self-promotional. You’ll want to link back to your content, but if that’s all you focus on, potential followers will lose interest. 
• Use your content calendar to prepare posts around upcoming events in advance. Users care less about an Oscars tweet a week after the ceremony. 
• Create relationships with influencers. Retweet them, mention them in a favorable way, and link to their content. These relationships can lead to guest-blogging opportunities or retweets from an account with a large audience. This tactic can help you break through your current organic reach to access new users. 
• Build relationships with your users. Answer their questions promptly, engage with them in conversations. If your audience feels valued, they’ll be much more likely to help you promote your content. 
• Use Google Trends to discover trending topics on a daily basis, and tie in posts with popular conversations. 

For a list of helpful tools to help you manage your social accounts and build your audience, read our ‘Amplify your content with social’ blog post.

And make sure to check in next week, when our series for new publishers continues with a post on improving performance to potentially maximize profits.

If you think AdSense is a fit for your site, then sign up now and get started.

‘Til next time.

Posted by: Jay Castro, @jayciro

Three ways to grow ad revenue this holiday season

Three ways to grow ad revenue this holiday season

Dark.net    Desember 13, 2016    Comment   

A staggering $6.9 billion was spent on mobile digital ads in Q4 2015. In this second installment of the #SuccessStack, learn how you can claim your share of advertising budgets spent this quarter and grow your revenue.

Tip 1: The early bird catches the worm
Does it feel like the holiday season gets bigger and starts earlier every year? You’re not wrong. This year Black Friday set a new record with over $3 billion in online sales. The entire holiday shopping season has evolved into a truly multi-month, online affair.
Take advantage of the holiday ad spending spree by placing ads on your site. A good first step is to choose the right tool to sell and manage ads on your site. Then, make sure your available ad space is optimized and mobile friendly. Finally, when the holiday season is in full swing, you can use experiments to measure and improve your use of ad space further.
Tip 2: Tailor your content to what users are looking for
The holiday shopping season creates big opportunities for AdSense publishers. According to Luth Research*, the way people search when shopping becomes more niche as they move closer to buying an item. For example, individuals may start their shopping journey with search terms like “gadgets for men” or “laptops” but finish a few weeks later with searches for specific models or screen sizes.
To capture audience attention and increase your ad impressions, build a content strategy that taps into this insight. Try creating content that taps into each stage of the buyer journey like gift inspiration articles for those early stage “i need ideas” moments, and product comparison content for those “i want to know” moments before users make a purchase decision. To help you make the most of these moments check out our guide to help you draw the crowds to your site.
Tip 3: Use the right advertising partner
Partner with an ad network that can help you earn more during this peak advertising period. AdSense, with its access to millions of Google AdWords advertisers offers an easy, profitable and low touch advertising solution.

Already an AdSense user? Enjoy an expert consultation to walk you through DoubleClick’s suite of tools to help you manage and optimize the ad inventory on your site. It could help you grow your revenues even further this holiday season.
*Google/Luth Research, U.S. Google partnered with Luth to analyze the digital activity of its opt-in panel participants. The data was analyzed between April and Aug. 2016.

Put your users first with the four S’: Speed, Scroll, Style, Simple

Put your users first with the four S’: Speed, Scroll, Style, Simple

Dark.net    November 30, 2016    Comment   

We’re all consumers of web content. Yet as content creators it can be easy to forget what we need as users. But don’t worry, you’ve got this, and we’ve got you covered with just four S’.

 If you’re new to AdSense, be sure to sign up today and start turning your #PassionIntoProfit. 


1. Speed 

We all know how frustrating it is when a page takes forever to load. We twiddle our thumbs and look from side to side. And after just three seconds, we bounce.

But somehow publishers aren’t responding to this primal need that we all know as users.

According to Google's research from the Mobile Speed Matters report, the average load time for mobile sites across the web is 19 seconds. This is a LONG time. Usain Bolt can run 200m in 19.9s - think of what your users can do with a tap and a swipe.

But how does this impact me? Well, the report also states that…

• 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load.
• Publishers whose mobile sites load in 5 seconds earn up to 2x more mobile ad revenue than those whose sites load in 19 seconds. 

By now we think you’re sold on speed. So what’s next?

• Understand your site’s speed with these resources
• PageSpeed Insights 
• Web Developer Kit 
• Consider one of the following quick fixes
• Asynchronous loading
• Lazy Loading
• AMP 
• Get our mobile web speed toolkit and...
• Measure your site’s performance
• Assess the different components impacting speed
• Prioritize the order your site loads
• Test, remeasure and repeat to improve your site speed

2. Scroll

The magic scroll. It’s an infinite, endless, perfectly loaded stream of content. There’s no need to click, to wait for a page to load, to navigate to that tiny ‘next’ with your giant thumb. It’s all right here, content, just waiting for you to consume it.

There are, of course, a few caveats before developing an infinite scroll. Like almost everything online, this isn’t a one size fits all solution. 

Infinite scroll is great for ...

• UGC publishers with constantly evolving content - think Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest.
• Sites with lengthy articles or tutorials. No one wants to click ‘more’ or ‘page 2’ anymore. It’s just too dang hard. 
• Publishers using a slideshow with pagination. Consider a lazy loaded infinite scroll instead. Users love it. 
• Publishers considering mobile first (aren’t we all?!).

Watch out for … 

• Crawler errors & SEO impact and check out this article for creating a search friendly infinite scroll. 

3. Style 

Style should never be an afterthought. You and your users want to interact with something that looks good and feels good. 

There are two primary components to style: content style & ad style. 

First: Content Style 

Great websites are able to maintain a consistent style  across pages and platforms. Consistency gives users a sense of familiarity when interacting with your content. 

• Choose a color scheme and stick to it 
• Choose a layout and stick to it 
• Choose a theme and stick to it 

We can’t stress this enough - stick to it. 

As the industry continues to migrate towards a mobile first perspective, consistency across device types and platforms becomes increasingly important. Responsive web design enables your site to adapt to various device sizes without changing the overall look and feel or compromising user experience. 

If you're up for the challenge, check out more on responsive design. 

Second: Ad Style 

In the internet of yesteryear it was nearly impossible to monetize without stripping a site of what made it beautiful. The good news? It’s 2016 and now you have the ability to make a profit and maintain your site’s style. 

When implementing ads think about what makes sense for you and your users.

• Consider responsive ads that automatically adapt to the user’s screen size 
• See if native ads are right for your site. If so, you can modify to match the look and feel of your site
• Add matched content units, allowing your users to interact with more relevant content

Here's a sample of a native ad design.

Most importantly use ads to complement the content of your site. Since content is king, it’s important to ensure that you give your users what they're looking for in a format that’s easy to find and navigate, this includes the ads on your site.

Place ads at natural breaks or where the user’s attention may have waned. Not only will this improve user experience but it also may encourage a higher CTR and increased audience engagement.

4. Simple

Keep it simple, folks. 

This rule underlines most everything that is targeted towards consumers, but it is even more important for a mobile first audience. 

When it comes to consuming digital content, we’re a generation of hungry hippos. We want headlines, snippets, concise and clear information. We want minimalist design with streamlined content and easy navigation.

Tips on keeping it simple

• Make it touch friendly. What’s easier than that?
• Bullet points make your content easily consumable 
• Be brief in sign-ups. If your site requires users to sign-up or sign-in, keep input requirements to a minimum or consider adding a Google sign-in option to speed up the process 

So there you have it; the four S’ of user experience: speed, scroll, style, simple. If you’re new to AdSense, be sure to sign up today and start turning your #PassionIntoProfit.


Posted by: Sarah Hornsey, from the AdSense team

Why (and how) you should utilize your online community

Why (and how) you should utilize your online community

Dark.net    November 14, 2016    Comment   

Publishing experts provide even more value to their readers by using backlinks to direct them to useful sites that expand on points made, inspired the content/research, or offer alternative looks at the industry.

Friendly shout outs boost your online image, and encourage the rest of the community to also view and engage with your site.

Link up

If you have an idea for a piece of content from another author or are sharing someone else’s article on your site, it’s important to link back to the original owner. Basically, make sure to give credit where credit’s due. By including a backlink (or inbound link), the original owner’s analytics will track what portion of their online traffic came from your site. Chances are, they may even return the favor later on by linking to your shareworthy content.

Promote Yourself Indirectly

The best way to encourage other publishers to direct their readers to your site is to provide high-quality, unique content. Inbound links such as these are valuable to you because they send out organic signals to search engines about the naturally derived credibility of your site. Establishing a reputation for inspiring, timely content is your best tool for continued success and traffic.

To learn more about familiarizing your audience with your brand, check out the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement.

Posted by Jay Castro

Audience Development Specialist

@jayciro

Best Practices to avoid policy violations

Best Practices to avoid policy violations

Dark.net    Oktober 31, 2016    Comment   

We’re dedicated to providing additional transparency into our policy processes and hope that the recent blog posts have helped you understand specific policy triggers and the actions to take if you’ve violated a policy.  To further help you stay policy compliant, here’re 8 best practices to help avoid policy violations and keep your account in good standing.

1. Don’t click on your own ads

Don’t click your own ads, or ask others to click them. These kinds of clicks won’t count toward revenue and may get you suspended. Even if you’re interested in an ad or looking for its destination URL, clicking on your own ads is prohibited. Instead, use the Google Publisher Toolbar.

2. Think like a user 

Make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for. Follow the Webmaster Guidelines to provide content that’s useful, interesting, and adds value. Immerse yourself into the user experience however you can. Try to discover the emotions that guide users’ behaviors and try to uncover their needs. 

3. Keep it family-friendly and legal Review our guidelines about prohibited content and be sure you understand them. If you wouldn’t want a child or grandparent to see it, don’t put it on your site. We’ve made a commitment to our users, advertisers and publishers to keep the AdSense network family-safe. A general rule of thumb when it comes to our policies is: if you wouldn’t want to share this content at a family dinner, or view it at your boss’s office, you shouldn’t place AdSense code on it.

4. Maximize content, not ads per page Create new, relevant, interesting content, and update it regularly. Also, be sure to maintain a good balance between ads and editorial content as it’s important to ensure that there’s always more content than ads on a page.

5. Avoid deceptive layoutsKeep ads away from games, slideshows, and other click-heavy content and don’t place them near images. Publishers may not use deceptive implementation methods to obtain clicks. This includes, but is not limited to: placing images next to individual ads, placing ads in a floating box script, formatting ads so that they become indistinguishable from other content on the page, formatting content so that it is difficult to distinguish it from ads and placing misleading labels above Google ad units.

6. Create unique content Your content needs to create added value for your users. Focus on making content great – not duplicating it across pages. Unique and valuable content is what keeps users coming back to publisher sites. Everything you do as a publisher should be user focused, which primarily includes developing great content.

7. Track your traffic Your traffic should be organic. Set up alerts using Google Analytics to quickly identify unusual traffic patterns. Many potential traffic quality problems can be addressed quickly by monitoring your own traffic. Traffic anomalies are often indicators of potential invalid traffic activity.

8. Follow the Code of Implementation GuideAlways follow the Code Implementation Guide and don’t try to modify the AdSense code. If you run into a problem, visit the Troubleshooting page or contact publisher support.

Thanks for taking the time to learn about Google ad network policy, processes, and best practices. Together, we can continue to make the web and advertising experience great.

Posted by: Anastasia Almiasheva from the AdSense team

3 tips to make your content easy to consume

3 tips to make your content easy to consume

Dark.net    Oktober 04, 2016    Comment   

Over the last month we’ve taken a look at what makes strong content including topics, length, and shareability. But telling a good story is only half of the process. You also have to present it in an easy-to-digest format for today’s distracted audience.

According to a Think With Google study, “67% of users will switch [to another site or app] if it takes too many steps to purchase or get desired information.” Different forms of media can greatly improve your content’s appeal, if it’s used strategically. With people giving less and less time to the things they read online, it’s up to you to keep visitors engaged and entertained. The following tips will help give your content a stronger impact.

1. Share your content visually

Whether it’s lists, infographics, images, gifs, or video, adding in dynamic elements to your story telling will keep things fresh and memorable. Visuals highlight your key points, and leave a greater impact on both loyal and new visitors alike. In fact, sites with video have been proven to encourage an extra 2 minutes of time on page compared to sites that don’t.

2. Break things up

Images can be a great way to break up long text. Unbroken, continuous text is time-consuming to read and can make visitors “check out” prematurely; no matter how interesting the topic is. By breaking up a longer content piece with related imagery, you can increase the chances of you audience staying to read more, and hopefully, fulfill a desired action on your site.

3. Make it Social

Seeing how “liked” or “shared” an article is naturally prompts visitors to share their opinion on it, too. Social proof is a powerful influencer when it comes to users engaging with your content. Ways to gain social proof include providing like actions, sharing actions, and even custom actions such as testimonials and reviews.

  

To learn more about familiarizing your audience with your brand, check out the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement.

Posted by Jay Castro
Audience Development Specialist
@jayciro

Content is king

Content is king

Dark.net    September 29, 2016    Comment   

Publishers are constantly faced with the question of how to balance content and ads to provide the best possible experience for your users. And as you might have found, there’s no easy one-size-fits-all approach. Every site and app is different, with different types of content, objectives, and users, which means that balancing content and ads will look different from publisher to publisher. When faced with this challenge, it’s important to ensure that you give your users what they're looking for in a format that’s easy to find and navigate, and this includes the ads on your page or app.

Here are a few tips to help you balance ads and content.

1. Content is king.
Your content is the reason users are visiting your site or app. If you think about it, your users are visiting your site for a reason, whether they are looking for a recipe, how to build a birdhouse, or trying to find out what’s happening in their town. By providing them with the information they're looking for, you satisfy their need in the moment that they need it the most. Check out this blog post to learn more about winning these micro-moments.

2. Design your site or app around the user journey.

By making your content the focal point on the page, and following standard web best practices, you can create a site that's visually appealing and easy for your users to use and navigate. Check out the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement for best practices on designing user journeys, not just web pages.

3. Use ads to complement your site or app.
Ads should always supplement the content on your site, not the other way around. So when you’re placing ad units on your site, consider the user journey and how the ad format will complement your site and provide value for your users. If you want ads to look more natural, and match the feel of your content, consider using native ad units. For example, news and article publishers could consider using the native-style format called Matched content at the bottom of each article to direct readers to other relevant content on the same site. This strategy can help grow readership and your ad business. 

4. Test, test, test and test again.

At the end of the day, data will be your source of truth. If you’re considering implementing new ad units, run an AdSense experiment to see how they perform. Also, test the different formats to see what works best for your users and your page.

Remember, content is king and it’s the most important thing to users on your site. So you should always have more content than ads on each page. For more information and best practices, head over to the AdSense Help Center or join our next #AskAdSense office hours on Twitter and Google+.


Posted by: John Brown, Publisher Policy Communications Lead