Talking AdSense optimization in Google Ad Manager

It can be tough to sell advertising in today's economy. It can be even tougher to figure out how to maximize revenue for each ad impression. Google Ad Manager, our hosted ad serving and management solution for publishers with small direct sales teams, was built to address these issues. Ad Manager helps publishers maximize the value of their ad impressions while reducing ad serving costs.

We enlisted the help of Nandu Ramani, Engineering Lead on Ad Manager, to talk about one of Ad Manager's features that helps publishers maximize the value of their ad impressions: AdSense price optimization.

What is the AdSense price optimization feature in Ad Manager?

Many publishers don't sell all of their ad inventory. In these situations, publishers might not serve any ads or might serve less valuable house ads, therefore losing potential earnings. The AdSense price optimization feature in Ad Manager provides an automated solution so publishers will always have an ad to serve in an undersold situation.

We also wanted to make sure that when a publisher runs multiple ad networks they are always showing the most valuable ads. For certain individual impressions, AdSense can provide the highest paying ad. When that's the case, an AdSense ad shows. When that's not the case, an ad from the highest paying alternative network will be shown.

How does the price optimization feature work?

In order for AdSense to compete against other ad networks, a publisher must manually enter a CPM for each configured network. We use the CPM entered to determine in real time, on a per impression basis, whether or not an AdSense ad will pay a publisher more. If the AdSense eCPM is greater than the CPM value entered for competing networks, then an AdSense ad will be shown. Additionally, AdSense will never compete with a publisher's directly-sold inventory. To enable the price optimization feature, all a publisher has to do is check a box when setting up inventory.

As a publisher, how much will I earn using AdSense price optimization?

It's hard to predict; the best way to find out is to opt your ad slots into AdSense price optimization and see how AdSense performs for you. With AdSense price optimization, Google will always serve the highest paying AdSense ad available, and will never lower the price of the winning ad, or reduce your earnings from it.

When should I use the AdSense price optimization feature?

We suggest you opt all of your ad slots into AdSense price optimization. AdSense ads will only appear if they're able to pay you more than the alternatives, so there's no risk of losing revenue.

We also recommend that you opt your premium placements into placement targeting so AdWords advertisers may specifically choose to bid for space on your website.

Sounds good. How do I get started?

If you already have an Ad Manager account, go into the inventory tab in your account. For each ad slot where you want to enable AdSense price optimization, click on the name of the ad slot, check the 'Maximize revenue of unsold and remnant inventory with AdSense' checkbox, and click 'Save.'

If you don't already have an account, get started today at http://www.google.com/admanager. Then, when you're setting up your inventory, make sure to opt all of your ad slots into AdSense price optimization.

For more information about AdSense in Ad Manager, check out the following video.

Announced by Stephen Kliff - Google Ad Manager Team

(Ad)Word of the Day: Optimization

Seasoned AdWords users know that to have successful campaigns you need to do more than simply set them up and let them run. To get the most out of your campaigns, you should consider optimization, today's (Ad)Word of the Day.

According to the AdWords Glossary, optimization is the process of modifying your ad campaigns to improve the quality and performance of your AdWords ads. This often involves changing the contents and settings of your campaigns and ad groups and editing your keyword lists and landing pages.

Optimization can be as simple as adding new keywords relevant to your campaign, or can be as involved as adjusting your CPC bids and rewriting your ad text. By optimizing your campaigns to improve your keyword Quality Scores, you can help lower your ad's costs without losing your position on a search results page. 

If you'd like to learn more about optimization, here's a guide from our AdWords Help Center.

Announced by Christian Yee, Inside AdWords crew

Google Adsense Optimize

It's Google's mission to organize the world's information and make it readily available to all; as a web publisher, one of your goals may also be to make sure your content is readily available to all. We've recently taken steps to help you grow your site's traffic: we updated our Submit Your Content site with more information about distributing your content through Google products such as Web Search, Maps, YouTube, and iGoogle. In addition, we launched our Content Central blog, featuring tips and information from Googlers who work on different products. The goal of both of these resources is to help you grow your site's visitors by taking advantage of promotion opportunities in new Google mediums.

If you're just getting started with these resources, we recommend visiting the yellow getting started box in the upper right hand corner of the Submit Your Content homepage. Here, we've listed the three steps we recommend all content partners take to begin sharing their content. Alternatively, check out the industry categories where we'll walk you through the types of content you may have, and show you where that content is visible across various Google services.


We've also enabled comments on the Content Central blog, so feel free to visit the blog to suggest topics for future posts or leave your feedback. If you've already visited the Submit Your Content site, you may know all about the wonders of RSS, so be sure to subscribe to the Content Central blog's feed to receive the latest posts when they're published. Or, enter your email address in the right-hand sidebar to subscribe by email.

Announced by Steffanie Johnson - Content Partnerships Team

Optimisation Essentials (Part III)

Position for performance - be noticed

This is the final video installment in our three-part series on Optimisation Essentials for AdSense for content. We've covered the best-performing ad unit sizes and taken a look at how to design your ad units for good-looking ads. However, even if you have large, well-designed ad units, they won't perform for you unless your users can see them!

So what can you do to ensure your ad units get noticed? Place your ads where users are likely to look.



We've also made a heatmap to show you where the best placements are on a typical page. Great positions include:

• Above the fold of a page (the section of the page a user can see without scrolling)
  
• At the end of an article
  
• Aligned with content
  

But don't just take our word for it - every website is different. Make sure you use your judgment of how visitors interact with your pages to determine good ad placements. Position your ads so that they're visible, but be careful of intruding on the experience of your site's visitors. Most of all, think like a user and you'll be able to balance your website's content with a successful ad strategy.

Announced by Mel Ann Chan - AdSense Australia Optimisation Team

Optimisation Essentials (Part II)

Dress for success - impressing your audience

The video below is the second in our "Optimisation Essentials" series, demonstrating our top three tips for maximising your AdSense for Content performance. Last week, we reinforced the importance of bigger ad units. This week, we're showcasing how a better ad unit design can result in improved AdSense performance.



*Please note that no leopards were harmed in the making of this video!

Over the years, we've seen some colourful ad unit designs. Some publishers design ad units that contrast with their site so that they stand out. Although this can work in some cases, we've found that ad units that match your site's design tend to perform better in terms of revenue and click-through-rate. Users are more likely to read ads when they're well integrated into your site.

When you design your AdSense ads, keep these tips in mind:

• Use colours that either blend with or complement your site's colours. Make the ads a part of your site.
  
• Use lighter colours for borders, or no border at all.
  
• Try rotating colours or occasionally switching the location of your ads on the page.
  
• Save sets of frequently-used colours as a palette.
  

So give your ad design and colours some thought, and you'll notice the difference!

Announced by Mel Ann Chan - AdSense Australia Optimisation Team

Optimisation Essentials - Part 1

Bigger is better - for AdSense ad units

AdSense for content is the bread and butter of many of our publishers, and we often receive requests to recommend strategies to improve AdSense performance on publisher sites. While we refer to this as 'optimisation', we understand that this term can make the process sound more difficult than it really is. In response, we're releasing a three-part video series that demonstrates, in plain English, our top tips for increasing your AdSense earnings.

This week, we're recommending you think big - big ad units, that is:



Publishers often ask us what the best ad sizes are to include in their site's design, and we always point them to these three:

• 300x250 medium rectangle
  
• 728x90 leaderboard
  
• 160x600 skyscraper
  

These ad units have proven in the past to deliver better results for both publishers and advertisers. Advertisers favour these formats, and if you've receiving all ad types, you'll find that advertisers will specifically target your sites more often. If you position your ad units well, users will be more likely to see these ad formats and find an ad that they're interested in.

When you're considering how to design your site, our testing has shown that displaying at least one of these ad formats on your page can increase your AdSense earnings potential. So remember, sometimes bigger is better!

Announced by Mel Ann Chan - AdSense Australia Optimisation Team

How to use Analytics to optimize AdWords?

Google Analytics is full of insights that can benefit your AdWords account, and your business. To help you make the most of this information, we've started an introductory video series called “Google Analytics in 60 Seconds.” The first two videos explain two easy ways to refine your targeting. You can find them below and as part of the Google Analytics Conversion University playlist.

Location, Location, Location
Now, you no longer are flying blind when you target your campaign by location in AdWords. Use the Map Overlay report and location data within Analytics to see, geographically, where your visitors are coming from – or where they aren’t coming from. You can then use this information to refine your AdWords marketing with location-targeted campaigns to build your business.




Note: You can also use the recently launched Geographic Performance report within AdWords to see similar information, but it currently does not have a visual component nor includes some of the metrics available in Analytics, such as time on site and bounce rate.

Improve Your Placement Targeting
The Google content network is the largest contextual advertising network in the world, comprised of high-quality websites, news pages, and blogs that partner with Google to display targeted AdWords ads. And within AdWords, you can hand-pick which sites you'd like your ads to run on by creating a placement-targeted campaign. But how do you know which sites to pick? If you knew which sites were already sending you high value traffic, why not run your ads on these sites? This video will show you how to use Google Analytics to identify the best sites by using the Referring Sites report.




More to come!
There are a number of easy and effective ways to use Google Analytics with AdWords – whether you want to identify the best keywords, save money on bidding, expand your business or refine your campaigns – and we’ll post more of these videos soon!

Announced by Stephanie Hsu, Google Analytics Team

Google Website Optimizer

Website Optimizer, Google’s free website testing and optimization tool, allows you to increase the value of your existing websites and traffic without spending a cent. Using Website Optimizer to test and optimize site content and design, you can quickly and easily increase revenue and ROI whether you’re new to marketing or an expert.

Free web application
Begin driving more conversions and revenue from your website without purchasing and licensing costly software. Sign up now and begin your first experiment in minutes.
A/B Split & Multi variable Testing
Identify your most effective site elements. Test everything from individual copy blocks and images to complete page layouts.
Designed For Marketers, By Marketers
Your time is valuable, and small changes can drive big results. So we’ve designed Website Optimizer to require minimal IT support, giving marketers greater control, flexibility, and speed.
Intuitive Reporting
You shouldn't’t have to be a mathematician to conduct even the most complex of tests. Our intuitive graphical reporting interface tells you exactly how each aspect of your test is impacting the bottom line, helping you to remain focused on your business.

Website Optimizer helps online marketers, publishers, designers, and developers produce the optimal website experience for their visitors.
Free, Google-hosted Application

No need to license software or download anything. Set up and run tests from any web browser.
A/B and Multivariate Testing

Different types of tests require different types of testing models. Perhaps you’d like to test alternate page designs by running an A/B Split test, or perhaps you’d like to test different combinations of headlines, pictures, and call-to-action messages on your primary landing page via a Multivariable Test. Whatever your needs, Website Optimizer can handle them.
Designed by Marketers, for Marketers

Take control of your own testing. Straightforward setup minimizes your reliance on corporate IT support.
Intuitive Reporting

Review your results in intuitive, easy-to-understand reports. Website Optimizer does the math for you.
AdWords Integration

If you have an AdWords account, you can use Website Optimizer directly from the AdWords interface
Fast, Easy Implementation

Launch a test in under 5 minutes.
Test Flexibility

Test all or just some of your traffic. Simply specify the percentage of traffic you want included in testing.
Safe & Trusted

Google takes the trust people place in us very seriously, and is pledged to safeguard the privacy of your corporate data. We understand that testing data is sensitive information, so we accord it the ironclad protection it deserves. Read our industry leading privacy policy.

Tutorials and Videos

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Google Webmaster Central

Webmaster Central is Google's site for partnering with webmasters. Our suite of webmaster tools provides you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly, while our blog keeps you up to date with the latest developments from Google, and our discussion group is a forum for webmasters to discuss common issues and problems. 

With Webmaster Tools, you can understand how Google sees your site - the first step towards improving your site's visibility in Google search results. You can also quickly see the most popular queries bringing users to your site. And since no one knows more about the pages on your site than you do, you can also share this info with Google to help us discover pages we might otherwise miss. 

All you need is a Google Account - sign up for one on our Accounts home page. If you use Gmail, Orkut, Groups, iGoogle, or other Google products, you already have a Google Account and are ready to sign in to use Google webmaster tools. 

To get started, add your site to your Google webmaster tools account, and verify it.

Improve traffic with Google Webmaster Tools
Statistics, diagnostics and management of Google's indexing of your website, including Sitemap submission and reporting.

Promote your website with Google AdWords
Attract new visitors, even if you already appear in Google's search results. AdWords can help target audiences on Google and our content network.

Earn money from your website
Monetize your site using Google AdSense to deliver ads precisely targeted to your content.

Optimize your content
Test what combinations of content your visitors like best with Google Website Optimizer.

Our suite of webmaster tools provides you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly. They can show you Google’s view of your site, help you diagnose problems, and let you share info with us to help improve your site’s visibility.

Getting Google’s view of your site, and diagnosing potential problemsThe first step to increasing your site’s visibility on Google is learning how our robots crawl and index your site.

Crawl info: You can make sure we have access to your site, and see when Googlebot last visited. You can also view URLs that we’ve had trouble crawling and why we couldn't crawl them. This way, you can fix any problems preventing us from indexing all of your pages.

Robots.txt file validation: See if we’re having trouble with your file, and test out changes to that file before you change it on your server.Website content: View top content from your site and see the words that other sites use to link to it.

Seeing how your site performs
A second step is learning what drives traffic to your site.
Top queries: Find the top queries that drive traffic to your site and where your site is included in the top search results. This will let you learn how users are finding your site.

Indexing information: See how your site is indexed and which of your pages are included in the index. If we find violations in your site, we’ll give you the opportunity to fix the problems and request reinclusion of your site.

Sharing info with Google about your site

Since no one knows more about your site than you do, you can also share this info with Google and improve your crawlability.

Submit a Sitemap file: Tell us all about your pages by submitting a Sitemap file; help us learn which pages are most important to you and how often those pages change.
Specify your preferred domain: Tell us which URL to use when indexing your site; we’ll do our best to index the version you prefer.

Google Webmaster Central Blog

Google Webmaster Central Help

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