8 Tips to Optimize Adsense Units

Adsense is one of the most common revenue generators for blogs and websites. Usually you can drastically improve your click-through rate and overall earnings by positioning the ads wisely, by improving the content targeting or by optimizing the ad units directly. Below I will cover the last point, how to optimize the Adsense units with 8 simple tips:

The three top performing ad units are: 336×280 large rectangle, 300×250 inline rectangle and 160×600 wide skyscraper. Consider using those units if possible, but bear in mind that other formats might be more suitable for your website design.
The most successful link color is blue. This fact is connected with the roots of the Internet where all major websites used to feature blue links.
Apart from blue links you can also use a link color that matches the pattern of your website (i.e. If you use green links make the Adsense links of the same color).
As a general rule of thumb, blend (no border, same background) your Adsense units if your website has a light color scheme and contrast (border, contrasting background) the units if you are using a dark color scheme
If the ads are placed within the content you should avoid using borders while ad units outside of the content can use borders to call attention.
If your website has mainly repeat visitors (like Forums) you can rotate the background color of the units to reduce ad blindness
Consider removing the “Advertise on this site” message from your units. This can be done on the control panel under the “My Account” section, disabling the “Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up” feature.
Test, test and test. Every website is unique so make sure you test with different colors and formats and track the results to fine tune your Adsense units.

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Daniel Scocco on February 12, 2007 | Filed Under Monetize

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38 Responses to “8 Tips to Optimize Adsense Units”

Lars-Christian on February 12th, 2007 9:00 am

Nothing too revolutionizing here, but definately some good pointers for those just starting to get into the AdSense game!
Thilak on February 12th, 2007 9:07 am

#8 should have been #1.. #7 plays a major role in blending!
Daniel on February 12th, 2007 9:19 am

True Thilak, i placed it in the last spot to give a meaning that after you are done optimizing you should test, see results and test some more.
JoeTech.com on February 12th, 2007 1:08 pm

I’ve been experimenting but I’ll check out these tips and hopefully improve my CTR. Thanks
Mike Empuria on February 12th, 2007 2:48 pm

And learn when to give up.

I’ve spent a year on a site that doesn’t convert for adsense because there are no advertisers. Find another way to convert or find another site.
Daniel on February 12th, 2007 3:00 pm

Mike, did you had good traffic on the site? There are some sites that specially difficult to convert on adsense, but most should be able to have decent earning if the traffic is there.
Mike Empuria on February 12th, 2007 3:23 pm

Good point about the traffic. It’s not very good but neither is the CTR - I’ve just checked today’s figures and it’s 4%, and that’s high! All for $2.16.
Daniel on February 12th, 2007 4:30 pm

4% CRT is very good, I think that most blogs stay between 1% and 5% (without intrusive ads).
egon on February 16th, 2007 12:00 am

Thanks for #7, I never even thought about that. It really makes the ads look cleaner.
Mark on February 23rd, 2007 8:02 am

Nice information
Wakish on February 28th, 2007 4:32 pm

One thing that i was not aware of was the part 7).
I was always annoyed by this thinking that this cannot be reomved.
So, thanks alot for this nice article!

Yours,
wakish
Brandon on June 3rd, 2007 9:31 pm

Great tips for new bloggers
Thanks
Ryan on June 18th, 2007 9:57 am

Thank you for #7! I had no idea!

As far as the blue link go, I am trying to keep from getting too much blue since I think it will be too confusing. Worth a try though!
Outdoor Adventure Headquarters on June 18th, 2007 9:58 am

Check out your new destination for outdoor education!
Chris @ Martial Development on July 13th, 2007 12:33 pm

This is also the first time I heard #7 proposed. Has anyone actually measured the CTR effects of this change?
Referáty zeměpis on December 22nd, 2007 2:10 pm

The most important tip is test, test, test!