AdSense Account Setup - Part 2 (Essential Customizations)

The second step in setting up your Google AdSense Account is to do customization (some essential customizations ). Let’s check when you can start with the second step of setup and what you need to do as part of essential customizations :

Once you are done with setting up your Google AdSense account and once Google has approved your application, you are ready to use Google AdSense for earning revenue from your website. Just login into your account using your email address and password, click ‘AdSense Setup’ in the top menu and select the product type (i.e. ‘AdSense for Content’ or ‘AdSense for Search’). You will be presented with various options for customization of your AdSense Ads . Here we will take a look at setting up ‘AdSense for Content’ only (however, the setup for ‘AdSense for Search’ is quite similar and equally easy).

The first thing that you need to choose is the Ad type (Ad unit or link unit). Based on the Ad type you choose, you will need to specify the type of ad (text, image, etc for Ad unit) or number of links per link unit too. Google AdSense program allows you to use a maximum of three ad units and 1 link unit per web page (and you must use both, in order to maximize your AdSense revenue).

The next thing is to choose the Ad layout . There are various layouts available but
large rectangle (336x280) and wide skyscraper (160x600) are preferred over
others (since they help get more impressions for you and hence help you make
more money).

Customizing the colors of various parts of your AdSense ad is the next thing you need to do. Even though customizing colors is optional (as far as the Google AdSense program is concerned), it’s strongly recommended for making your Ads attractive and more effective. Your choice of colors must be governed by the look and feel of your website so that the Ad doesn’t look out of place.

These are the essential customizations that you surely need to do before you can start using Google AdSense Ads on your website.

AdSense Account Setup- Part 3 (Additional Customizations)

Besides the essential customizations like selecting the Ad type, Ad layout and colors , there are some other customizations that you can apply to your AdSense account. In fact, some of these can quite easily be treated as essential customizations (based on the context of your website) e.g. ‘filters ’ is one such customization that is quite important. Let’s take a look at what these additional customizations are:

Filters: Google allows you to set-up custom ad filters for your website (note that
this is in addition to the screening of ad content that Google does by default ). By
setting up filters you can block competitive Ads and other Ads that you don’t want
to display on your website. In fact, filters are a must if your website sells a
product or a service (unless you want to promote your competitors through your
website).

Alternate Ads: This is something that can help you in preventing underutilization of the ad space on your website. Alternate Ads are the Ads that you would want to show up on your website in case sufficient content-relevant Ads are not available. If you don’t specify alternate Ads and if there are insufficient contentrelated Ads available, Google AdSense program will serve charitable Ads to your website (Ads which don’t earn revenue for you).

Reporting And Performance Tracking: You can even customize the reporting and performance tracking options for your AdSense account. One important tool in this regard is the use of channels to study the performance of AdSense Ads from various perspectives . However, you might decide to take this up later down the line (maybe 1 month after setting up your AdSense account.

AdSense Account Setup - Part 4 (AdSense Code)

This is the final step in the setting up of Google AdSense account. In this step, you will get the AdSense code that you need to use on your website in order to start earning revenue from Google AdSense program . Let’s go ahead and work on this final step:
Once you are done with all the customizations , your AdSense code is generated in the AdSense Code box. You just need to copy this code (which is in the form of a programming script) from the AdSense Code box and paste it in your website as per the guidelines from Google. Since Google allows only three ad units per page, you can add the code at more than one place in your html code.

The next step is to save your web page to the designated web server (as per the instructions from your web hosting service provider). Please note that Google AdSense program does not require you to send over your website’s html code to them; neither does it ask to load it onto their servers or do anything else with it. The addition of AdSense code to your website’s code is the only thing that you need to do. Separate procedures are available with Google for people who want to use AdSense Ads with their blogs (you can check these on Google’s website for AdSense program ).

Now that everything is done and dusted, you need to wait for a few hours (might
be lesser than that) before Google’s web crawlers find your web page or blog
that has AdSense code on it and you start seeing AdSense Ads on your web
page or blog. You might see some PSA (charitable Ads ) initially (almost
immediately) but these will soon get replaced with the AdSense Ads that will earn
revenue for you. If the content on your website violates the AdSense program ’s
policies , you might keep seeing PSAs even after few hours . In all such cases (or
if you find objectionable Ads that don’t go even after you have applied
appropriate filters ), you will need to contact Google who will sort out the problems
for you.

AdSense Code Guidelines

As highlighted earlier (in the final step of Google AdSense account setup), you need to follow certain guidelines when you are adding the AdSense code to your web pages. Remember that if you don’t do it in the right way, you would not be earning Google AdSense revenue. So, pay heed to these guidelines :

Adding the AdSense code to your web page is a very straight forward process .
You just need to copy the AdSense code from your AdSense account (as seen in
the AdSense code box) and paste it in your html code. However, there are
certain guidelines that you need to follow when pasting the AdSense code in your
web page.
• Firstly, you should never tamper with the AdSense code in any way. It
should be pasted as such, in its entirety, without any changes or
modifications ; otherwise your AdSense code will not work. Moreover , you
might end up violating the AdSense program policies .

• Also, it’s important that you paste the AdSense code in the body tags of
your html page. This is necessary for the code (java script) to run properly.

• Further, you must ensure that you use a maximum of three ad units per
web page (this is the limit specified by Google AdSense program) and not
more than 1 link unit per web page.

• Since content based Ad targeting is the main concept behind AdSense
program, you need to ensure that you paste your AdSense code in the
place where you have your main content pieces e.g. if you have your main
content in a particular frame or a ‘DIV ’ tag , your AdSense code should be
pasted in that particular frame or ‘DIV ’ tag.

• Be careful when using W YSIW YG editor (W hat you see is what you get)
editors . Such editors sometimes add few tags on their own. So, paste the
AdSense code only in source code directly and not in the preview page or
any other view of your web page. Always check the AdSense code for
additional irrelevant tags before you actually upload your web page to your
server.

AdSense For Search: What’s That?

Now, with account setup things over, let’s move on to further enhancing our knowledge about the Google AdSense program. Let’s start with checking what this ‘AdSense for Search’ is :

While talking about Google AdSense, we must not forget that Google is primarily known for its search engine capabilities (in fact, it is one of the most powerful search engines available today). So, how could Google leave out it search engine capabilities from its AdSense program ?

‘AdSense for Search’ is how Google includes search engine bit into the Google AdSense program. ‘AdSense for Search’ can actually be termed as a sibling of Google AdSense program and is one great way of increasing website revenue for website owners . To implement ‘AdSense for search’, you just have to include the Google search box on your website. Again, Google offers the code that you need to use for including Google search box. You just have to paste the code at whatever place you deem as the most appropriate place for Google search box.
When your website visitors use Google search bar on your website, they get almost the same results as they would by using Google separately through Google.com. W hen these website visitors click the search results , the website owner earns revenue (CPC revenue). You can even include AdSense Ads on the search results page and earn CPM or CPC revenue from them. Also, you can customize the search results page to suit your website’s theme. So, Google AdSense for search is one great way of making money just by including the Google search bar on your website. Besides that, the visitors to your website get an additional functionality through your website i.e. the facility to search the web using one of the most powerful search engine (without leaving your website).

‘AdSense for search’ is a great way of earning revenue through your website (and, in fact, one of the easiest ways too). A number of website owner actually use both the ‘AdSense for Search’ and the regular ‘AdSense for content’ in order to maximize their revenue.

AdSense For Feeds: What’s That?

Here is another thing that you need to understand when learning about Google
AdSense program . Let’s take the plunge and check out what ‘AdSense for feeds ’
means :

Google AdSense program offers more than one way of earning revenue from serving Google AdSense Ads . Though ‘AdSense for Feeds ’ is one of the more recent ways of advertising using Google AdSense Ads , it’s in no way less effective than the others . Here, Google places the Ads of the advertisers in the relevant feed articles (again, note the most important characteristic of the Google AdSense program comes into play here too i.e. ‘relevant feed’ not just any feed).

The feeds are in the form of articles , headlines or summaries . These content
formats allow the users to easily access the content from several publishers
(content owners ) at one place. This is achieved through feed aggregators like
Bloglines etc . Again, Google uses its technology to determine what
advertisements would be contextually suited for a particular feed. You get paid as
the publisher of original content and hence make easy money. As for the
readers , they as such get a rich experience because they can see the relevant
advertisements with the content that they are interested in. Moreover, they can
also choose the feeds that they want. Users can click the advertisements to visit
the advertiser’s website and check if their products and/ or services are of any
use to them . Of course, the Advertisers benefit too. They get targeted advertising
which means only the really interested people get to know about their products
and services (and hence there are more chances of a better conversion rate for
sales ).

So, the prime concept for ‘AdSense for feeds ’ remains the same as the Google
AdSense program; only the orientation changes a bit. But note that Google is
currently beta testing ‘AdSense for feeds ’. Beta test for the program quickly got
fully subscribed, so Google is not accepting any more applications for AdSense
for feeds .
It’s only a matter of time before Google AdSense for feeds hits the internet and opens another revenue earning opportunity for website owners .

Tips For AdSense For Feeds

You now know what ‘AdSense for Feeds’ means and you must also understand that it’s a big opportunity in the offing. Acquiring more, upfront knowledge on AdSense for feeds can really get you ahead of others in the race for benefiting from AdSense for feeds :
AdSense for feeds is currently in beta testing phase and the content publishers are just waiting for the flood gates to open in order to start earning revenue through the AdSense Ads in their feeds . Here are the top 3 tips that will help you fully capitalize on this revenue earning opportunity:
Content Quality : You will earn Google AdSense revenue only if people
subscribe to your feed. The more subscriptions you get, the better are your
chances of success with AdSense for feeds . Since most people would be looking
for quality content, you need to make sure that your feed contains up-to-date
quality information that is presented to the users in an easy-to-understand
language. Besides that, the feeds should be free from grammatical and spelling
mistakes .

Content Quantity : Include as much content in your feeds as you possibly can . Again, the aim is prove that the feed is useful and comprehensive (so that more users subscribe to it). If you feel that the complete article cannot go into the feed, include a good summary of the article.

Limit The Ad Units: If the users find that your feeds contain too much Ads , they might not subscribe to your feeds at all (and the whole purpose of feeds would get defeated). In order to ensure that you get good subscription to your feeds , you should limit the ad units to one per feed. Another good way of ensuring that your feeds don’t look like an advertising medium is to place the Ads either at the end of article or after sufficient discussion on the topic .

So, get ready for enhancing your ‘AdSense for feeds ’ revenue with these tips . Your wait may soon be over. Keep the tempo going and keep checking Google’s AdSense blog for updates about the launch of AdSense for feeds .