Two more languages -- Bulgarian and Serbian -- have just joined the AdSense for content family, and AdSense for search has also launched in Serbian. We know that web publishers in these regions have been waiting for for a long time -- thank you for your continued patience.
To get started with AdSense for content or AdSense for search, log in to your account and follow the wizard located under the AdSense Setup tab. If you don't have an account yet, you can sign-up for AdSense in just a few minutes.
If you have questions about using AdSense for content or AdSense for search, visit our Help Center or email us via our Contact Us form.
Keep working on your content and let it work for you!
Monday, 30 July 2007
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Getting your forum site to perform well with AdSense
When Amit Kumar co-founded MegaGames Forum in 1998, Google Inc. was being run from a Menlo Park garage and AdSense didn’t even exist yet. Fast-forward 9 years to 2007: Amit still runs MegaGames Forum just as a hobby, but he earns enough revenue through the AdSense program to run a dedicated server and continue growing his site.
Amit wasn't so successful with AdSense right from the start. When he first started using the program in 2005, his earnings were nothing to write home about, and it was largely because he chose his ad placement, formats, and colors at random. After recently optimizing his ads, however, Amit was able to more than double his AdSense revenue and even improve the user experience on his site. Results may vary since every site is unique, but here are some tips that any forum site, large or small, can also try out to increase revenue.
With forums, the first post often contains the most relevant content on the page. By using the section targeting feature to emphasize this content, you can potentially increase CTR with better targeted ads. Visit this 'section targeting' link we mention for instructions.
If you decide to try out these tips, we’d love to hear about your success.
Amit wasn't so successful with AdSense right from the start. When he first started using the program in 2005, his earnings were nothing to write home about, and it was largely because he chose his ad placement, formats, and colors at random. After recently optimizing his ads, however, Amit was able to more than double his AdSense revenue and even improve the user experience on his site. Results may vary since every site is unique, but here are some tips that any forum site, large or small, can also try out to increase revenue.
- The welcome box ad
Many forums have a message above the fold on their pages welcoming users to the site and encouraging them to register. Placing a large (336x280) or medium (300x250) rectangle next to this message catches users’ attention right when they walk through the door (so to speak). By the way, these are our best performing ad units, and may also increase the number of site-targeted ads on your pages.
- The forum post ad
Based on previous testing, integrating ad units into your page content can improve clickthrough rate (CTR). It also provides a better online experience, since your users see relevant ads side by side with normal content. In forums, the highest visibility content is often the first post, so it makes sense to place the ads here. Again, large and medium rectangles are your best bet! - Blending colors and breaking down borders
Colors are important for making an ad visible to the user, but they should still blend with the design of the site. Removing the borders on your ads helps even more with this concept of blending. Don’t worry -- even with a well-blended implementation, the 'Ads by Google' label keeps your users from confusing ads with content.
With forums, the first post often contains the most relevant content on the page. By using the section targeting feature to emphasize this content, you can potentially increase CTR with better targeted ads. Visit this 'section targeting' link we mention for instructions.
If you decide to try out these tips, we’d love to hear about your success.
Monday, 23 July 2007
Can't log in using Firefox?
We've recently noticed that many publishers are having trouble logging into their accounts after the latest Mozilla Firefox update. A number of publishers have reported that they're only seeing a sign-up page rather than a login form.
After a little digging and some testing, we've found that Adblock Plus, an add-on that sometimes gets installed with Firefox, can prevent you from accessing your account on the AdSense homepage. Our recommendation is to clear your cache and cookies and turn off the Adblock software before trying to log in at www.google.com/adsense. You may also wish to review our troubleshooting tips for login issues in our Help Center.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
After a little digging and some testing, we've found that Adblock Plus, an add-on that sometimes gets installed with Firefox, can prevent you from accessing your account on the AdSense homepage. Our recommendation is to clear your cache and cookies and turn off the Adblock software before trying to log in at www.google.com/adsense. You may also wish to review our troubleshooting tips for login issues in our Help Center.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
Thursday, 19 July 2007
You work hard for the money
It's almost the end of the month, which means that it's almost time for us to send our publishers their payments. We know you're eagerly waiting for your check or EFT deposit to pay your bills, so we'd like to answer some questions you may have and clarify what to expect over the next few weeks.
Will I be sent a payment this month?
You can check to see whether you're eligible for a payment at the end of July. Just visit your Payment History page, set the date range to 'All time', and find the amount in the 'Monthly balance' column corresponding to June. If this number is greater than $100 and you removed all holds from your account before July 15th, you're eligible for a payment at the end of this month.
Can you give me an actual 'end of the month' date?
Unfortunately, we can't. You may sometimes see that your payment is issued on the 23rd of the month, and at other times on the 29th. This is because all earnings are audited for accuracy every month, and this automatic audit process can take different amounts of time during each payment cycle. To keep things simple, you may wish to think of 'end of the month' as the last day of the month. After your payment is issued, please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery, depending on your location and the form of payment you've selected.
What about the 25th? I read somewhere that I'm supposed to get my checks by that day.
That's a reissue date that applies to the month after a standard delivery check is issued. Let's say you earned $200 in June and removed all payment holds before July 15th. We'd then issue you a check at the end of July, which we'd expect to reach you by August 25th.
I've selected EFT. Does that mean my payments get processed faster by Google?
No, the processing time is still the same for EFT and checks. However, once processed and issued, EFT payments typically reach publishers more quickly, since they're directly deposited into bank accounts. If you're issued an EFT payment at the end of July, we expect that you'll see it in your bank account by August 5th. If you're issued a standard delivery check at the end of July, we expect that you'll receive it by August 25th.
After reading through this info, we hope you feel like an expert on payments. :) We've used the current month in all of the examples, but feel free to refer back to this post again in the future. If you'd like to learn more about AdSense payments, we recommend reviewing our Payments Demo, Payment Guide, and subscribing to the AdSense Calendar.
Will I be sent a payment this month?
You can check to see whether you're eligible for a payment at the end of July. Just visit your Payment History page, set the date range to 'All time', and find the amount in the 'Monthly balance' column corresponding to June. If this number is greater than $100 and you removed all holds from your account before July 15th, you're eligible for a payment at the end of this month.
Can you give me an actual 'end of the month' date?
Unfortunately, we can't. You may sometimes see that your payment is issued on the 23rd of the month, and at other times on the 29th. This is because all earnings are audited for accuracy every month, and this automatic audit process can take different amounts of time during each payment cycle. To keep things simple, you may wish to think of 'end of the month' as the last day of the month. After your payment is issued, please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery, depending on your location and the form of payment you've selected.
What about the 25th? I read somewhere that I'm supposed to get my checks by that day.
That's a reissue date that applies to the month after a standard delivery check is issued. Let's say you earned $200 in June and removed all payment holds before July 15th. We'd then issue you a check at the end of July, which we'd expect to reach you by August 25th.
I've selected EFT. Does that mean my payments get processed faster by Google?
No, the processing time is still the same for EFT and checks. However, once processed and issued, EFT payments typically reach publishers more quickly, since they're directly deposited into bank accounts. If you're issued an EFT payment at the end of July, we expect that you'll see it in your bank account by August 5th. If you're issued a standard delivery check at the end of July, we expect that you'll receive it by August 25th.
After reading through this info, we hope you feel like an expert on payments. :) We've used the current month in all of the examples, but feel free to refer back to this post again in the future. If you'd like to learn more about AdSense payments, we recommend reviewing our Payments Demo, Payment Guide, and subscribing to the AdSense Calendar.
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