Ideal page design for Adsense

Design issues to think about for new site

[bouncybunny]

I am in the early stages of planning a new web site.

Having launched two sites in the past and realising afterwards that the design wasn't ideal for displaying Adsense ads, I was wondering whether anyone had any opinions as to the best format.

It will be a news and reviews type of site.

I am not after detailed design tips. More the type of format to best take advantage of Adsense formats. For example;

1. Width in pixels
2. Number of columns
3. Words per page...
4. Anything else to think about?

[kaz]

I'd start first with the heatmap example they provide

[google.com...]

[Green_Grass]

I would keep things simple ..and blend the ads in, without violating the TOS ..

Simple advice ;-)

[bouncybunny]

Hi

Thanks for those. Yes, I'm up to scratch with the heat map and general design principles. I'm actually a web designer, just not experienced with Google ad-driven web sites.

I really just wondered if anyone had any opinions on specifics like fixed widths, number of columns and so on - with regard to ad placement and best utilising the highest paying ads and so on.

Any experience-based tips welcome.

So 'blending in' is generally the way to go is it?

[jetteroheller]

Remember that the CTR has to be multiplied by 2 other important numbers

page views per visit
visits per visitor.

10% CTR * 1,5 page views * 1,1 visits means 0,165 clicks per visitor
5% CTR * 4 page views * 1,2 visits means 0,24 clicks per visitor

[annej]

Blended ads not only get clicked more but they make the page look cleaner. Contrasted ads make a page look cluttered.

I avoid 3 columns for now. There are still too many people on smaller monitors. Someday we will be able to use all that lovely space.

I'm going by the readability guideline of having about 17 words across so I make my midsection 600 or 700 px wide.

The left column I make wide enough for the wide skyscraper. That is a good width for menus, other ads, etc.

Overall the wide skyscraper and the large rectangle do the best so I design for that. I use the large rect floated right near the top of articles and that does well. I suppose floating left would fit the heat map better but I want people to start reading the article since it is a content site.

I center the left column and mid section on the page so it looks good on a large screen.

[bouncybunny]

Thanks for that AnneJ.

Very helpful.