Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Just wondering what topic your websites deal with, and what kind of ads you get matching up with them?I think mine are not targetted as well as they could be, so just wondering what yours are like?
My website deals with computer games. Generally the Google Ads are reasonably well matched. The pages that don't match as well though are:-
forum pages - I have a template for the forum so every forum page is entitled Level 80 forum (perhaps I should make this more descriptive to get better targetted ads). Generally on the individual pages they are pretty well targetted - for example Lord of the Rings DVD/ holiday ads on that thread etc.
index pages for individual platforms - however this is partly my fault - for instance on the PC one I get Sega Saturn advertisements - this is because I have Sega Saturn in the text of the page and Saturn. If I removed those the targetting would be better.
individual pages - being a cheats site some rather amusing ads can come up.
For example the page on X: Beyond the Frontier. The page gives hints on solar power plants, factories etc in the game. Unfortunately Adsense takes this literally and shows advertisements for solar pumps, engineering and construction services and upgrading for coal power plants.
On the SimCity 3000 page I get ads for flood control and prevention systems, ion meters, flood barriers and flood insurance.
Generally the ads are reasonably well matched though - it's just the Adsense bot needs to have a bit of an imagination - get out more and play a few computer games. ;)
Having said that some of the ads are sometimes pretty well targetted. For example the 3rd and 4th ad on the Rollercoaster Tycoon page are for buying the sequel Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. However the first two are for roller coaster wheels and roller coaster brakes. *grins*
For the most part, AdSense does a good to excellent job of matching ads with content. Occasionally it makes mistakes, such as displaying ads for ATM equipment and supplies in an article on using ATMs abroad. But such mismatches have become less common.
One problem I don't have is PSAs. They appear only rarely on my site, and then only when there's a temporary server glitch. Instead of PSAs, Google displays "default ads" (ads that normally relate well to my site's overall theme) when it can't find an exact match for the topic of a page. I think this is because (a) my topic is one that attracts a lot of advertisers, and (b) my site has been in the AdSense network long enough for Google to have figured out what my site's theme is.
IMHO, editorial diversity (within the context of an overall theme) is a great way to ensure steady revenues from AdSense. If, for example, Google runs out of Shelbyville ads on a given day, there's a good chance that it will continue to serve related ads on your Springfield page. More subtopics = more ad opportunities = less risk that a major advertiser's exhausted budget, summer vacation, or exit from AdSense will leave you high and dry.