Where to Place Ads

Top, bottom, side, which is the best?

[HeartNE]

Question about placement: Where is the best place and best size? Top across, on the side, bottom? And how many blocks do you recommend (I think the max is three per page -- do you recommend putting 3 blocks on one page?)

[Rodney]

Check the Adsense Heat Map for places where users look the most and then place the ads where you think is most approprite for your site:

[google.com...]

Then after you do that, test and test again :)

[G_Smitty]

I definitely agree with testing. For the last two years I have never stopped testing. With Ad testing every new month with Adsense continues to be the best.

[hunderdown]

I don't recommend "maxing out." AdSense displays the best-paying ads first, so depending on what your visitors do, it is possible to decrease earnings by having more ads on the page (if they click 10 cent ads instead of 50 cent ads).

But try it. Try ads on the left. Try ads on the right. Try ads in the middle. Try 2-ad blocks. Try 4-ad blocks. And so on.

Every site is different. Even on one site, some pages may do better with one layout, and other pages with a different one.

[europeforvisitors]

What's "best" also depends on what you hope to accomplish with the site. If you're trying to build a brand and a reputation by attracting repeat visitors, inbound links, and press coverage, having three ad units above the fold might send the wrong message.

[HeartNE]

Interesting. I thought there was a formula :) I guess trial and error is the way to go!

I generally have 3 google text ad blocks on each page -- one skyscraper on the right hand side of the content, one in the middle left (content is usually 500-1000 words), and one across the bottom before the contact info. So only one block is "above the fold."

[AdSenseAdvisor]

It really depends from site-to-site, although the heat map is a great place to start. You should use channels to track earnings from each of your ad units individually. You can then compare eCPMs of different placements and formats to see what works best on your particular site.

I recommend checking out [google.com...] for more tips.