Need AdSense Suggestions

Thinking of ditched 2 ad boxes and sticking to one

[wfernley]

I have three ad boxes each containing 5 links. One is on the lower left of each page, one is at the bottom of eveyr page and one is on the top right of each page.

I have a very low CTR of 1.5% (I think this is low anyways ;) ). I'm finding even though I get more traffic than before, my CPC has lowered drastically.

I was curious if I was to stick with one ad box....would my CTR increase because I have only one ad box? Would my CPC increase considering I am only showing the first 5 ads?

Any help would be grealty appreciated. Also as a side question, if I have three ad boxes, does every pageview count as 3 impressions?

Thanks!

Wes

[david_uk]

Yes, each time an ad block is shown Google counts an impression. Three shows of ad blocks on one page view counts as three impressions. You may well find that some of the blocks give you very low clicks, and will drag ctr down.

There is some debate on if ctr is used in smart pricing, but when I removed the second block epc rose. As a result I only put ads on pages where the ads work reasonable well, and if an ad block isn't performing it gets ditched.

I think there is a general feeling here that having less ads on the page often means an improvement in earnings. I'd suggest using a channel on each block, and remove those that don't perform.

Removing under performing blocks certainly improved my bottom line $$. I have only one block and it works well for me.

[G_Smitty]

When you sign in to your Adsense account you have the option of viewing the data by page or ad unit. By default it is set on page. So if you have 1 ad block or 3 ad blocks it will not affect your eCPM if you limit the page to 1 ad block.

Personally I find that 1 ad block per page placed strategically works best for my site. I have actually found that my earnings are higher with 1 ad block. The chances are with 4 ads that the higher priced ads will get clicked, if you have 12 ads showing you have a higher chance of visitors clicking on the lower paying ads.

It does seem to me that less relevant ads show if I am trying to show the maximum ads possible

I hope this makes sense?

[wfernley]

Thank you, your posts do make sense :)

I do have channels on each ad block. I find each day is different. Sometimes one ad block does better than the other and then it switches.

Perhaps I should try just using one block however.

Would it make sense to just keep the ad on the right because it's closer to the top of the page than the other two?

[Hobbs]

I second david_uk's advice, I had the same experience.

[wfernley]

Well I just removed the lower left ad and the bottom of the page ad. All that is left is the right ad block....

Lets hope this works ;)

[trillianjedi]

The chances are with 4 ads that the higher priced ads will get clicked, if you have 12 ads showing you have a higher chance of visitors clicking on the lower paying ads.

This is the key. It's also worth remembering that AdSense will serve ads in order of highest paying first. If you do have multiple blocks of ads, you want the units producing the highest number of clicks to be served from the AdSense server first. Channels are critical for monitoring what is performing where.

CSS comes in handy here (if required) for positioning elements on a page in a different order to how they appear in the page source.

TJ

[StuntasticAudi]

I had 3 blocks before and that didnt work out for me. I saw that with only 1 block i make much more money. Plus if you have 1 block ad showing that means it will only show the highest paid advertisers. When you have 3 it will show many other ones that are low paying.

[Bddmed]

I would like to add that the right is not the best spot to put ads. People just read the article and just don't read the ads. Put the ads in a spot within the article (rectangle types). In my experience this improves CTR and Bottom line.

[wfernley]

Yeah I was thinking about this. Putting a one ad box in the top right of the article.

[Bddmed]

Top right still isn't the best position. In the first paragraph people are reading what the article is about. In the last paragraph people are reading the summery. It's the second or third paragraph where your readers start "quick reading" and start reading the ads.

IMHO it's best to start with a paragraph. Then the second with an ad. Then the third or the summery.

[Publisher]

I had three ad groups on each page, and had an average CTR of 6.5%.

As a test, on some pages, I've only kept one ad group to see if there's any difference in income...too soon to tell.

I also run adlinks on every page.

[G_Smitty]

6.5% would be way to low for me. I have one ad with a ctr well above 10%. Ad links don't pay for me.

[wfernley]

Your making my 1.6% CTR look bad ;)

[wfernley]

Well it has been 2 full days since I have removed the other two ad boxes. Both days I made a few $$ more than normal with a higher CTR and CPC of course ;) I think it seems to be working. Even today I am having a higher than avg. day.

I will let you guys know how it goes next week.

[shanliang]

next week coming...

[wfernley]

Hey everyone,

Well after a week and a bit I have noticed no change. It looks like I am earning the exact same amount. My Impressions have gone down but click through the same. My CPC has gone up so that is what is keeping it the same.

I guess it is better than having more ads considering I have less space being used up on my site. I bet the possitioning is causing an issue because I have the ad on the upper right of my site.