Less ads definitely better?

got rid of most ads, making 200%+ more a day

[loganz]

For the past few months I have been experimenting with my ads and ad layouts. I used to have the max number of ad blocks allowed, usually a skyscraper on the left side, and a couple blocks within contents. I recently got rid of all ads except for a 728x90 banner ad. Ever since the change CTR, eCPM has both gone up, and the payout is getting higher everyday, almost 200% more than usual.

I am guessing this is because of the higher paying ads being displayed only, and my banner is blended well with my navigation bar right above it.

I only wish i tried this a year ago when i started, i would have definately been bringing in $2k plus per day, if the trends were the same as right now.

For people who are having a hard time with ad placement, i dare you to try and give this a try.

Fewer ads, blended neatly with navigation (horizontal navigation if possible).

[Khensu]

People read from left to right top to bottom. As soon as there is a break, the eyes start to scan the page. If you can start them reading and keep them reading right through the ads this yeilds the best performance. IMHO

Less ads better payouts, less ad fatigue.

I did a similar move 6 weeks ago and my money doubled also.

[loganz]

I know for sure skyscrapers on the right of page, and ads on the bottom of page / content does not work at all.

Khensu is right about how people read top to bottom, left to right.. that is a good rule to follow when placing ads.

Another thing I did was to make the title of the ads a different color from the rest of my links on my page. My normal links are styled blue, while the titles on ads are red. i notice that makes it easy for the eye to catch it and see it. Dont do the mistake of making ad title and ad text the same color.. this wont work well.

Also i chose the banner 728x90 ad because it doesnt show the URL of the linked ad page.. making it seem like its actually part of my website and therefore blending in with the navigation better.

[david_uk]

Congratulations!

"Less is more" has been common advice here for a while, yet something that many people have tried and found to work hasn't made it to the Google Adsense advice pages. I'm sure that Google only want to make more money, and the fact they haven't listed this as advice does make you wonder if they have any idea how adsense actually works!

You have to wonder, as there are a lot of known techniques discussed here that are contrary to Google's advice how much Google actually know about how their own product works. Big company mentality, left hand fighting with the right hand etc.

[martinibuster]

...there are a lot of known techniques discussed here that are contrary to Google's advice...

[adsense.blogspot.com...]

The number of ad units you choose to display can also affect ad performance. While some sites perform well using the maximum 3 ad units per page, it's important to maintain a balance between content and ad display -- the optimal number of ad units per page varies for different sites.

Google encourages people to find the right balance, i.e. a/b test. That page acknowledges that using three ad units may not work for different sites.
;)

[david_uk]

Yeah - I know. I'm honestly not trying to make a point here, but it would be helpful if they said something along the lines of "conversely, some publishers find that having one ad block earns them most money. Experiment to find out what works best for you".

Their wording seems to imply that more ads is generally better than less. I think a clearer indication that maximum ad blocks does not mean maximum earnings, and experiment to find the best balance would be helpful.

I still don't think that Google really have much idea about how it works as a whole though :) Or at least I'll need a little persuasion to enable me to believe that Google is anything other than bumbling and clueless at best. No, not the thumbscrews again...... arggggg.......

[Hobbs]

David,
While it may appear that it is in Google's interest for publishers to display less ads and earn themselves and Google more, I think Google knows very well what is best for Google, and that is to display as many ads to as many visitors as possible, it works for the advertisers.
There are two kinds of publishers, the majority that copy and paste ad code top left right and bottom of their pages and there are the few that visit this forum, I am thinking the first group makes more money for Google, hence you won't see them phrasing it as you suggested.
Only a theory anyway.

[dhiggerdhigger]

Google's advice gave me the impression that I was after clicks. Whereas click-quality may be depressed by having too many ads on a page (as I understand it - even if users are clicking the same ad block). Perhaps Google didn't want to put me off at the very beginning, so they made it simple.

Good job this forum exists!

[harpoon]

I think it really depends on the kind of site you have. For instance if you have a site that has a diversity of topics and subject matters, more ads would probably be benificial especially if they are serving as a resource along with your content.

[DamonHD]

Hi,

For me more ads is more money, though my sense of taste provides some sort of limit.

I am in the midst of a month-ish-long experiment omitting all ads from internal navigation pages, which seems to have slightly reduced revenue (as expected). The aim is to improve visitor experience, eg by speeding up navigation.

I think that the truth of "less is more" does depend on your site and traffic.

Rgds

Damon

[edited by: DamonHD at 8:01 pm (utc) on June 3, 2006]

[kaz]

For me, and yes I've tested directly myself, more ads equals more money.

It would be silly for google to take the route suggested

yet something that many people have tried and found to work hasn't made it to the Google Adsense advice pages.

Believe it or not, Google may be right and you may be wrong? Go figure, its the case with my scenario and i'm sure thousands of others. I can't imagine the problems google would have if they told everyone to take down ads because they will make more money. While it worked for you, i made a lot less, it is silly to assume if everyone does it they will have similar results as you. I think google knows more than you.

[hyperkik]

I know for sure skyscrapers on the right of page, and ads on the bottom of page / content does not work at all.

Yet that formula works for me. No, it's not completely "optimized" in terms of maximizing clicks, but I'm not complaining.

If I display one ad unit I often get a site-targeted ad. If I display two, I usually get one site-targeted ad and one contextual ad block (although sometimes I get two of one or the other.) So I do better by having two ad blocks, and added a second block to (most) pages which formerly included just one.

Everybody's experience varies to some degree. Sometimes it varies a lot.

[Juan_G]

Less ads definitely better?

As said by Google and others, it really depends on your site and topic. You can see how Google displays a different number of ads on serps -or even none- for different search queries. Probably you will get more ads on "computers" than on "penguin anatomy", for example.

In some cases, like popular niches with lots of good ads, multiple ad units seem to work well. However, when in doubt, I think it's better not to overwhelm your users with too many ads, therefore increasing ad blindness and decreasing links to your sites and your traffic. One ad unit and one link unit can be enough in many cases (and even no ads in very low performing pages or channels, that is with low eCPM, etc.).

[FattyB]

I have to say I was a bit doubtful about this, since we used to just have one and then moved to adlink plus two in each article...which made more.

However, I had not revised this for a long time and traffic has grown since then. Switched to one yesterday and eCPM up a couple of dollars. Early days (though we do several hundred thousands adsense units per day) but looks pretty good.

Also got us thinking about positioning. Since we are news site we usually have them at the bottom of the article. Could not put them top left due to photos in the big stories. However, got the programmer to place the ad top left when no photos. Since 95% of articles have none and the top left get 1% more CTR...means we have just boosted income by 1/3 overall.

Might even move to put the photos above the story with caption to right, rather than below...so can put adsense top left in all...since by nature usually the biggest stories have the photos.

Today was a slow one, since a Sunday plus I was out and about. Yet made more 30% more today than any day last week. Hopefully will carry on tomorrow.

So big thanks to the thread starter for getting us thinking and the tip.

James

[SteveV]

"I know for sure skyscrapers on the right of page, and ads on the bottom of page / content does not work at all."

Not in my experience: my 160x600 skyscraper, which is on the far right of my wide 4-column site gets more clicks than any other.

[hasimsg]

I'm agree with the 728x90 ads on top of the pages get more clicks compare with other formats.

But my site revenue get double after i put more ads in every pages. So, I'm not agree with less ads make give better revenue.

My worst revenue is from 160x600 ads format.