Tips on targeting ads?

what are your suggestions...

[too much information]

I have two sites that I am questioning the targeting of the ads that are displaying.

For example one site is for Widget Makers, and the ads showing are ads for Widget Makers where I would expect that they should be for Widget-cart sites, Widget materials, etc.

The way the ads are displaying, the only clicks that are going to take place are from other Widget Makers or from the random Widget buyer that happens to stumble in to the site. Either way the chances of a conversion for the advertiser is pretty low.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get better targeted ads short of blocking every URL that is not well targeted? Is there a way that you can block ads by keywords in their content? (wouldn't that be nice?)

*edit spelling

[loanuniverse]

I feel your pain, I have a few pages that show ads on how to become a "widget maker" when 99% of the people are looking to hire one or buy one instead of becoming one.

I don't think there is a single way to approach this, since the changes that work for one page might not work for another one. I guess it all comes down to tinkering with the copy and layout.

Depending on the amount of time that you have available you could do the following testing:

- Take the original page 0riginal.html

and make several versions altering the copy and the layout {some people have reported that the proximity of the ad to the keywords affects it also}

- Put these orphan pages version1.html version2.html etc. in your site and load them in the browser. Then you can see what works.

[too much information]

I didn't think about the location of the ads as being a factor. I will try moving the ads to the top of the page (closer to the title and intro) and report back.

I did take Google's suggestion a few weeks ago and began blocking URLs that were not well targeted. The results were great and the CTR went *way* up. The only problem is that I think the advertisers pulled the ads because of the increase in CTR because I have not seen the ads since.

IMHO if they gave the ads a chance they would have been very happy with the conversion rate. I am familiar with the target audience and I am very confident in my belief that the ads would have resulted in sales.

Anyhow, maybe it is just a matter or layout and positioning...

[yump]

The only problem is that I think the advertisers pulled the ads because of the increase in CTR because I have not seen the ads since.

As far as I am aware as a user of Adwords, advertisers can't do this:

"At this time, it's not possible to select specific ad network locations for your ads. Also, because AdWords ads are performance-based, we can't guarantee placement on any ad network locations.

However, you do have the option to decide what type of ad network location will display your ads. While your ads will always show on Google search results pages, you can also elect to have them appear on ad network search sites, content sites or both."

So wouldn't worry about it too much - the worst that can happen is that some advertisers are refining their negative keywords so they don't get shown on particular searches or types of site - but from our experience of trying to do this its a bit hit and miss and they certainly couldn't single out your site.

[annej]

I have the same problem in that most of my visitors are widget makers so are more interested in widget making patterns, equipment and materials. I've filtered out all the really general "we'll find widgets for you", "widgets at wherever" and such. That did help. But I'm torn about whether I want to filter out all sites that sell widgets. Some widget makers like to look at widgets for design ideas and some visiting my site might just be interested in widgets and not actually be widget makers. But I still think widget making supplies would be the most attractive so I'm waiting for a bit then I'll try filtering so I just have that sort of ad for the most part. You can never to this perfectly and changing things too fast doesn't always give you the best information because there are so many other variables.

You do need a good pool of widget making supply ads though. If there aren't many in your field you are better off leaving things more general.

[madmatt69]

It'd be nice if you could specify keywords of ads you don't want to show instead of having to block specific urls. There's just too many of them if you've got a large site. Example - I have a page that mentions the word "hotel" once, and all the adsense ads are for hotels though the site isn't at all about them. But, so many hotel advertisers you gotta block tonnes of them.

[Jenstar]

Most important keywords closest to the actual javascript - without making it spammy, of course.

How to use it:

How to use Green Widgets for Widgetry Making
<insert AdSense script here>
When people want to use green widgets in their widgetry making, they often find that.....

How not to use it:

Green widgets, grey widgets, purple widgets, widgetry, widget, make widgets, buy widgets, buy widgets online
<insert AdSense script here>
Green widgets, grey widgets, purple widgets, widgetry, widget, make widgets, buy widgets, buy widgets online

[too much information]

hahaha, I like your examples. I wasn't thinking of that though.

I have noticed that in my style of writing content I usually get more general as the content goes on, therefore the more specific content is toward the top of the page along with the headers and title of the page.

Maybe that is the key to my whole problem, if it works on this small site I will definately have to work on my other larger sites as well.

[loanuniverse]

I am a big fan of a slogan that defines the site. You can even use SSI to get it in all the pages at once.

Widget.com Your source for green widgets! If you can't find your green widget here, you can't find it anywhere!

[yump]

>madmatt69

It'd be nice if you could specify keywords of ads you don't want to show instead of having to block specific urls...

Totally agree. We've got slightly different problem in that our site mentions the word 'parts' quite a lot (its a car parts site). Unfortunately there are rather a lot of suppliers out there for industrial parts, engineering parts etc. etc. - we even had prosthetic limbs appear once or twice, but at least that was easy to block.

Running on about 140ish URL blocks at the moment!

Problem is, it only takes a few more engineering parts suppliers from the far east, who don't sort their keywords out and we'll have a load more to filter.

As you say much easier by keyword (or negative keyword) filter. Here's hoping....

[annej]

How to use Green Widgets for Widgetry Making
<insert AdSense script here>
When people want to use green widgets in their widgetry making, they often find that.....

Jen, thanks for the great tip. Most of my AdSense is in a side bar so it would be easy to add a little something about the page this way.

[too much information]

Well here are my results... I placed the ads below a nice set of content, then above the same content. What I found was that the ads were better targeted when placed above the content.

I don't know if this is because of my writing style (as I said I usually get more general on the topic as I write) or if it is because of the placement of the content.

The content block that I tried contained one <h2> tag and three sentences that delt specifically with the topic of the page.

So it seems that for the way that I write, I will receive better targeted ads if AdSense is placed above my content.