Choosing between ad units and ad links

[hanuman]

one of my channels has high CTR and eCPM.
and this is only from one lower leaderboard, in fact it is at the bottom of the pages.

i have applied for google personal optimization services, and a nice google consultant reviewed my pages and recommended to use top page leaderboard.

design and technical issues prevent me from following his advice that but i can utilize the new format text-links 468x15.... is it wise? do you find that text links pays as much as the leaderboard?

i know that i should experiment, but thought of getting your thoughts

[ken_b]

hanuman;

I've only been using adlinks for about a month. And I also have a 300x250 adblock on each page that has an adlinks block (180x90).

For me, the adlinks performance is sometimes lower, somtimes about the same and sometimes higher than the regular ads.

I know that's not much help. There really is no alternative to experimenting to see what works on your site.

[elsewhen]

hanuman... did they give any other advice? did you think that the personalized optimization service was worthwhile? i have been holding off.

[hanuman]

hanuman... did they give any other advice? did you think that the personalized optimization service was worthwhile? i have been holding off.

After you have been approved into the program a Google consultant will actually visit your site. he will comment on specific pages from different channels, with different layouts, he will offer you his opinion on placement and color scheme of the desired ads to each page. the service is very polite, very correct (i knew most of the stuff but some might not) and to the point. somewhat basic to those who read this board.....

the letter sign:

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you'd like any further
clarification on any of these suggestions, if you have other ideas or or
pages you'd like me to look into, or if you have any questions or
concerns. I look forward to working with you over the coming weeks.

which suggest that they will work with you over a period of time to get the best of adsense with what you have and willing to do.

I am now doing some changes to layout and placement, and will continue the dialog with google.

the best think though that it made me start doing something rather than reading this board .....

thank you Goggle!

[badtigger]

imagine following their advice and over the course of the next few weeks, seeing your income drop? I dunno, with this game anything is possible.

[hanuman]

i believe their suggestion is based on better ad exposure and not necessarily better income for publishers. but its nice to hear what can be done to improve ad attention keeping your original site structure and design intact and experiment. it is also a good opportunity to convey to google directly why you do or not do certain things, they might improve on that.....

[TheDonster]

I would seriously recommend you try adlinks. I had installed the vertical adlinks when they first came out but my navigation is mostly horizontal so when the new adlinks came out last week, I was estatic! The new horizontal adlinks blend in much better on my site and I hope they are here to stay. CTR increased right away on the pages and these are performing very well to date. The only point I would emphasize is to leave the adlinks units on for a couple of days. I don't know why, but these ads seemed to take longer to properly target than any other I've experimented with. As for your comment about Google not wanting to help publishers make money, don't forget, the more we make for their advertisers, the more they make for their shareholders. It is in Google's best interest to help you make money. I can't think of any other media company that does so much for the small web site publishers at the moment.

[Broadway]

I don't know how Adlinks specifically compare to normal Adsense adds where it is a situation of one or the other. I have a number of pages that have both a vertical adlink and a single skyscraper. The adlinks usually generate a CTR that is 1/3 less than the skyscraper and generate about 2/3 less income. I believe that I have found that the addition of an Adlink unit to a page only adds to the total income generated (meaning the lower overall CTR for my site did not trigger a smart pricing penalty). Adlinks have been positive for my site.

[sirkei]

only point I would emphasize is to leave the adlinks units on for a couple of days.

Very true. I posted a thread at [webmasterworld.com...] to comment on how different ad format has decreased my revenue but after 3 days it seems like the reveneue is getting back to normal and if i am not mistaken, a 4-5% of eCPM increase.

[badtigger]

My comment was not intended to imply something along the lines of: "Google not wanting to help publishers make money".

What I was getting at was, if their advice had a ROI that was that rock-solid, then every publisher out there (who could afford it) would be doing this. I think that even they themselves cannot guage all the intangibles in this game, only the basics. Even something like Adlinks for eg., seems to work wonders on some sites, and when deployed on other sites the exact same way, manner, and location, it bombs.

[dutch_dude]

I think a banner above your content will rarely attract much clicks. Adsense on my sites works best if I integrate them in the content.

I usely also place one ad in the text of the article and one after the text. This way users can look for more information when they are done reading the article.

Recently I changed the ad after the articles into an adlinks block, didn't expect much of it but it doubled my income!

Experimenting is the only way to find out :)