Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Free is good for traffic though, so you can make up for the low EPC by increasing traffic.
I checked one of my sites for the word "free" after reading that thread. I seem to use it quite a lot: "feel free to...." and "free from..." "free moment".
It seems that 99% of the sites I go to that have Free all over the place are spammy adsense sites.
And, I only find them when they've clicked on my ads from the same ip multiple times with a short time (minutes).
But as lacy says it may balance out but I'm pretty sure that whatever clicks you do get will be worth less than same site without Free... I'm also excluding 'download' too.
i'm not too sure if using "free" on your webpages will directly affect ads payouts too much.
rather, i think the biggest effect would be indirect... the users that are attracted to your site in the first place, are a self-selecting group of bargain-hunters. there's nothing wrong with that, but i doubt that they are likely to click on "hi-res downloads for $99" or something like that.
in other words, your site might be attracting a demographic that is unlikely to click on the ads that pay the most in your niche.
that is what I figured, and is probably the reason I don't get many clicks (some days zero).
I expected less than stellar results with using adsense with this site, and I guess am just hoping to just make the best out of what I have.
Do your pages have a higher density of keywords about "free" than you have keywords about the actual content you want to focus on?
Try analyzing your site at the following URL to see the keyword density of your webpage(s).
[ranks.nl...]
What size ad units are you using?
Where are you placing them?
That is an interesting idea as well to try image ads. I had dismissed them completely for some reason, but I will probably give them a go and see what happens. I am very much in the experimental phase of adsense, so I don't see any reason not to try it.
What size ad units are you using?
btw, I appreciate everyone's comments so far. This seems like a very nice forum. :)
[google.com...]
You may want to try different size ads during your experimental stage. Depending on your layout, the skyscraper ads may show the most ads per area, but they may also be overwhelming to the visitor. Maybe smaller ads integrated into your content would perform better.
According to my stats, the 336x280 performs the best, but it will greatly depend on the layout of your own website.
I've learned that its not the quantity of ads you have on your website, but actaully the quality and placement of your ads that brings in more clicks.
Are you matching your ads to the same colors as your website? (background, text color, link color, etc.)
[edited by: thinkaholic at 7:08 pm (utc) on June 12, 2005]
Try putting those above your skyscraper ads. I suggest using the 4 links per unit instead of the 5 links. It is more evenly spaced and doesn't looked crammed.
I've learned that its not the quantity of ads you have on your website, but actaully the quality and placement of your ads that brings in more clicks.
that is probably true. The only reason I consider adding more ads is because I think most of my traffic is likely to be repeat visitors. So I imagine even if they do find the ads interesting, if they are seeing the same small number of ads, that they will be even less likely to click on them in the future. With additional ads they probably will still see repeats but at least they will have more choices.
Are you matching your ads to the same colors as your website? (background, text color, link color, etc.)
yes, I've given my ads a color scheme that goes with my site. I would show you the site, however I am under the impression it violates a rule here, since I am a newbie?
Also, have you tried using the Adlink units?
nope. I've only just been made aware of them today. I assume they apply to the adsense rule that you can have no more than 3 ad units on a page. Am I correct? If they do count towards the limit, I suppose I can still keep my existing 2, and add 1 adlink, allowing me to have more ads with less risk of looking like an ad overload.
good suggestion, thanks.
I still have to try the image ads too.. so many experiments, so little time. :)
if you click on my sticky mail link, you can send it to me
I sent you a stickymail, however it looks like it didn't go through? I'm not sure. My url is in my profile if you didn't get the message.
devotchka, you can have 3 ad units *plus* 1 adlink unit. It's mentioned low on the page of "optimization tips" in the "help" section.
you can have 3 ad units *plus* 1 adlink unit
sweet. thanks icedowl.
John
Suppose I worked the word 'free' into my text here and there. Would this increase traffic?
Any chance of a SERPs penalty? I just want visitors to come and look at my work. -Larry
so, the simple answer is: yes adding the word "free" will put you in the running, but if you arent getting lots of traffic from "widgets" you are unlikely to get significantly more from "free widgets"
put differently, google's default operator is AND, which means that a search for "free widgets" is a search for pages that have both "free" AND "widgets" on them. there is lots more information on this in the other forums on WW.
one other note... sticking words like "free" into a footer or something is easy for google to catch, so like you said, you have to weave it into your existing content.
My site is about UFOs, gets fairly good traffic.
I doubt anybody Googles for "Free UFOs", (they look expensive to me.)
I can weave 'free' seamlessly into the text. It is a common word after all.
I may try that ONCE on some obscure 3rd level page as a test. Thanks again -Larry
a great tip, is to pay very close attention to your server logs... you should be able to see what words people ARE searching on to find you. maybe on one page you have the word "conspiracy", and lots of people are finding your site by searching for "UFO conspiracy"... if that is the case, then you might want to weave THAT word into more of your pages, not some generic term like "free".
one word of caution, after freshly reading the google patent... i wouldn't go back and edit pages just for the sake of keyword targeting. google seems to track the changes that you make to a page... and if the only difference between their cached version of some page on your site, and your recently edited one is the inclusion of 5 instances of "conspiracy", i think they will assume that you are stuffing keywords and they may discount them.
please note, this is just a hunch, but whenever i make changes to existing pages, i make real and significant changes... playing with keywords only is like playing with fire, IMO.
rather, you might want to add new paragraphs to old pages, with a couple instances of the keywords, or alternatively, you might want to create new pages with several instances of the word.
the studying of your server logs is clearly lauded in Brett's Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone [webmasterworld.com]
So, then consider the following example with very modest traffic:
Monthly AdSense Impressions: 60,000 (@2,000/day)
Click through Rate (CTR) Average:5%
Average Income Per-Click:.25
Monthly Income:$750
That would be just a matter of optimizing your content to get the average keyword (Average Income Per-Click)to pay .25 cents, while maintaining targeted traffic.
If you have a site which has software, or similar content for eg., it might not be a good idea to exclude the word free from your content, based on my experiences.
OTOH, if you are an advertiser, who spends Adwords money for ads to promote their software, it also might not be a good idea to use free in the negative word filter -- sure you might kill a few non-converting-lame-duck sites, but for ever one of them, you might block a good one too. I think that the negative URL filter is better for that purpose. Using such a broad term as "free" with so many phrasiological useages, in a negative word filter, might create some self-injurious results.
It wasn't hard to work in the phrase 'free samples'.
I will check my access logs as always, and see if there is some traffic from that.
One surprise: People with no apparent interest in UFOs visit, looking for a map of Fergulia or whatever.
Most just back-button out, but SOME of them stick around and browse the whole site. Go figure. - Larry
I used the word 'sugar free' in one of my food related sites, and adsense gave ads related to free stuff, but in around three days, the right ads started appearing.
One surprise: People with no apparent interest in UFOs visit, looking for a map of Fergulia or whatever.
I know this is probably getting off-topic, but how do you find out what words visitors were searching for when they go to your site? Is this a program you are using, or is this available in your webstats? If it is in your webstats, is this a common feature? (I have not come across anything like that in mine).
