Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I think they might do better as they can look like part of the navigation menu.
That's comparing a 160x90 - 4 link adlink box to a 300 x 250 - 4 ad regular adblock.
All the ads on my site use rotating colors for backgrounds so they stand out on the page.
AdLinks for me = garbage
It really depends on your site design and topic.
Having said that, adlinks has recently shown to be a welcome addition of income--not a lot, about 30% of regular adsense ads. But the regular ads seem to be performing the same with them. So it has been a bonus. I am sure I could get more if I disguised the links as content or navigation, but how long would it be before regular users stopped visiting?
On one site, I use them almost exclusively. All of the other ad types I tried failed miserably.
On another site, I use both AdLinks and wide skyscrapers (in the left sidebar). Between the two ad types, the CTRs are about the same. The eCPM for the wide skyscrapers are about twice the eCPM for the AdLinks. But, because I have AdLinks on many more pages than the wide skyscrapers, the two ad types earn me roughly the same amount of revenue.
I place the 4-ad horizontal AdLinks unit in the "hot spot", above the fold, front and center, at the beginning of main page content.
In no way are these disguised as site navigation menus or blended into the site navigation scheme.
For me, (horizontal) AdLinks are the best thing going. If it weren't for AdLinks, I might have removed Adsense from my sites by now, as the alternatives to AdLinks weren't generally worth the bother.
I love AdLinks.
I now feel I have been missing out on a great thing, "adlinks" that is.
I'm getting an average of $10 a day, so hopefully by adding some adlinks my pay will increase.
Then I tried them on my home page, from which I had removed a skyscraper-format ad which had performed poorly. And what do you know? AdLinks does great for me on that page (and having it as a distraction on the home page does not seem to have seriously affected the AdSense and affiliate income I get on other pages....).
My two cents: you really have to try different pages, locations, etc.
I agree. Although (horizontal) AdLinks work well for me in one location on many pages, there were whole categories of pages where they performed quite poorly, so I removed them. There were other pages where I had given up all hope of earning any money through Adsense. Surprise, surprise! Horizontal AdLinks earn me money on those pages. My highest eCPM page? No way I ever thought I'd make Adsense money from that page. But horizontal AdLinks turned the trick!
Some sites are Adsense-easy: Slap on a few ad units here and there, make some decent money. Twiddle the location and colors a bit, make some more money. Rest easy.
Some sites are Adsense-hard (like mine): Try everything (or nearly everything; there are some lines I won't cross), nothing works, well or at all. Keep trying ... and trying ... and trying... One fine day you hit on an ad type (or two) in a certain location, with a certain color scheme (or schemes, if rotated), on a certain subset of pages--a combination that (finally!) works. Twiddle a bit very cautiously. But don't rest easy!
Apologies if you've read my earlier posts on this subject, but your best bet is to set up custom channels for each of your ad units and link units.
This will allow you to track and compare eCPM for each unit so you can see what works on your site, and what doesn't. You can also experiment with formats, placement on the page, color schemes, etc.
For more information about creating custom channels see:
[google.com...]
-ASA
