Best Adsense positions

Hey guys,

I have been doing Adsense for 2 years now and was quite successful. I read several ebooks, tested and tweaked my ads continuously. I recently wrote a little guide about the best Adsense positions for VB, which might help you to improve your CTR a little :-).

Shoutouts go to Briansol who helped me a lot when I was a noob myself .

Feedback appreciated!

I did replace the single 728x90 Adsense unit (positioned under navbar) and replaced it with 2 units of 336x280 as suggested and are seeing a 40% increase in revenue. Thanks for the tip. However, I made one change, too. Non-registered guests see those 2 units + a note that if they register they will see less ads. Registered Members see the 728x90 ad block and my premium members do not see ads at all.

Added a training video: Adsense training video

Originally Posted by nsusa

I did replace the single 728x90 Adsense unit (positioned under navbar) and replaced it with 2 units of 336x280 as suggested and are seeing a 40% increase in revenue. Thanks for the tip. However, I made one change, too. Non-registered guests see those 2 units + a note that if they register they will see less ads. Registered Members see the 728x90 ad block and my premium members do not see ads at all.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do except with a 300x250 adsense ad and a 300x250 tribalfusion ad since I read "less is more" with adsense.

thanks for the video hendricius.

Originally Posted by jbartle

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do except with a 300x250 adsense ad and a 300x250 tribalfusion ad since I read "less is more" with adsense.

That's not true. At least in terms of CTR not. It's an interesting thought tough that more ads could result in lower CPC.

Originally Posted by Hendricius

That's not true. At least in terms of CTR not. It's an interesting thought tough that more ads could result in lower CPC.

Despite the philosophy, tribal still pays more for CPM

Originally Posted by jbartle

Despite the philosophy, tribal still pays more for CPM

I doubt that. If that's the case then you seriously have some CTR problems with Adsense. Of course, Tribal pays a lot for US visitors, but they aren't able to beat Adsense. Just make sure you are using a good layout and you will get more.

Feel free just to peak at my website (in my sig). I'm using the same setup you've recommended but with 300x250 ads.

And yes, my CTR is crap but it always has been. I've tried NUMEROUS things from numerous articles, all of which didn't work well. This is the only one that generates decent income. When I had 2 adsense ads there, I didn't do as good as I did with 1 adsense 1 tribal. Also, I've noticed a cycle where when adsense is paying bad, tribal pays more. And vice versa. Only near the end of each year both pay really well but that's b/c my niche is gaming so I'm assuming the higher paying ads are due to xmas.

Originally Posted by jbartle

Feel free just to peak at my website (in my sig). I'm using the same setup you've recommended but with 300x250 ads.

And yes, my CTR is crap but it always has been. I've tried NUMEROUS things from numerous articles, all of which didn't work well. This is the only one that generates decent income. When I had 2 adsense ads there, I didn't do as good as I did with 1 adsense 1 tribal. Also, I've noticed a cycle where when adsense is paying bad, tribal pays more. And vice versa. Only near the end of each year both pay really well but that's b/c my niche is gaming so I'm assuming the higher paying ads are due to xmas.

Looks good except the URL color, it is currently green. Make it grey or the color of the text of your advertisement.

Originally Posted by Hendricius

Looks good except the URL color, it is currently green. Make it grey or the color of the text of your advertisement.

I am currently rotating between url colors to see how my CTR changes. I've tried it in the past and it didn't change much but I figured I'd give it ago again for those that now have ad blindness to my site.

it's true that CTR will increase - with something that big and in your face why shouldn't it

There lies the problem...
As a site administrator, your "main goal" should be how can I increase participation; increase quality content; increase registration NOT increase CTR.

If you do this, you will earn more money in the long term. For example, this month you make $90; in 12 months, revenue jumps to $450; in 3 years, $1,100 per month.

Having 2 large 336*280 ads under navbar (above the fold) will never get you that.

Why? The large ads may work at first (increase CTR/Revenue) but it will ultimately detract visitors and decrease overall participation, quality content, and registration.

With that said, I recommend using a leaderboard ad (728*90).

For the same reason above, I recommend staying away from adding a link unit alongside another ad unit near navbar.

Now about ads in postbits...
the only time this will work for you is when it's within large content. eg. articles, large post messages

Large ads in "discussions" and "comments" will hurt you in the long run.

1. Some members do not like the idea of ad within their message (some may feel that it looks like an endorsement on their behalf - I've actually heard of this from members)
2. Some members do not like the big ad alongside a 50 word comment (takes up valuable space; unwarranted scrolling)

If you need it, I recommend an ad (any size) in it's own postbit.



(Hendrik, Overall great articles on your site.)

Yes, the placements are quite aggressive, I can only agree on that.

You are perfectly right that this might distract the visitors. However, I am offering no ads at all for my members which makes my members stay and keep discussing. I am showing with a notice that if the guests register that they won't see any ads at all.

Works pretty much .

(Use text ads only to make it less aggressive, you can even use smaller squares).

Works pretty much .

it would work better (conversion) if you didn't have such HUGE ads; the HUGE ads are sending the wrong message - what do you think that is?

if you are in it short term - then it's fine
admins who are in this for the long haul should not use these big ads under navbar (use 1 leaderboard instead)

also, there's nothing wrong with showing UNOBTRUSIVE ads to members (some may even appreciate it) ...

Originally Posted by Princeton

it would work better (conversion) if you didn't have such HUGE ads; the HUGE ads are sending the wrong message - what do you think that is?

if you are in it short term - then it's fine
admins who are in this for the long haul should not use these big ads under navbar (use 1 leaderboard instead)

also, there's nothing wrong with showing UNOBTRUSIVE ads to members (some may even appreciate it) ...

Yes, but getting them with no ads at all might work even better. But yes, the message is wrong. That's true.

Registered members won't get you any money at all. They are basically blind to the ads plus in most cases they only generate missclicks which will reduce your earnings on the longterm hence missclicks mean no conversion at all for the advertiser. Google will cut your CPC in order to make sure that the advertiser still has a nice ROI .

Definitely don't go for the leaderboard, it's like on television, people skip instantly to the next channel when they see ads coming up. We want to make our ads look like content which we can't if we are using those web 0.01ish formats. You can also just go for 250*250 or a 200*200 next to each other as long as it's no leaderboard.