Google Adsense - how well does it work?

Next week I'm chairing a press briefing for Google which is about their contextual advertising solution - AdSense. Details on this are at https://www.google.co.uk/adsense/faq - essentially it is serving Google AdWords onto sites such that the ad is relevant to the content of the page.

In theory this is good for site owners (nice and easy to set up, easy to manage, extra revenue etc.), good for site users (relevant and useful links) and good for advertisers (relevant traffic). And, of course, its good for Google as there's more inventory to sell where search volumes are running thin.

However, I'm there as the "independent view" bod to encourage discussion and debate. So I'm interested in hearing your views of Google AdSense - have you used it (as a site owner or advertiser or agency...)? Has it worked for you / your client? Have you evaluated it and decided against it and, if so, why?

The usual sorts of issues / questions that we hear are:

For a Publisher / Site Owner:
# What are the brand considerations in taking these Google text ads onto your site? How do ensure you only get the right kinds of ads? How do you block competitors etc.?

# What's the ROI? Are you better off taking AdSense ads than other forms of advertising? Or is it just a supplementary source of revenue that you "might as well do"

# Commercial arrangements: when and how do I get paid? Are there any exclusivity terms on taking AdSense?

For an Advertiser:
# What's the ROI on AdSense versus AdWords? (you can't bid separately for the two) Are search-referred clicks more likely to convert than content/browse referred ones?

# Is there any brand benefit to AdSense ads? Perhaps you don't get as many clicks but if you appear against relevant content on a leading publisher's site you benefit indirectly (or later)? On the flip side, can you control the sites on which your ad will appear?

Any feedback here most welcome. I'll report back on what I learn.

Ashley

Great article on marketing relevancy. Quick question, what do you mean by "Then, following my
little experiment, I downloaded the page and replaced it
with the original (without my competitors ads). " Just wondering what is meant here. Thanks, Tracy

Ashley,

I'll have a pop at some of these.

># What are the brand considerations in taking these Google
>text ads onto your site?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the impact is limited, but positive. The experience of several large sites shows that when AdSense first appears on a site, the click through rate (CTR) tends to be relatively high initially, then tails off to some extent over a period of around a week as regular users get used to seeing the ads, and tune them out to some extent. Still, the association with Google, however minor can hardly be negative

Google have messed around with the formatting, and especially (even infamously) the "white space" of unfilled inventory. For a brief period (about 24 hours in Aug '03), any unfilled ad spaces carried a "humourous" message, "this blank space brought to you by Google". Following an outcry amongst AdSense publishers, the "cute" message was hastily withdrawn, and a veil of decency drawn over the whole sorry episode.

The issue of "brand piracy" ws one of the central complaints of AdSense publishers, so they are definitely sensitive to it

> How do ensure you only get the
>right kinds of ads?

Understand how AdSense chooses which ads to display. Some fairly simple testing has demonstrated that the AdSense spider that comes to spider your pages when a new instance of the code is detected pays a lot of attention to where your OUTBOUND links are pointing, and what anchor text they use. On page content plays its part also.

For instance, if you operated a widget forum, and wanted to display complementary grommit ads, you caould add links out to leading grommit sites to the page templates of your site. This is a fairly simplistic analysis, but a fairly short period of experimentation should enable anyone to "tweak" their displayed content

>> How do you block competitors etc.?

AdSense supports a "filter URLs" feature that permits you to specify up to 200 URLs that you don't wish to display ads for. If you are an AdWords user, remember to add your own URL to this list. Also, in some cases you will need to specify both the www.competitor.com, and competitor.com froms of your competirtors URLs to completely remove their ads.

The details are easily found in the AdSense FAQ

># What's the ROI? Are you better off taking AdSense ads
>than other forms of advertising?

*shrug* Experiences vary across industries, and sites. I know some people who are doing very well indeed using AdSense, rather than their previous ad provider, and others who have given up on the program. It is instuctive to note that when AdSense first appeared, Commision Junction (one of the largest affiliate networks) experienced a 30% drop in revenues, as many affiliates swapped out under performing merchants for contextual advertising.

It's all a bit "suck it and see"

>Or is it just a
>supplementary source of revenue that you "might as
>well do"

There are several people making a nice living out of AdSense, including a few who had never previously monetised their site in any meaningful way

># Commercial arrangements: when and how do I get paid?

Payments are by USD cheque, approx 30 days after the end of any calendar month where your account had over $100. If you are not in the US or UK, you might wait a while longer (although the international situation seems to be improving over time), and if you earn over $10k / month (you'd be surprised how many do), you will need your cheque to be countersigned, which takes a while longer, but they will FedEx it to you (also if you experience problems with yopur "normal" postal service, and complain)

> Are
>there any exclusivity terms on taking AdSense?

Yup. You cannot display AdSense simultaneously with other contextual ad products, but if you use a provider rotation script, you could display from a selection of AdSense, AdSonar (Overture chosen contextual ads vehicle, in partnership with Quigo), or use the "Alternative ads" feature (covered in the AdSense FAQ), which allows you specify an ad product, adserver etc to be drawn on in the event that AdSense is unavailable for some reason (server maintenance / outage etc)

># What's the ROI on AdSense versus AdWords? (you can't bid
>separately for the two) Are search-referred clicks more
>likely to convert than content/browse referred ones?

You can choose to exclude your AdWords from the AdSense program on a campaign by campaign basis, as well as defining inclusion on Googles search partner sites (AOL etc)

ROI is trickier, it varies a lot. In general AdSense displayed ads get a lower CTR than search destination displayed ads, but may well convert better, due to better targetting. again, experiences vary enormously across indutries, and within industries

># Is there any brand benefit to AdSense ads?

Maybe. Its got to be better having the "provided by Google" flash rather than a general banner ad in a space, but how many users really take notice?

>Perhaps you
>don't get as many clicks but if you appear against
>relevant content on a leading publisher's site you benefit
>indirectly (or later)?

Benefits tend to be immediate. If your ad catches someones eye, they click. If it doesn't they never even know you were there

>On the flip side, can you control
>the sites on which your ad will appear?

To a very limited extent. You can specify which campaigns will appear on AdSense, but not restrict your AdSense exposure by language or territory. You could contact specific sites that could / do show your ads, and ask them to exclude you.