As an Adsense publisher, I am often annoyed to find my web pages
filled with public service announcements (PSA) and ads unrelated to the
content of my site. Fewer relevant ads means fewer click-throughs and
ultimately lower Adsense revenues. However advanced Google's contextual
ad serving algorithm may be, it is still a computer program (as opposed
to a human being) trying to figure out what a web page is about.
Below
are some tips to help you optimize your pages to make them more
Adsense-friendly. Note that these tips deal with ad delivery rather
than ad formatting or placement. While ad formatting and placement may
affect ad click-through rates, they have nothing to do with the
delivery of relevant ads to your site. Your site must display relevant
ads before they have any chance of being clicked on.
1. Avoid too much content on a page
If
Adsense does not understand what is your page is about, it cannot
deliver ads targeted to its content. Although a human being can easily
tell what a web page is about by taking a glance at it, computer
algorithms are no so intelligent. If your page contains too much
content, chances are that it also contains too many seemingly unrelated
keywords. Adsense becomes confused and displays PSAs or ads unrelated
to the topic of your page. Try dividing the page into smaller ones,
each focusing on just a few related keywords.
2. Avoid too little content on a page
If
your page contains lots of graphics and very little text, Adsense may
have a hard time figuring out what it is about. This is especially
true when the bulk of your content is derived from graphics and
scripts. When possible, use text rather than graphics to display
website names, page titles, and headline texts. Make certain to
include your keywords in the title of your page and repeat them
throughout the page. Avoid hiding your text through sneaky tactics,
such as using tiny fonts or making your text the same color as the
background. This may be construed by search engines as spam.
3. Repeat keywords that you are targeting
Keyword
repetition makes it easier for Adsense to decipher what your page is
about. Do this in moderation as excessive repetition may be considered
spam by the search engines. Excessive repetition may also make your
writing sound awkward to the human reader. Instead of repeating the
same keyword more than 5 or 6 times on a page, use synonyms and related
keywords. For example, instead of repeating "Adsense optimization" 20
times, you might try alternative phrases like "increase Adsense
revenues" or "earn more from Adsense".
4. Avoid acronyms
I
once wrote an article on pay-per-click advertising for one of my
sites. When I uploaded the article to my site, I was surprised to find
that all of the ads showing on the page were for Apple computer
products and had nothing to do with pay-per-click. It later occurred
to me that instead of repeating "pay-per-click" over and over in the
article, I used the acronym "PPC" numerous times. As it turned out, "PPC" also stands for "PowerPC", Apple's line of Power Macintosh
computers, which explained why I was getting all the Apple related
ads. When I replaced all the "PPCs" with "pay-per-click" and "pay per
click", the problem went away.
5. Choose keywords with commercial value
You
may get public service announcements rather than paid ads if your page
deals with a subject matter whose keywords no one bids on. A remedy
for this is to incorporate keywords with commercial value into your
manuscript. For instance, if your page is on some obscure medical
condition, you might try sprinkling a few drug names into your document
to make it display paid ads rather than PSAs.
Oudam Em is the publisher of http://www.seotoday.net, a free resource for search engine optimization and website promotion. Visit his site for more SEO articles and tools.
