PublisherSpot

Home Browse Search Blog Forum Professional reviews of ad networks

advertising

Rate this network

Rating form

  • You must be logged in in order to rate this review.

Complete the form

Review of Google AdSense

Updated - 22/03/2009

Go to www.google.com/adsense

Google AdSenseOne of the most well-known and popular advertising networks on the internet, Google’s AdSense offers its users a way to monetize their sites through both ad links and the Google search feature. Its main draw is that the advertisements it offers are targeted to fit the content of the page on which they appear and the search terms that are entered into the search field.

This means that the advertisements it displays are more relevant to the content of the site on which they are posted, and therefore more likely to be clicked by visitors to that site. This is a major innovation in advertising and still fairly uncommon among ad networks, and has proven much more effective at earning money for site owners than untargeted advertisements.

In addition, AdSense provides a variety of ways to customize both the ads’ appearance and the way in which their value is reported, making it a very comprehensive and straightforward provider of relevant advertisements.

Features

AdSense works by instantaneously auctioning off the available advertising spaces on a site to various advertising companies.

The default form of advertisement available from AdSense is CPC, but CPM may also appear on sites if the ad agency chooses the site and wins the auction, but these types of ads cannot be specifically requested by an AdSense user.

The advertisements are targeted by language and geographical location as well as content, and include both large and small businesses in a wide array of categories.

Google chooses not to officially disclose the percentage of profit it takes from what the advertisers pay for its services and ad space. The New York Times, however, calculated from Google’s published financial reports that AdSense partners receive 78.5% of the profits that Google makes off of their ad space.

Controls

AdSense accounts are managed by logging into www.google.com/adsense. From this page, users can customize their accounts in a variety of ways. Firstly, they may control whether to enable ad links, the Google search feature, or both. If advertising links are enabled, the site owner may choose whether to show only text ads, or to also allow image and video ads.

AdSense also offers link units and referral buttons, which can be enabled or disabled. Furthermore, the appearance of the enabled ads can be customized from this page. Users may choose the color and template of their ad links and search results so that they are more integrated into the site’s overall appearance and therefore will likely be clicked more frequently.

Another way in which AdSense users can customize the ads that appear on their page is by applying and adjusting several filters, which can be used to filter out competitors’ advertisements, as well as ensuring that content on the site is relevant and appropriate. If users do not feel that many of the ads selected by AdSense are useful, they can also set their own default advertisements or fill the space with a solid color until better ads are available.

Available Types and Formats

Currently, AdSense offers text only, image, video ads, link units, and referral buttons in a variety of shapes and sizes. Note that some ad sizes only support text or images:

Text, Image, and Video Ads:

  • 728 x 90 Leaderboard
  • 468 x 60 Banner
  • 234 x 60 Banner
  • 160 x 600 Wide Skyscraper
  • 120 x 600 Skyscraper
  • 120 x 240 Vertical Banner
  • 336 x 280 Large Rectangle
  • 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle
  • 180 x 150 Small Rectangle
  • 250 x 250 Square
  • 200 x 200 Small Square
  • 125 x 125 Button

Link Units:

  • 728 x 15
  • 468 x 15
  • 200 x 90
  • 180 x 90
  • 160 x 90
  • 120 x 90
Reporting
Google AdSense Control Panel
Enlarge (Pop-Up)

The final function of the control panel is to report the users’ earnings through their ads. AdSense offers several ways to customize these reports. Updated hourly, reports on earnings can be sorted by page, date, ad type, and a number of other factors.

Users can create both URL and customized channels in the advanced reporting tab of the control panel. With URL channels, site owners can create clusters of URLs to see which pages or clusters of pages are earning them the most money through advertisements.

Customizable channels allow users to create their own groups of links, allowing them to test, for example, whether their red banner ads or their blue side links generate more clicks so that they can alter the layout of their site accordingly.

How to Get Started

To become an AdSense publisher, prospective users must complete a short online application on their website.

Google AdSenseAfter 2-3 days, AdSense will process the application and reach a decision on whether to support the site or sites, as AdSense will support multiple sites for only one user. After they accept, users simply need to log on, select which type of ads they wish to display, and customize their options.

When this is completed, AdSense will generate an html code that site owners can simply paste into their page like any other code. This will allow the advertisements to show in this space. For the first day or two, only public service ads may appear, for which the site owner will not be paid. These can, however, be replaced by the site owner by default ads or a solid color. After Google’s bots have inventoried the site, however, content specific links should begin to show and site owners will be paid for the clicks these links receive.

Continued service from the AdSense network is contingent upon users obeying their terms and conditions, which include not clicking their own ad links, not bribing others to click the links or pointing them out in any way, and not displaying pornography or anything illegal on their site. It is acceptable, however, to have non-Google ads on the site as long as it is clear that they are unrelated to the Google ads.

Payment

Receiving payments from this network is fairly simple. AdSense offers both EFT and mailed checks in the user’s specified local currency. When a site owner’s ad revenue reaches $100 or greater, a payment will be issued to that owner within 30 days of the end of that month. If revenues do not reach $100, the account balance is rolled over to the next month and does not expire.

Referral Program

Google's AdSense does have a referral program. Unfortunately, due to its immense popularity, it is difficult finding prospective publishers who have not already signed up.

In January of 2007, Google simplified their referral payouts by removing their various payment tiers and limiting it to the following:

When a referral earns $100 within 180 days of sign-up and is eligible for payout, the referring publisher will be credited with $100.

More Information and Support

Google is very thorough in supplying information about AdSense, and information regarding a vast range of issues and possible problems is available at AdSense’s main website, along with demos and guides designed to walk new users through most of AdSense’s functions. News, updates, and tips are also available at www.adsense.blogspot.com. Finally, the support staff at AdSense is reachable by email and usually responds politely and intelligently within 1-2 days of receiving an inquiry.

Summary

AdSense is a very user friendly ad network that is simple to set up and run for even new site owners. Its targeted advertising makes it more likely that the posted advertisements will appeal to site viewers, and the Google search feature allows site owners to keep viewers on their site longer and also lets them receive revenue for clicked searches.

Reports are customizable so that Adsense users can view and maximize their profits, and receiving payments from AdSense is simple for most people with a major bank account.

Overall, AdSense seems to be a very simple and flexible advertising network.


13 Comments
Leave comments to reply:


You must be logged in or register in order to comment this review.

Advertiser ratings

The current rating for this network is:
5.7 out of 10
Total users voted
111 users have rated this network since February 24, 2007 - 02:47 AM.

Visit Google AdSense

Report an error

Is there a mistake or outdated information in our review of Google AdSense? Please contact us to report the error.

Discuss review

Interested to know what others think of Google AdSense? Discuss this review and ask questions or share your experience of Google AdSense on our forum!