How To Optimize Google AdSense? Optimization Guide For WordPress

By Raj | Sep 24, 2007

Now that you are through the signing up process of Google AdSense program to earn money online as laid out in “How to Begin with AdSense” and has created the AdSense code from the AdSense setup tab by logging into your account, the question arises now, where to place the ads, how to optimize AdSense ads, which slot will generate the maximum revenue etc., it’s obvious for anybody to have these doubts in his mind! The answer is that the best positioning for Google ads varies from page to page. Some spots tend to be more successful than the rest. Moreover, you need to make your AdSense ad blend with the rest of your website, make your ad match with the background of your website. I would rather say that the AdSense ad that compliments your site perform well than the ones that contrast against it. Visitors will develop the so called “ad blindness” if your ad contrast with the rest of your site that they will mentally block them out. Again, opinions may differ; you may arrive at a conclusion in that case with trial and error. The best performing ad size is the large rectangle, 336×280; as well the wider formats too do the best. I would say the top three performers are 336×280, 300×250 (medium rectangle) and 160×600 (wide skyscraper). The size of the ad that I’ve used here is 336×280 (I may change the size then and there, researching). Again, it’s you to decide which one works best for you. No hard and fast rule. Don’t try to slap an AdSense ad into your site just because it’s traditionally a better performer. Choose an ad that best suits your website. Regarding the best performing slots, see the AdSense heat map below.

The AdSense heat map illustrates ideal placement slots on a page layout. The colors fade from dark orange to light yellow. The areas of darkest colors are the areas of strongest performance and the lighter ones the weakest performance. Ads placed near the content and navigational links usually do well because visitors are focused on those areas of the page. Ad placements above the fold (half mark) of the page tend to perform better than those below the fold. This map is just a general optimization guide for WordPress; the performance may vary from site to site depending on the behavior of the readers. I would rather say it is an art to place your ads to grasp the attention of the reader. Ad blindness for loyal readers could be overcome by altering/rotating the ad spots.

WordPress AdSense Implementation

To have a Google AdSense ad show up anywhere inside a post, I just insert the HTML code <!–adsense–> at the spot where I want the ad to show up. I use AdSense Deluxe plugin that I have discussed in Top Ten WordPress Plugins of MT Herald. Another appreciable feature of AdSense Deluxe is the option to enable and disable ads globally. I can turn on or off all the Google ads on this site with just the click of mouse. Even I can just turn off the ad in the home page or individual post.

Now you want to know the WordPress AdSense HTML code to wrap the AdSense ads with text inside post. It’s done with inserting the following HTML code inside the post, so that ads come up wrapped with text. You may change right to left suiting your need.

Alternatively, you may use either of the HTML codes below to accomplish wrapping of contents around AdSense ads in posts.

<table cellpadding=”1″ cellspacing=”1″ align=”right”><tr><td><!–adsense–></td></tr></table>
<div style=”float: right; margin: 3px;”><!–adsense–></div>

So having gone through all these AdSense optimization tips, if you haven’t yet signed up for AdSense, what are you waiting for? Sign up for Google AdSense and start earning from today!