The How to site » Advertising

Is AdSense relying on URL for determining content?

Jesper — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:55:35 +0000

Just a quick note on an interesting test I have done on AdSense content targeting. Simply put, I uploaded a number of copies of a html document with some text about DVD-players (in Swedish), altering only the and the file name of the documents. A 250 x 250 AdSense unit were also included.

The results are interesting to say the least. From this simple test it seems that in this particular instance AdSense relies entirely on the filename / URL alone to determine content targeting. If the file is called world_of_warcraft_guide.htm, then ads about World or Warcraft would show, regardless of page title and page content (see images below).

Furthermore, if the filename was buy_car_online.htm, then ads about car rental would display, despite the title being DVD-player (in swedish) and the content being about DVD players.

See for yourselves.

Firefox add-on: GraphSense for AdSense

Jesper — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:38:55 +0000

Every now and then comes along a tool that is just so awsome you have to tell about it. Todat I stumbled over a Firefox add-on called GraphSense. This tool allows you to create graphs on-the-fly directly in your browser from Advanced AdSense reports.

This is of course every web publishers wet dream; another tool to visualize your AdSense earnings, and now easier than ever. Ever since AdSense notifier stopped working a couple of months ago I’ve been dying to find a new tool/toy and now I’ve found it.

Installing it takes about 30 seconds (seriously) and testing it another 30. It works perfecly and is very very handy.

Enjoy GraphSense!

Web advertising eCPM comparison

Jesper — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:27:09 +0000

A comparison of advertising options since I wanted to see if I could optimize advertising earnings from my sites, to see if there are any other options than AdSense. This mini investigation concerns foremost the Swedish market, but it might be of interest to international readers anyway.

I looked at some ad providers and the eCPM that they pay for a sidebar ad sized 250×200 or 250×300 for some sites related to mine. All solutions except AdSense are Pay Per Impression, while AdSense (as you know) is Pay Per Click (PPC). None the less, the earnings from the four ad providers investigated AdSense, Tailsweep, Livsstilsnätverket and Clear Channel ranged from $US 2.2-40.6 per 1,000 impressions (eCPM to use AdSense terminology). In the case of AdSense the eCPM is likely to vary quite a lot from publisher to publisher. The number in my chart is just an example of a typical eCPM for one of my own sites.

Advertising on a big Swedish B2B site (Clear Channel B2B) yields a sky-high eCPM (in this case for a skyscraper ad) , while a more comparable number is the Clear Channel ad pricing for a very popular community site, $US 4.3 CPM which is rougly double from what can be expect from AdSense.

It should be noted though that the ad network are likely to take their share of the money, so what the advertiser sees as effective eCPM is a few percent lower (to my best guesstimate), except for AdSense which is the eCPM that you defacto see.

Conclusion: AdSense holds its own against Tailsweep, but other ad networks pays substantially higher (and more reliable) eCPM. This conclusion is valid for this example only, as AdSense CPM might vary substantially and actually outperform other ad networks in some cases.