Making the most of Adsense

Taking advice from me on making the best use of Adsense probably isn't a great idea. I have my ad blocks stuffed away in the corner, and my total earnings wouldn't buy me anything from a 99c store... but I came across a couple of little tips that might help.

Use Section Targeting

You can tell Google where to look on your page for the content, in the hope that it finds something interesting and gives you some well targeted ads. It's explained well on Adsense Support, but basically:

Add <!-- google_ad_section_start --> to your page at the start of the content section and <!-- google_ad_section_end --> at the end. You can ignore a navigation section by surrounding it with a similar section which starts with <!-- google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) -->.

Use Alternate URL

If you have pages where Google show public service ads, you can make better use of them by signing up with AlternateURL. Whenever Google can't give you a paying Adsense block (maybe your site hasn't been indexed yet, or they don't have any suitable adverts for your content), the request is sent to AlternateURL instead. Their paid ads fill the gap until Google start providing paid ads.

I've used both of these tips to update my blog today, I'll let you know if I notice any changes.

Tags: adsense blogging alternate url