AdSense, let's compare notes

pinyo · 04-24-2005 05:20 PM

I am trying to get more CTR out of my AdSense so I just want to compare notes. No discussion of CTR is needed...just follow my lead.

I have various placement of AdSense Ads on my site. The one that is doing the best CTR-wise (3 to 4 times better than the rest) is the one in my directory section. See it here: http://www.greatnexus.com/directory/?c=56

My guess is that it looks very similar to a "listing" so people mistakenly click on it.

What is your best performer CTR-wise and why do you think it is the best?

I am hoping to get enough example of best placement, color, layout, ad type, etc. to improve my own site. Thanks!

**Klaas Koopman** · 05-12-2005 11:19 AM

Dear Pinyo,

I have tried different things( i think you should to, to see what works best )

I had 1 day almost enough to recieve a check, but needed a few more clicks, I made my ad's bright red and yellow and got A LOT OF clicks on it. People think hey what's that, let's click it, i guess.

BUt It really looked awfull so I took it off cause after a few months people won't click anymore! they then know what's it about.

It's also good to see what you could place them. In the header always works good for me, but sometimes it's godo to put it inbetween of content!

pinyo · 05-13-2005 10:02 PM

Hey thanks. Right now I am experimenting a bit because I really want to get CTR > 1.0%. I am seeing some promising ad placement and I also see those that get 0 clicks.

In the middle of content large rectangle like this one (http://www.greatnexus.com/directory/c5.html) is doing well

Tower on the right like this one (http://www.greatnexus.com/articles/a67.html) is doing good also, but not as good as the rectangle above. Tower also performs differently for different section. For instance, the one in my dictionary like this one (http://www.greatnexus.com/glossary/w6.html) is doing better than the article one.

If you look carefully in dictionary, directory, and article, there is also adsense on the left hand side, those get 0 clicks so far (terrible).

**dvduval** · 05-22-2005 05:18 PM

Yes, I have seen the directory section of my site out perform other sections as well. I think this is often because people are searching for something, and are a little more willing to click on links.

pinyo · 05-30-2005 07:25 PM

Agreed. Also it's very easy to make the AdSense listing look very similar to the normal listing. ;D

**dvduval** · 05-30-2005 09:32 PM

Yes, matching the link and background color is certainly a plus. On a community site where you have regular visitors, sometimes it is good to vary the color every so often.

**matthewmurcia** · 07-09-2005 09:17 PM

I have adsense integratged perfectly in terms of colour with the rest of my sites. That's easy, but I'm very interested to hear about more to do with positioning and also mixing the display with other page elements. I have a friend who has set up his ad block alongside an image at the top of his page and says that this has increased his CTR a lot in the last few days.

I'm also interested in the comments about users getting used to the ads and not clicking on them . Maybe it's not a question of integrating the colours perfectly but making them stand out slightly, without offending anyone's viewing pleasure. Google does the same with the ads it places at the top of SERPs.