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Does Google AdSense Automatically Show Your Best Color Ad?

Posted: August 20th, 2010, 3:13pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has Google AdSense publishers wondering if Google automatically shows the best performing ad color.

As you know, you can allow Google to rotate the AdSense color templates for you. But is that purely random or is Google showing your best color?

Most publishers suspect Google automatically shows the best performing colors. Netmeg said:

I always just assumed they rotated them. It's a good question.

The help document on this say sit is completely random. I'll quote it:

You can select up to 4 palettes that will rotate randomly.

Would be nice if Google did the best performing color more often?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Updates AdSense Layouts

Posted: August 10th, 2010, 3:30pm CEST by rustybrick

It has been a while since we have seen an update to the Google AdSense unit layouts. But today that has changed, Google announced new layouts are coming to the leaderboard, medium and large rectangles units. Here is a picture of the change:

The changes include:

Leaderboard (728x90): the title, description, and URL are now arranged in rows instead of columns (except in the case when only one ad is showing)
Medium and large rectangles (300x250, 336x280): the URL is now in the same line as the title
Font size changes on some units

Did you notice any changes on your sites? Good or bad?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Should Google AdSense Do Away With Pub IDs? Go Allowed Sites Only?

Posted: July 26th, 2010, 3:44pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A featured WebmasterWorld thread is titled "Shocked to See Many Sites Using My Adsense Code." It is a common story, you have a popular site with Google AdSense ads on them. There are many people out there that copy your site and put it on their own spammy sites. They not only copy your content, but copy your AdSense code.

Great! You get money for people stealing your content! Not so fast! Yes, you may get some incremental income from those who stole your content, but it may also lead to Google thinking that site is owned by you and ultimately get you banned from AdSense due to violating their spam guidelines.

Seems ridiculous? Perhaps, but it is not unheard of. Some have thought that this is why DigitalPoint was banned from AdSense until someone at Google took a closer look.

Heck, even Brett Tabke, the founder of WebmasterWorld, said:

That is a classic AdSense attack. Someone is trying to get you kicked out of AdSense by linking you to a bad neighborhood.
Getting a site listed on a block list such as repetitive email spammer, malware host, or phising host will get a hand check on that site 100% of that time if it is in the AdSense program.

People specifically try to get sites banned from using AdSense over this type of spam attack. It works and it is hard for both the publisher and Google to stay on top of.

Yes, AdSense built an allowed sites feature, but I never use it. I don't care to spend my time allowing each site manually. Plus, this feature was added as an afterthought years after AdSense went live. Honestly, I am not sure why it was ever set up this way. Allowed sites should have been the method originally.

You sign up, you add a site/application to the list of sites allowed to show ads and you stick generic ad code on the site. Google then determines who the ad income goes to based on the site or application showing the ad. Yes, this would kill revenue sharing forums and sites as they are set up now, but there are other ways to set that up.

As a publisher, I don't and I won't spend my time looking for sites trying to hurt me. I will spend time trying to build relevant, useful content that helps my audience and I enjoy writing.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Restores Hacked & Robbed AdSense Account

Posted: July 19th, 2010, 4:02pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

We have been providing ongoing coverage of the AdSense publisher who was hacked into and had $25,000 or so stolen from him by someone in India. It turned out, after three months nothing has happened.

Well, that has changed. Google and the publisher finally got together and were able to restore the account.

In the updated WebmasterWorld thread, the thread the publisher was publishing his notes, he said on July 14th:

It's fixed! Google Adsense called a bit ago; the guy said it was a hairball of a mess.
My accounts go back to 2003; there are Adwords accounts, MCCs, Adsense, etc. They moved things around; I can finally log into my original (and primary) Adsense account again; and I tied the Adsense account to my Google Analytics account.

Many thanks to Google Adsense.

How about his lost money? Honestly, I am not sure. After repeated questions about the lost earnings, he replied one more time saying, "Yes, the account was recovered. All is well now." But that does not answer if he has the money that was lost.

In any event, he seems happy and I guess we should leave it at that.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

DigitalPoint Banned From Google AdSense. But Why?

Posted: July 19th, 2010, 3:18pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

On July 15th, DigitalPoint Forums, a forum we cover here often, no longer was showing Google AdSense ads on their pages. Rumors began spreading so Shawn Hogan, the owner, posted a blog post saying A 3rd Party CAN Get You Banned From AdSense.

He claims that his account was banned due to third-party web sites. He said:

While I still think the majority of people who claimed to have their AdSense account unfairly terminated are probably just whiners that got caught doing something they shouldn't be, I can say for 100% certainty now that it can (and clearly does) happen sometimes.

He showed how many sites were using his code on their own site in the wrong way. Why? He doesn't know for sure but maybe to get him banned from AdSense. He said he began using the Whitelist feature after Google suggested it to him, but a few days/weeks later, he was banned.

I guess anything is possible and I doubt Google will go on record as to what has happened. I have no insider information, all I know is what was posted in the public.

So either he will remain banned or the ban will be lifted. People make mistakes, Google is human, lots of things can happen.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google Fixed The AdSense Logout Bug?

Posted: July 8th, 2010, 3:32pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

We have been covering the random issue with the AdSense login/logout issues for several months now. It appears some are now saying the issue is resolved.

A WebmasterWorld thread has several AdSense publishers claiming the logout bug is resolved. They said they no longer get automatically logged out after 10 minutes or so.

Yep, either they've fixed it at last or the autologout kicks in after a longer time - for me it seemed like every 5 minutes, not 30. Let's hope it's the former, that was annoying indeed!

Yeah, I've noticed it too. It used to toss you out after about 10-15 minutes. Now, it tosses you out after an hour or two. Not fixed, but much better.

Two hours of inactivity and logging you out, in my opinion is fine. Personally, I never really had this issue but many many publishers have.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Publishers Abusing Google's DMCA Policy?

Posted: July 6th, 2010, 3:16pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread reports that some publishers have had their Google AdSense ads deactivated over bogus DMCA filings.

DMCA, is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and Google has a policy of "removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity and/or terminating subscribers," when in question. Google allows those served with a DMCA notice to appeal the process, but that can take several days. Several days can mean big money for some publishers.

The publisher in the WebmasterWorld explained his case:

We received a DMCA Notice this morning. The "infringing" article has been on our site since 2006 (this can be verified at archive.org). We BOUGHT a license to USE the article at constant-content.com in 2006. The article in question is still available at constant-content.com, for any person to purchase. There is no unique/full rights available on this article.

He said "it took two faxes, two electronic counter notices, and a few emails, but this morning I received the email from Adsense Support to say they have re-enabled ad serving." He was without ads for about 6 days and he will never recoup that lost income.

Should there be a counter-claim with financial penalty for filing false DMCA requests?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Testing Google AdSense on Mobile Sites?

Posted: June 18th, 2010, 2:58pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

As more and more people are utilizing their mobile phones to access web content on a daily basis, more and more publishers are looking for ways to monetize that area better. A WebmasterWorld thread has several Google AdSense publishers discussing tactics, strategies and stories on what they did to help monetize their site's with Google AdSense mobile ads.

Most of these publishers are sticking to monetizing for full-size mobile browsers, such as iPhones, Android devices, Palm Pre and some Blackberries. While others are also looking to monetize for WAP based browsers, which support less features but do render content specially formatted for those non-full-size mobile browsers.

Personally, I don't bother with WAP, I go for full size browsers, such as those found on iPhones, Android devices, Palm Pre and some Blackberries. Why? Simply because those with those types of devices are consuming the mobile web at a much higher rate than those without those devices.

I shouldn't probably talk, since this site isn't really mobile friendly. But discuss techniques on this over here on some level.

To discuss strategies and techniques, join the WebmasterWorld.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Did Google Beef Up Their Interest Based Ads?

Posted: June 1st, 2010, 2:58pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday I was searching for [ipad cases] and then have been noticing AdSense ads with ads for iPad Cases, even though the ads were not relevant to content on that page.

I then spotted a thread on WebmasterWorld from the AdSense moderator, martinibuster who said the same thing but dug deeper. First let me show you what I mean and then I'll share martinibuster's comments.

I was searching for [ipad cases] and clicked on a bunch of search results. I then was checking some feeds and web sites and noticed ads for iPad cases, such as this one:

So it seems to work and work quickly. Try it yourself. Search for something that would generate ads in Google, then go to a web site with AdSense ads on them. They should show you interest based ads, which technically launched a year ago. I should note that AdSense publishers can choose to disable IAB (interest based ads) from showing on their sites.

Now, read martinibuster's post:

I have been clicking AdSense ads like a chicken on corn for the past two weeks. I've been researching fishing gear and keep seeing these ads for fishing outlets and sales on fishing gear.

I needed photos for a project I'm working on. Researched at different sites. Then I started seeing ads for discounts on stock royalty free photos at leading websites. My fingers started clicking on ads everywhere I went, chasing down offers like 10 free and 15% discounts.

I have never clicked on ads before. Since IAB rolled out I have clicked on dozens of ads. I buy stuff online. So yes, I have made purchases as a result of the IBA's. I was researching my purchases. Ads for discounts popped up. For me, as a consumer, IAB worked.

Is IAB resulting in an increase in earnings for me? No. I have not noticed a dramatic increase in earnings. But I'm not seeing a decrease either. Earnings are doing fine, but I can't say positively whether that is a result of IAB because I have not seen a dramatic lift in earnings.

I am not saying that IAB is a good thing. I am only stating that for the first time in my life I am clicking on AdSense ads.

Do you agree? I mean there is something a bit creepy about seeing ads on third-party sites based on your Google search query. But there is also something nice about it as well.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Now Displaying Revenue Share in AdSense Console

Posted: May 25th, 2010, 3:30pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday, Google revealed the revenue share of their AdSense program. They said within the upcoming months they would be adding the revenue share figures to the AdSense console. But it is actually in there as of yesterday.

AdSenseAdvisor, or Google's Rohit, said in a WebmasterWorld thread:

The AdSense for Content and AdSense for search revenue numbers mentioned in today’s blogpost are now being displayed in the new AdSense interface (still in beta). These numbers will also be available in the existing interface soon as well.

My first instinct was to check the AdSense reports and see a new column for revenue share, but it was not there. A Google AdSense Help thread aided me in finding it under the "account settings" section of the AdSense console.

Here is a picture:

As you can see, Google lists the revenue share by product under the "Active products" section. They only list the revenue share for "AdSense for Content" and "AdSense for Search," the others they are not sharing the information on yet.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & Google AdSense Help.

AdSense Publishers Earn 68% of Revenue Says Google

Posted: May 24th, 2010, 6:48pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

I am shocked that Google is revealing the revenue share split of the AdSense content and search network. Google said today they give publishers 68% of the ad revenue earned on the content ads and 51% of revenue earned on the search ads.

Google told me on the phone that this is the same share worldwide for all publishers who signed up online. There are special deals made for partners, I guess such as Amazon.com. But the majority of publishers make 68% or 51% depending on the network type.

I did expect Italian publishers to get this information. But I guess Google felt it was easier to just share it with everyone.

Google promised to add these revenue share details to the reports within the AdSense console within the upcoming months.

A very active WebmasterWorld thread already has a lot of discussion around it. Most people are saying they are surprised Google gives so much. 68% is pretty high, but I think our estimates show overall it was about 70 to 75% share. Keep in mind, our estimates included special partners, which obviously have a higher share of revenue, when compared to the 68% shared with most publishers.

Do you think 68% revenue share on the content network is high or low?

68% AdSense Revenue Share Is...online surveys

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

AdSense Optimisation Best Practices Webinar on Wednesday

Posted: May 10th, 2010, 3:36pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google AdSense publishers, there is a new free webinar coming this Wednesday named "AdSense Optimisation Best Practices." It is taking place Wednesday, May 12th at 5pm (GMT), which is 1pm (EST) or 9:00am (PDT).

The topics that will be covered include:

Optimizing your AdSense for Content implementation: placements, formats, coverage, color palettes
Tracking the performance of your optimizations via Channels
How to attract placement targeting
Making the most of AdSense for Search

Google is even asking you to ask questions before the webinar at Google Moderator.

To register for the webinar, learn more or see others coming up in the future, click here.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google Posting Warnings To AdSense Publishers

Posted: May 7th, 2010, 3:07pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread reports Google has been sending warning notifications to some publishers via the AdSense console. The publisher said, "I just happened to log into adsense today and noticed a warning from yesterday about adsense on some adult focused pages." He even posted the warning:

Google AdSense: You have 3 working days to make changes to your website.

This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.

Hello, While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as *********Birmingham_Fun:_An evening_with_an_Escort_Girl. Please note that this URL is an example and that the same violations may exist on other pages of your website. As stated in our program policies, AdSense publishers may not display Google ads on pages with adult or mature content. While we understand that it may be challenging to monitor user-generated content, such as comments, on your site, we require publishers to check that the webpages containing their ad code complies with our program policies. Please make any necessary changes to your webpages in the next 72 hours. We also suggest that you take the time to review our program policies (https://www.google.com/adsense/policies) to ensure that all of your other pages are in compliance. Once you update your site, we will automatically detect the changes and ad serving will not be affected. If you choose not to make the changes to your account within the next three days, your account will remain active but you will no longer be able to display ads on the site. Please note, however, that we may disable your account if further violations are found in the future. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely, The Google AdSense Team

Issue ID# 1000033 ----------------

For more information regarding this warning email, please visit our Help Center: https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=113058.

Indeed, there is some interesting information in the help center about these notifications. They have them broken down into three groups:

(1) Ad serving has been disabled to your site
(2) You have 3 working days to make changes to your site
(3) Your Google AdSense account has been disabled

Have you ever received a warning from Google? If so, were they different from the three listed above?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Future of Google AdSense From a Publisher's Perspective

Posted: April 30th, 2010, 3:08pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has publishers talking about what they see the future of the Google AdSense program is. Some are talking about how earnings will continue to decline as the program matures. While others say it will increase as the economy recovers.

How about any danger to Google? One publisher said:

The only danger to AdSense is if advertisers discover a better advertising model.

Publishers here are not really talking about features expected in the future. But we have already seen Google expand AdSense from ads on a web page, to mobile pages, mobile apps, in YouTube videos, TV ads, radio and so on.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Tries New Layouts & New Features Ads Light Bulbs

Posted: April 29th, 2010, 3:46pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has a couple AdSense publishers reporting that Google is testing a new AdSense layout. The new layout hows the ad title and ad description on a single line. This is instead of showing the ad title and then a break and then a ad description.

Here is a picture of the new ad format, which I found on Digital Inspiration:

Another thing I noticed, which may not be all that new, is that Google AdSense Featured Ads, which were initially marked by a gold star are now marked by yellow light bulbs. Here is a picture of what those light bulb ads look like:

Here is the previous version, the gold star version:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

When Will Google Deal With AdSense Issues On Their Cached Pages?

Posted: April 28th, 2010, 3:46pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A new WebmasterWorld thread brings up an old issue with Google's AdSense ads rendering on the Google Cache results. Some ads, depending on the site's layout and html, won't render properly. Let me quote the complaint in the new thread:

When showing the cache of URLs of a site I see something strange. A lot of public service ads or no ads at all as well as ads not related to the content appear. Using the adsense preview tool everything looks fine.
I have checked the cache of a different site in the same niche, it has 100% better CTR and the ads in the cached version look completely on topic without any PSAs.

This is something we reported a year ago and a year before that on some level. Here is what incrediBILL, the moderator of the WebmasterWorld AdSense forum said:

I posted about a year ago about the ads in cache displaying improperly most of the time, not always but frequently, and Google acknowledged there was a problem, it was escalated, and we never heard about it again.
Another problem I raised was whether we got credits for ads on those cache pages because I use allowed sites and there was possible an issue there too, no resolution has been heard on that topic either.

We've been abandoned.

Did Google abandon us?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Has Over One Million AdSense Publishers

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 3:34pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A Google AdSense blog post from last week was the first time Google told us a number of how many AdSense publishers they have. Google said they have "over one million publishers" in their network.

Google, I believe, has never given a size of their publisher network, outside of revenue earned as reported in their financial reports. But I do not believe they ever told anyone how large, in terms of the number of publishers, the AdSense network is.

A WebmasterWorld thread has some publishers saying they are shocked Google has so many publishers. Honestly, does one million sound like a lot? I am not sure. What do you think?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Bug: Google AdSense for Search Code Error

Posted: April 12th, 2010, 3:04pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Those trying to go through Google AdSense to generate a search box for their web site might be out of luck. According to a Google AdSense Help thread, the ability to create valid code to place on your web site, so that you can enable Google search and monetize that search on your web pages has been buggy.

Early reports came March 31st, with no answer until Friday. The first report said:

I followed step by step instructions to generate code for adsense search box, when I click Submit and get code button it isn't showing the code for adsense search box, When I click the button it becomes unclickable and shows the message 'Saving your settings', I have waited for many minutes but nothing happens, seems like it never stops saving my settings.. Tried in Firefox, IE and Chrome, not working on any of them.

Finally, this past Friday, April 9th, Google's AdSensePro Annie replied to the thread confirming the issue:

Thanks for reporting this bug. We are aware of this problem and our engineers are in the process of fixing it. In the meantime, you can generate the same code at: http://www.google.com/cse/.
We apologize for any inconvenience.

There is no ETA for the fix and it appears the issue is still there for many publishers.

So if you want to monetize your search pages, maybe try google.com/cse as a work around.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Apple's iAd to Compete With Google AdSense Mobile Ads

Posted: April 9th, 2010, 3:39pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday, Apple held their iPhone developer preview event and announced the 4.0 iPhone OS. I summarized the key points in bullet point fashion at RustyBrick, my corporate web site but now you can watch the keynote on Apple.com if you missed it. But one of the big announcements that impacts Google is that Apple will be starting an ad company named iAd.

iAd competed directly with the already popular beta version of Google AdSense for Mobile Applications. I can tell you first hand, as a developer, that AdSense in mobile apps works incredibly well for monetizing these free apps. That is why Apple wants a piece of it with iAd. The funny part is that Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO made a comment that Google tried to prevent them from getting into the market by buying AdMob, so Apple had to buy another company. In any event, Appel describes iAd as:

Apple's new mobile advertising platform, combines the emotion of TV ads with the interactivity of web ads. When users click on mobile ads they are almost always taken out of their app to a web browser, which loads the advertiser's webpage. Users must then navigate back to their app, and it is often difficult or impossible to return to exactly where they left. iAd solves this problem by displaying full-screen video and interactive ad content without ever leaving the app, and letting users return to their app anytime they choose. iPhone OS 4 lets developers easily embed iAd opportunities within their apps, and the ads are dynamically and wirelessly delivered to the device. Apple will sell and serve the ads, and developers will receive 60 percent of iAd revenue.

The demo at the yesterday's keynote was pretty impressive and being that Apple holds the keys to all the apps - I am sure they will make it incredibly easy to add to apps. So we will see how this impacts Google's mobile ad product.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense EFT Issue Impacts Canadian Publisher Payments

Posted: April 2nd, 2010, 2:30pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

There are dozens of complaints, that I found, of Canadian Google AdSense publishers complaining about issues about being paid this month. It appears that Google used the wrong exchange rate, which is not uncommon, and then cancelled certain payments to fix the issue. Somehow this technically caused EFT, or electronic funds transfers, settings to go bad in some accounts and stop payments from going forward.

I have not seen an official Google response outside of someone posting the transcript of an email he received from Google. That email said:

We're writing to let you know about an issue with your March 2010 AdSense payment. As you know, the full amount of your most recent Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payment was not transmitted all at one time, due to the use of an inaccurate exchange rate. You’ve already received a payment, which is the bulk of the amount you're owed. The remaining amount will be sent in a separate transaction in a few days.
In order to process this second payment, you’ll see several transactions on your Payment History page which we will explain below. You may also notice a hold on your account and/or a change in status to your EFT account, however we kindly ask that you disregard both of these, as we’re working on a resolution on our end.

Your Payment History page in your AdSense account will show the following over the next few days:

1) A 'Payment issued' line posted on March 25, 2010 calculated in USD. (If you click on the 'details' link next to this line you'll find this payment was calculated in CAD with an exchange rate of 1 USD : 0.950 CAD.)

2) An 'EFT not successful - earnings credited back' line has posted today, March 31, 2010. This doesn't mean that your EFT was unsuccessful and please rest assured that no money is being withdrawn from your bank account. It's only displayed to balance the amounts within your AdSense account.

During this time, you may happen to see messaging that your account is on hold and to select a new form of payment. Rest assured this is a normal part of the process and we kindly ask that you do not make any such changes until both these payments have been finalized.

3) Then, a 'Payment issued' line will also post, for the actual USD amount of the initial deposit that was sent to your account on March 25th. (If you click on the 'details' link for this payment you'll find this payment was calculated in CAD with an exchange rate of 1 USD : 1.026 CAD.)

4) In a few days, an additional 'Payment issued' line will post when the additional payment is processed for the remaining amount that you are due. (When it posts, if you click on the 'details' link for this payment you'll find this payment was calculated in CAD with an exchange rate of 1 USD: 1.026 CAD.)

The sum of these two last 'Payment issued' lines will reflect the correct amount of your payment. So next week, your Payment History page will appear something like the following example:

Payment issued (US $100.00)
EFT not successful - earnings credited back US $100.00
Payment issued (US $96.00)
Payment issued (US $4.00)

Please be assured that the remainder of your payment will be deposited into your account soon.

Once again, we appreciate your patience as we work to fix the error.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

I am sure Canadian publishers will get paid in full soon, so hang tight.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Ad Sense Help.

Google Says Ads Should Not Open in New Windows, Unless You're In China

Posted: March 18th, 2010, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Via a FAQ on Google, which asks "Can I open the ads in a new window?" It says that you are not allowed to force the ads into a new window. But Google may open these ads in a new window for specific users, if those users are in China.

Here is what the answer Google provides for this question:

Generally, it is our policy to not allow Google ads to open in a new window. However, in a few markets, including China, we've found that opening ads in a new window better aligns with expected internet behavior and provides a more consistent, intuitive user experience.
Keeping in mind the importance of the user experience, we've enabled Google ads to open in new windows in locations where this is expected browsing behavior. This functionality is determined by the IP of the user, and is not an option you can select your AdSense account.

We also ask that you don't modify the AdSense ad code or alter the result of clicking on an ad on your website, as such behavior violates our program policies.

I guess Google would know what most U.S. based users expect, they have crawled most of the web and know how many ads open in a new window and how many do not. So I trust Google on this.

However, netmeg said in a WebmasterWorld thread that you can use Google Ad Manager to display AdSense and you can set those AdSense ads to open in a new window via Ad Manager. However, please read all of what netmeg said, he said:

If you use Ad Manager, you can set them to open in a new window. I did find this seemed to drastically inflate impressions, leading to lower CTR though. And I don't know if CTR has a direct influence on smart pricing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. It's pretty important on the advertising side.

I doubt all my readers would agree that (1) it's best to keep users in the same window and (2) it impacts CTR.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Opens 3rd Party Ad Networks To All AdSense Publishers

Posted: March 17th, 2010, 2:08pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Last night, Google announced they are opening up the "Google-certified ad networks" to all AdSense publishers. The Google-certified ad networks are 3rd party advertising networks that are thrown into the bidding war with your AdSense powered ads.

Google initially tested this back in September 2009 and in October publishers began thinking that it lowered their revenue with Google. So some publishers decided to block these ads. Google then came out and told publishers not to block them because it was only a limited test and the lower earnings likely had nothing to do with the 3rd party network.

Now, it is available to all publishers, so publishers can test it better. As Google notes, you have control over it in the ad review center. So give it a try and if it doesn't work for you, kill it.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google Forcing Some AdSense Publishers To Select a Local Currency

Posted: March 11th, 2010, 3:18pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread reports that some Google AdSense publishers are being forced to pick a local currency, instead of using the U.S. dollar.

Three publishers claimed it happened yesterday, where they logged into AdSense and had to pick a local currency. Here are some of the messages in the forum thread:

I think it is not possible to skip it any more.

They should have waited untill march 31 or april 1 to let it synchronize with taxes cycles. For those of us living in the EU but not in Ireland, it makes necessary new taxes forms.

This obviously should not impact U.S. publishers and publishers who live in countries where Google cannot pay out in that local currency.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

AdSense Data Link With Google Webmaster Tools Failure

Posted: March 5th, 2010, 12:21pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A Google Webmaster Help thread has confirmed reports of an issue with authenticated your site via Google Webmaster Tools to allows AdSense's bot to crawl password protected sections of the web site.

One of the steps of authenticating AdSense to allow the AdSense crawler to access pages that are behind a login is to verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools. The data feed to pass over the authentication authorization between Webmaster Tools and AdSense was offline for a few days.

Dennis G. from the Google Webmaster team said:

Our data feed from Webmaster Tools to AdSense slowed down significantly for a few days. It's getting back to normal now; please try again, and post back here if it's not working by tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.

We have not had any real confirmations from publishers that this has been fixed, but hopefully it has.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Brazilian Google AdSense Publishers May Not Be Paid This Month

Posted: March 3rd, 2010, 1:19pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Found via a WebmasterWorld thread, a Google AdSense Brasil thread has a note from Marcelo from the Google AdSense team that some Brazilian publishers won't be paid this month.

The translated version of what he said is:

Due to a problem in the payment process, some publishers will not be paid in February, but their gains have accrued and paid at the end of March. As some publishers may have seen, we send an email to all those affected about what happened. Please be advised that this was an exceptional occurrence, and not repeated.
We appreciate your understanding and patience.

This has happened before with publishers both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. It has also happened to mass numbers of publishers and individual publishers.

So if you do not get paid this month, this is why.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & Google AdSense Brasil.

Twitter Users Don't Click on Google AdSense Ads?

Posted: February 26th, 2010, 9:37am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has Google AdSense publishers talking about how well traffic from Twitter converts in terms of clicks on AdSense ads.

The overall consensus from the thread is that Twitter users are too cool to click on AdSense ads. One person even kept tabs on that, saying:

Created about 500 targeted follows, got 120 followers, this converted in about 40 visits to my sites and 1 click.

I can tell you that for both this blog and my personal blog, which receives traffic from Twitter in the top ten of their referrals, that traffic does not convert into the top ten referrals for AdSense revenue. Let me explain again. For this site, Twitter is within the top 5 sources of traffic to this site. However, if I sort that traffic by top referrer by revenue earned with AdSense, Twitter is not in the top ten list.

Do you agree?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Poll: 60% of Google AdSense Publishers Say Earnings Down

Posted: February 17th, 2010, 2:38pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A bit over a week ago, we reported that AdSense publishers were complaining about lower earnings. So to get a better and wider count of those who agree that earnings are indeed down, I ran a quick poll.

We had just over 85 responses to the poll and I wanted to share the results.

I asked, Have Your AdSense Earnings Dropped in February, from January?

51 people or 59.3% said Yes, 31 people or 36% said No and 4 people had other things to say. Here is the chart:

So what do you make of this?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Video Ads, Video Ad Overlays

Posted: February 15th, 2010, 2:57pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Two DigitalPoint Forum threads have reports, of what I think are new ad formats by Google. These Google AdSense ads have a play button in them, that launch a video ads directly above the ad.

Here are pictures, one of the pictures is from rudefox.com:

I believe Google has test these types of ads in the past - but I do not see them all that often.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forum.

Google AdSense Now Using Previous Search Queries For Ad Relevancy

Posted: February 12th, 2010, 2:39pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

The Google AdSense blog announced they are now using the query data in the referrer URL to better target and match the AdSense ads on your web site. Basically, if you go to Google, type in a query, click on a site that has AdSense on it, Google will use the query you entered on Google (or any search engine) to match the ads to the query and the contextual nature of the page.

Supposedly, Google has been doing this for a while. I think that is news to me. But what Google said they recently changed was now storing the query for a few hours, so if you visit other sites with AdSense on it, hours later, it will continue to use your search history to match the AdSense ads on third-party web sites. Of course, Google said you can opt out of this.

Google explained:

Let's assume the user in our example leaves your golf website and browses through to a news website that is also an AdSense partner. Since [golf shop atlanta] is in a referral URL that was visited in the past few hours, we may use those query words, along with the content of the news webpage itself, to determine the most relevant ad to show the user on the news website.

Google supposedly also emailed publishers about this change, but publishers did not understand it, from what I take.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Sends Valentine's Day Card to AdSense Publishers

Posted: February 11th, 2010, 2:48pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Valentines Day is around the corner and some Google AdSense publishers are reporting at WebmasterWorld that they received a card from Google, wishing them a happy Valentine's Day. The card also includes a $100 promo code to use AdWords.

The front of the card reads:

Others will fill your heart this Valentine's Day

When you open the card, it reads:

We want to overload your servers.

Because nothing says "I love you" like free traffic to your web site...

I found a picture of the front and inside of the card on Flickr from devanjedi. Here they are:

The best comment from the WebmasterWorld thread is, "who said romance was dead."

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Upcoming Google AdSense Webinars

Posted: February 9th, 2010, 3:03pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google's Ashley posted a thread at Google AdSense Help forums announcing upcoming AdSense Webinars. The upcoming webinars include:

AdSense Optimization Basics - Wednesday, February 10, 2010 5:00 pm GMT/ 9am PST
Advanced Optimization - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 5:00 pm GMT/9am PST
Improving AdSense Performance using GAM - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 10:00 am GMT
Realizing the potential of AdSense for Search (AFS) - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 5:00 pm GMT/9am PST

You can register for the webinars by clicking here.

Technical requirements: To participate, all you need is a computer with an Internet connection and speakers or a pair of headphones. Note to Mac users: The current version of WebEx Event Center does not support Internet Phone (VOIP) for Mac users.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google Sending Emails Notifications to Publishers Regarding Payments

Posted: February 4th, 2010, 3:03pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread reports that many publishers have received an email recently from Google notifying them that they have been paid. Some, initially, felt the email was spam or a phishing attempt, but after closer review, the emails do appear to be coming from Google.

I personally did not receive such an email. Some reported the email being sent to their junk filter. Some reported not receiving it at all, like me. Some felt it was spam, like I said above. I do not have a copy of this email to share with you.

Google did not yet chime in about this email, but from what I am seeing, it does seem to be a new feature. It is nice that Google lets publishers know, via email, when they were paid - but they can give publishers a way to opt out of such notifications.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Blogger Reporting Bug

Posted: February 4th, 2010, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A Google AdSense Help thread has confirmed reports of Google AdSense reports not showing earning values.

It was reported several times in the forum, but a top contributor confirmed the issue on January 26th.

Many publishers using Blogger have been reporting that their earnings are not displayed under the Monetise tab. If you have this problem, please post here, so that the scale of the problem can be gauged, and avoid duplicate questions and answers.

Yesterday, a Googler said they are aware of the issue:

Our engineers are aware of this issue and are working on a solution. In the meantime, you can access your earnings data by logging into AdSense directly.
I apologize for the inconvenience.

There is not estimated time as to when Google will fix the issue, but they are aware.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google Double Pays Publisher, Apologizes Via Email

Posted: February 3rd, 2010, 2:10pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google AdSense has paid a publisher twice as much in December, so they decided to apologize to the publisher and withhold the funds from their January check. A WebmasterWorld thread has the story from this publisher.

The publisher said:

I checked that I had ben paid the other day and thought did I really earn that much in December but didn't think any more about it.

Have just received an email from Google Ireland saying they paid me double and they will take the extra amount off the next payment - oh well!

We have seen reports of duplicate AdSense checks going out to publishers before, but never a case of where a publisher received twice as much as they should have in a direct deposit or on a single check. In any event, the publisher is not upset - since Google is letting the publisher hold the funds an extra month early.

There were two other publishers who claimed they received twice as much in December. Both expect not to get paid in January. One said:

I got a double payment too for December, but I wasn't going to say anything in the hope that it passed through the system. No such luck. At least I now have the next month's payment even before I earned it.

I am surprised I did not hear about the over payments earlier, I guess either publishers did not notice or they didn't want anyone to know.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

What's New With AdSense Publishers?

Posted: January 29th, 2010, 2:10pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

There is a useful WebmasterWorld thread that has summarized some of the larger issues that have rose to the top discussions in the various forums on AdSense. They point out three main topics disturbing publishers:

A number of publishers complaining about making less money.
Some publishers reporting a general increase in average EPC
Lots of noise on the AdWords board about advertiser accounts being shut down by Google

I have honestly seen threads contradicting the average EPC discussion but in any event, this is the bulk of the complaints these days on Google AdSense.

What publishers are doing now is trying to figure out if any of the above correlate to each other. Would accounts being banned have a direct impact on the remaining publishers making less money? I can see how AdWords account bans, which have been on the rise, do have an impact - but AdSense accounts? Maybe I am not thinking hard enough - due to the early hour.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Why Does Google Sometimes Show PSAs for Cumming Georgia Pages?

Posted: January 28th, 2010, 2:18pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has a unique discussion going on about Google AdSense and their stop words. In this discussion, some publishers have landing pages targeting the city, Cumming, Georgia. Clearly, the word 'Cumming' is an adult word, but it is also a fairly populated city in Georgia.

The question is, why are some of the pages that target this city, showing Google AdSense ads that are PSA (public service ads), while others seem to show related Georgia based ads? Is Google confusing some of those pages as being adult? Or are there other reasons?

I decided to track down two pages that have PSAs and two that don't, and they all target the city in Georgia.

PSAs for Cumming, Georgia:

Non-PSAs for Cumming, Georgia:

Why would some serve up PSAs and some not? It doesn't seem like Google is stupid enough to not know the city?

Let me try a real live Google AdSense here and see what happens:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Paying AdSense Publishers Less & Less

Posted: January 26th, 2010, 2:59pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Often when Google releases earnings, AdSense publishers try to extract how much share Google is paying them of the earnings. Ad you know, a publisher places an ad from Google on their site, the advertiser pays Google and then Google pays a share of that to the publishers. Looking at Google's earnings, you can somewhat figure out how much share publishers make. Always, keep in mind, certain publishers likely get special arrangements.

Labnol posted the latest look at this share, showing that in the first quarter of 2009, Google paid an even 75% to the publishers. However, in the fourth quarter of 2009, that share dropped to 72.06%.

Here is a graph I made showing the decline in 2009:

Here is the data:

	Q1 ‘09	Q2 ‘09	Q3 ‘09	Q4 ‘09
Google AdSense Earnings (in billion)	$1.64	$1.68	$1.80	$2.04
Google Payments to AdSense Publishers (in billion)	$1.23	$1.24	$1.33	$1.47
Percent Given to Publishers	75.00%	73.81%	73.89%	72.06%

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Kaspersky Blocking Google Ads Again

Posted: January 25th, 2010, 2:09pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Two months ago, we reported that Google AdSense was being blocked by Kaspersky Internet security software. That was fixed pretty quickly. But now, we are hearing new reports that the latest Kaspersky update is blocking Google ads again.

The alert people are seeing from Kaspersky is:

Virus detected Severity: Critical event Application: Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 for Windows Servers Enterprise Edition Version number: 6.0.2.555 Task name: Real-time file protection Computer: DRxxxxxxx Group: xxxxxxx Time: 25 January 2010 09:26:00 Description: Threat detected: Trojware Trojan.JS.Redirector.ar. Object name: C:Documents and SettingsxxxxLocal SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5CGQQTE3Hshow_ads[1].js

They are being triggered by pagead2.googlesyndication.com.

We have threads on the issue at WebmasterWorld, Kaspersky Forums and Google Web Search Help.

I have not seen a comment from an official Google represenative or Kaspersky representatives as of yet.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Kaspersky Forums and Google Web Search Help.

WebmasterWorld's Tabke: Google "Stiffed" Webmasters on Christmas

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 2:45pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday we reported that Google donated $20 million to charity instead of giving out their typical holiday gifts to publishers. We initially thought Google would not send out gifts this year, and we were somewhat right. They did not give publishers, advertisers or webmasters anything really - outside of what they earned.

Brett Tabke, the owner of WebmasterWorld, commented in a WebmasterWorld thread with his true feelings. He felt Google stiffed webmasters, advertisers and publishers this year. Let me quote him:

Lets get real. A $20m tax write off to charity has nothing to do with AdSense or AdWords swag gifts. If you were expecting a gift from Google - you got stiffed. Your "gift" did not go to charity. If it did go to charity in your name, then ask Google for documentation to that effect so that you can take it off your taxes. To even mention the two in the same breath is a disservice to the charities and to AdSense operators. Google gives money every year to charity - so do alot of businesses. $20 million isn't even good pocket changes to google. These two events are totally unrelated. Nothing but political pr slight-of-hand at work.

Do you agree with this?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Tests Searching For Targeted Ads in Console

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 2:34pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Last night I received an email from Google about a new feature available in my AdSense account, as a beta. The feature basically allows me to search for ads that are targeted towards my site. Searching for ads makes it a bit easier to find and block or allow these ads from being shown on my pages.

Here is a picture of the new feature:

Here is a copy of the email:

Subject: Announcing Search in the AdSense Ad Review Center

Hello,
As a beta tester of the new AdSense interface, you'll soon be able to use the Ad Review Center to search for ads that are targeted to your site. This new search functionality is designed to improve your efficiency when finding ads to review, based on feedback we've received from publishers.

To start searching for ads, sign in to your AdSense account. If you're presented with the previous interface, click the "Try new AdSense" link in the upper right-hand corner. Then, visit the "Allow & block ads" tab. You'll find the "Search ads" link in the left-hand navigation bar, where you can search by keyword text or ad URL. Learn more about search in our Help Center at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/as/bin/answer.py?answer=167309.

We invite you to provide us with your feedback about this new beta feature, using the 'Provide feedback' link in the upper right-hand corner of your account. Thanks in advance for your input, and we look forward to incorporating your suggestions into this new feature.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

The feature doesn't seem to work fully for me yet, but I suspect it to be very useful for many publishers once it goes fully live.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Rendering Google AdSense on iPhone or Android Has Minor Quirk?

Posted: December 21st, 2009, 2:33pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread reports that when you try to login to Google AdSense using your Android device or an iPhone it rendered the reports all weird. I tried to reproduce this on my side, but I am currently not able to.

What many are reporting is that the report seems to load in an iframe below the login box, after you login. Let me quote one of the reports:

I typed my username and password.
The report appeared just at the place where I typed in username and password.

It seems like the report is in a not scrollable IFRAME starting at the position of the input for username and password

I think I am not having the issue because I am logging in automatically. Google AdSenseAdvisor replied to the thread saying:

I'm investigating. I'll let you know when I hear something back. Thanks for flagging this.

We have no ETA for a fix or even a solid confirmation what type of bug this is.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Tells AdSense Publishers, Your Earnings are "Estimated"

Posted: December 11th, 2009, 2:40pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday at about 3:30pm (EST) Google changed the AdSense console overview page to show the word "estimated" by "Today's Earnings." So now it reads, "Today's estimated earnings" instead of just "Today's earnings." A WebmasterWorld thread was started to ask questions about this change, and then the Google AdSense Blog confirmed the change.

Here is a picture highlighting the change:

Google explained:

In order to be more transparent about how our system calculates earnings, we've added the words "Estimated" and "Finalized" next to "Earnings" throughout your account. Rest assured these terminology changes don't reflect a change to the way your finalized earnings are calculated. It's simply intended to give you a clearer idea of what's our estimation of your earnings and what's finalized.

Don't like it? Not happy? Got more questions?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Job Applicants, Google AdSense Can't Be Used As a Job Reference

Posted: December 11th, 2009, 2:31pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A person seeking new employment asked in a WebmasterWorld thread if he can use Google as a reference for his interviews. Why does he feel he might be able to use Google in this way? Well, he never really worked as a Google employee, but he did get checks from Google via their AdSense program.

AdSenseAdvisor, from Google said:

I love that AdSense has been your primary source of income. Sadly, I don't personally know enough about you or your work to provide you with a reference.

Yes, it doesn't work that way does it? How can Google vouch for someone that they do not directly manage?

Ironically, this is not the first time we covered this topic. We said it clear with Google AdSense Publishers Are Not Employed By Google over two years ago. You simply cannot put down Google on your resume, even if you made money with Google AdSense. That doesn't mean you cannot show interviewers how much you made and what tactics you deployed to make your sites successful.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Promises to Speed Up AdSense for GoogleBot

Posted: December 10th, 2009, 2:46pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Since Google has released the Site Performance reports in Webmaster Tools and page speed is Google's 2010 ranking factor promise, Webmasters have been somewhat obsessed with speeding up their sites.

Webmasters are concerned with scripts they do not control. Such as Google Analytics slowing down their page load times. In fact, we just reported that Google is going to add a trustworthy indicator to site performance reports in order to alleviate some of the webmaster stress over speed performance.

Now, we see reports that Google AdSense is slow. But instead of Google just telling us not to worry about it, which they have told us for this. Google is actually going to speed up the AdSense load time specifically for GoogleBot.

AdSenseAdvisor said in a WebmasterWorld thread two things. The first was not to worry about it and the second was that they will be improving the speed of AdSense specifically for GoogleBot.

Let me quote AdSense Advisor:

(1) "The Page Speed suggestions on Webmaster Tools are based on the content served to Googlebot. In this case, AdSense serves the javascript uncompressed to Googlebot, but does actually compress it with gzip for regular users. So, the AdSense javascript is already optimized for your site's users. AdSense works very hard at making sure that it doesn't slow down the page load."

(2) "We are changing AdSense to send compressed content to our Googlebot so that the recommendation in Webmaster Central accurately reflects how AdSense works."

Now some may ask if this is a form of serving different content to GoogleBot versus a human - i.e. cloaking. I don't think this falls under that.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Got Ideas for Google AdSense? Let Them Know Here

Posted: December 4th, 2009, 1:42pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Are you frustrated with Google AdSense? Do you love them? Do you have ideas that you think would improve the product or service? If so, Google is now asking for feedback on Google AdSense. Do not submit the ideas here, you have to go to a Google Moderator area and submit your ideas there.

AdSense Pro Jennifer said in a Google AdSense Help thread:

I just wanted to let you know that we've launched an AdSense Product Ideas page on Google Moderator. It's a great way to get your ideas heard, vote on other publishers' suggestions, and share your thoughts on AdSense product updates. As the blog announcement says, "While we aren't able to guarantee that all the ideas on this page will be implemented, we can guarantee that we'll take the top ideas (as voted by you), and bring them to the AdSense Product Management team for review. By submitting an idea, you agree that Google may use the idea to develop and enhance Google's products and services."

Again, if you have ideas for Google on AdSense, don't comment here, go to the Google Moderator area and submit your ideas or vote on ideas.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google AdSense Bans Publisher For Copyright Infringement Over Their Own Copyrights

Posted: December 1st, 2009, 2:20pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A Google AdSense Help thread reports that an AdSense publisher was banned or disapproved from Google AdSense because the content on their web site is copyrighted. This happens all the time, but in this case, the content that is copyrighted is copyrighted by them and they have the right to use this content - since it is theirs.

The publisher wrote:

I am the one and only owner of the copyright of all my books (they are in print for more than 10 years) presented on my site. However my site hasn't been approved for Google Adsense because "it contains copyrighted material". Yes, the material is copyrighted. But it is copyrighted by me.

The email that said that rigmarole to me is "noreply". How can I point out the silly mistake to the Google worker who made it?

You just have to laugh, don't you?

Googler, Jennifer, replied to the thread saying, "I'll look into this and get back to you."

Can't wait to see the outcome. Either this person is lying or something weird is going on.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google Disabling AdSense Accounts For Using Tamper Data Firefox Plugin

Posted: November 19th, 2009, 3:10pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

I have been seeing reports of Google banning and disabling AdSense accounts due to using a Firefox plugin named Tamper Data. Tamper Data allows people to view and modify HTTP/HTTPS headers and post parameters, which can be helpful, but also used for evil.

The emails being sent to these publishers read:

During a recent review of your account, our specialists found that tamper data was used to modify the country listed in your account. Changing your address in this manner is a violation of our policy guidelines.

What appears is happening is that publishers are signing up using Tamper Data to fake their location. You can read why and how this is done at this blog and this one.

In summary, certain countries are not allowed to sign up for AdSense so people fake where they are from. I am not sure why people would use this technique when they are in an approved location, unless I am missing something?

You can read the dozens of threads about this at Google AdSense Help or a thread at WebmasterWorld.

Beware: Google AdSense "Account Disabled" Phishing Scam

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:28pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday, I, along with hundreds (if not thousands) of others received an email that appeared to be from Google. The email's subject line read "Google Adsense Account Disabled" and the email's from to looked to be from Google Adsense . It was actually caught by my spam filter and as I dug into the source code of the email, I noticed it was a scam. Beware, this is a recent phishing scam.

Here is how the email looked in my mail client:

There were a few glaring issues with this email:

(1) The source showed a few things, but here is one item that jumps out at me:

Received-SPF: softfail (google.com: domain of transitioning adsense-adclicks-noreply@google.com does not designate 64.26.60.146 as permitted sender) client-ip=64.26.60.146;

(2) The email had an attached HTML file, when you open the source of that file (which I don't recommend most people do), it has a redirect to a non Google domain (phishing site):

(3) I checked if my ads were displaying and if I had any message in my AdSense console and I did not.

So I trashed the email and went on. Then I noticed other people receiving this phishing email, which is why I am writing about it.

Do not fall for the scam!

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help and WebmasterWorld.

Public Service Announcements (PSAs) Ads Showed On All AdSense Sites Yesterday

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 3:59pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday, for about five minutes during the day, any site that had AdSense ads on them, showed what is known as Public Service Announcements (PSAs). PSAs are ads that are free and don't earn money, and are shown when Google cannot find a contextually relevant ad.

AdSenseAdvisor confirmed the issue in a WebmasterWorld thread, saying:

We experienced a very brief (under 5 minutes) issue that caused Public Service Announcements (PSAs) to appear on publisher pages for a few minutes this afternoon. Our engineers diagnosed and resolved the issue immediately, and your ads should now be back to normal. Thanks for reporting this, and we appreciate your patience.

This also seemed to impact publishers who use Google Ad Manager to serve up their ads (which is what we use on this site). Steve from the Google Ad Manager team said in a Google Ad Manager Help thread, "We experienced a brief issue that caused PSAs to appear on publisher pages for a few minutes this afternoon. Our engineers quickly diagnosed and resolved the issue, and your ads should now be back to normal. Thanks for reporting this, and we appreciate your patience."

This is not the first time PSAs invaded the bottom-line for publishers. We reported a similar issue back in 2004 and also earlier this year, in January.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & Google Ad Manager Help.

Google AdSense Welcomes Third-Party Ad Networks

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 3:26pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

The Google AdSense blog announced that publishers in the Google AdSense network now have the option to allow "Google certified" third-party ad networks to compete for the ad space on your web site.

In short, this should help publishers earn more money, due to adding more competition into the network. But you have to opt into this and allow image ads. You might not be able to add this today, since it is "slowly roll this out over the next several months."

Here is a picture on where you will be able to activate third part ad networks in the AdSense console.

The overall impression from publishers is positive and they are eager to give this new feature and program a try.

For more details on how this works, see the AdSense Help Center.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google AdSense Help.

Google AdSense Publishers Cannot Submit Tax Information

Posted: July 24th, 2009, 3:16pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

There seems to be a bug in the Google AdSense console that is preventing Google publishers from submitting tax information to Google. There are several reports in the Google AdSense Help forums with complaints about this issue.

The issue is, when one clicks on the "Submit your tax information now" button, nothing happens.

This was first reported on Wednesday and Google confirmed the issue saying:

Thanks for bringing this to our notice. I've consulted our specialists on this issue. I'll follow up once they respond.

It is still an issue this morning.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

56% of Google AdSense Publishers Say Earnings Are Down in July 2009

Posted: July 22nd, 2009, 4:10pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Every now and then we reach out to our Google AdSense publisher readership and poll them on how their earnings are doing month to month. Recently, I have been hearing buzz around the community that earnings are down, so I decided to run an anonymous poll asking if that was true.

56% of the responses said their earnings were down, while only 25% said their earnings were up and 20% said earnings were about the same. Here are the results:

Question: July 2009 AdSense Earnings: Up Or Down?

:: Way Down said 36 respondents or 35%
:: Down said 21 respondents or 21%
:: No Real Change said 20 respondents or 20%
:: Up said 18 respondents or 18%
:: Way Up said 7 respondents or 7%

I hope you are on the up side of this poll.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

Google Pays Out YouTube Earnings Differently Than AdSense Earnings

Posted: July 14th, 2009, 4:02pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

I recently signed up to enable YouTube revenue sharing on my search videos. It was part so that I can try to get my YouTube videos into Google News (still working on that).

One thing I noticed was that while my AdSense reports update daily, my YouTube data in the AdSense reporting tool shows "no data available." I then spotted a thread about this "issue" today at Google AdSense Help. I dug around and noticed that this is by design.

YouTube earnings are documented to be 30 days back dated. So the YouTube earnings will first show 30 days after the previous month, for that previous month and then it would be paid out 30 days after that, if you have $100 of earnings or more. Google said, "AdSense for Content Host revenue is paid 30 days after the month's end. "YouTube" includes revenue from ads placed next to your videos. YouTube revenue is paid 60 days after the month's end."

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google AdSense Earnings Down in July 2009?

Posted: July 14th, 2009, 3:56pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

There are dozens of threads at the Google AdSense Help forum and a thread at WebmasterWorld with complaints from publishers that their July 2009 earnings are way down, relative to past months.

There are of course a few publishers who are noting that their earnings are actually up. But like most threads, people only come to complain and those that complain, are those that have seen their earnings drop.

So I ask you, the publisher, are your earnings up or down in July 2009? Please take our anonymous poll:

July 2009 AdSense Earnings: Up Or Down?(trends)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Site Authentication Control Bug

Posted: July 8th, 2009, 3:13pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

There seems to be a persistent bug with the site authentication tool in the Google AdSense publisher controls.

Some publishers are complaining about errors being returned when trying to use the feature. There is a Google AdSense Help thread that says the issue has been happening for about a week now. Google said it was fixed, but some publishers are still complaining about it not working. One posted the error:

Error
We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are unable to process your request at this time. Our engineers have been notified of this problem and will work to resolve it

Yesterday, AdSensePro Jennifer, an official Google representative, said, "Should be fixed now. Let me know if it's still not working." But a few publishers came in afterwards to inform her that it is not working.

This site authentication feature launched in July 2007, but has been seen since June and early May of 2007.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Poll: Did AdSense Font Control Help You Earn More Money?

Posted: June 23rd, 2009, 3:34pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

The other week, Google released a new feature to allow AdSense publisher to control the font size of the text within their ads. This comes a few months after Google gave publishers control over the font type/style of their ads.

With all this control, I was wondering if it is actually helping you make more money with AdSense or not. Please take our anonymous poll and have your publisher friends take it as well.

Has AdSense Font Controls Helped Me Earn More Money?(polls)

We will post the poll here in a couple weeks.

Some are convinced it is helping with earnings and some are not too convinced.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Your Google AdSense Earnings Reports Not Adding Up?

Posted: June 22nd, 2009, 3:34pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Recently, there was a swarm of threads of complaints in that various AdSense forums about how it appears the Google AdSense earnings reports are not adding up correctly. I'll isolate two Google AdSense Help Threads that have discussion about this.

The issue is really not a calculation error but rather that you are looking at the wrong date ranges.

Alan7769 explained in the thread that the problem is, "since last payment reporting is going back exactly 30 days from the current day, instead of back to the first of the month after your last payment was done." Alan recommends you use the "advanced reports and put in the actual dates from and to for your report, at least until adsense fixes the problem with the since last payment reporting."

There is a terrible amount of confusion now about this so hopefully Google will make things a bit clearly on those default reports.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help Threads.

Update: Google has posted a statement:

If you've seen a sudden drop in reported earnings, please note that it likely isn't due to a decrease in earnings but more because of a change in the date range.
You can confirm this by going to the reports section of your account and selecting the correct date range and running a report. For instance, if you were paid on May 26, then the Overview page will show earnings from May 26 to today's date, when you select 'Since last payment' from the drop-down.

However, when you run a report in the 'Advanced Reports' section and select May 1 to today's date, you will find the actual unpaid earnings for this period.

I've consulted our specialists and will follow up once they revert.

In the meantime, please refer any affected publishers to this thread.

Still, not all publishers are convinced or happy.

Google AdSense Gives US Font Size Control

Posted: June 18th, 2009, 2:24pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Back in February, Google gave us font type selections for our AdSense ads. Now Google announced the ability to control the size of those fonts.

Here is a screen shot of the three sizes you can pick:

Google has been testing both larger fonts sizes and smaller ones here and there, so this was expected, and it is now here.

To learn more about this, see the AdSense blog post and chat about it at WebmasterWorld.

One important note that AdSenseAdvisor said in the thread:

I also wanted to give you a heads up that soon we'll be setting the default font size a little bit bigger based on your feedback that sometimes the text ads on your page are hard to read. I'll keep you posted.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Are AdSense Publishers Losing Out from Google Translate & Cache

Posted: June 18th, 2009, 2:06pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread reports that in some cases the Google AdSense ads will not render when using Google Translate or viewing the page on Google Cache. We reported about the Google Cache issue about a year ago, and back then I believe it was temporary.

The issue is that in some cases, people use Google Translate to view web pages and if Google doesn't show the ads, these publishers (as well as Google) is missing out. The same with the Google Cache. Some sites are hit up worse than others and it isn't impacting all ads.

WebmasterWorld moderator, martinibuster thinks it might be a simple issue of miscommunication:

It's been noted that the teams developing these tools don't always communicate with other parts of Google. This may be an instance of that.

Possibly and if that is the case, hopefully an AdSense representative will chime in on the thread.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Adds More Local Currencies to Reports

Posted: June 16th, 2009, 7:34pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

The Google AdSense blog announced they have expanded the local currencies in the reports to nine more countries. The countries include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK.

Here is what Google said, and read it carefully before you make any changes:

If you're located in one of these countries, you can now update your account to display earnings in your local currency. After you've updated your account, any earnings generated from advertisers paying in currencies other than your local currency will be converted daily. If you receive payments in your local currency, this means that there also won't be any additional conversions at the end of the month. However, you can still choose to receive payments in U.S. Dollars or change your payment method at any time.
Before enabling local currency reports in your account, we recommend downloading and saving copies of your past reports in U.S. Dollars for your records. You can then update your account by signing in to AdSense and clicking the link in the green prompt on your Reports Overview page. You'll be asked to review and agree to a new set of Terms and Conditions. Unfortunately, we're not able to interpret the meaning of changes in our legal documents for publishers -- if you have questions or need legal advice on interpreting the new Terms, please don't hesitate to contact your attorney.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Publishers: What Do You Call Yourself?

Posted: June 15th, 2009, 3:48pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread is asking AdSense publisher what they call themselves. They said, often when they met people or speak to people, they are not sure what to say when people ask them what they do. Are they are publisher? Maybe a webmaster? How about an online marketer?

I am sure on many levels, AdSense publishers are all of the above. So I decided to create a poll to allow you publisher to answer anonymously what you would call yourself. Feel free to pick more than one choice or add "other."

AdSense Publishers: What Is Your Title?(opinion)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Sent AdSense Publisher Wrong Check

Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A Google AdSense Help thread reports that one publisher not only received his check in the mail this month, but also received the check for another publisher in the same envelope.

The publisher said in the thread:

My payment cheque arrived with someone else's cheque too. I don't in the least mind posting it on, but I feel I ought to let Google and the cheque's owner know what's happening. Who do I email?

Google emailed this publisher directly, to not drive more attention to the issue in a public setting.

I assume the automated check machine and mailer accidently had some paper glitch and one check got stuck to another and both were placed in the same envelope. This is the first time I heard of such an issue with Google AdSense before.

It is funny in that Michael Arrington received a $1.3 million check by accident the other day.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google AdSense Reporting Delay on June 9th

Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:35pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google's AdSenseAdvisor posted a thread at WebmasterWorld notifying AdSense publishers that there will be a reporting delay and we should not panic.

Normally, when the reports lag, you see hundreds of posts in the various forums with publishers panicking. It is no surprise some people worry, because some people are fully dependent on the income they make from Google through AdSense.

AdSenseAdvisor said yesterday at about 2pm (EST):

Just writing to confirm that you may be seeing a temporary delay in the reporting of clicks that started this morning (June 9). We're still recording clicks and your stats will catch up. Ad targeting and ad serving are not affected. While this is well within the "no need to panic" window of reporting time, I wanted to give you a heads up in case you see impressions registering normally but a lower-than-usual number of clicks showing up in your reports.
I'm sorry if this has caused you any stress.

Hopefully the reports are now up to speed.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense To Host Webinar On Channels/Advanced Reporting

Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 3:13pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google has been holding these webinars to help AdSense publishers pick up new tricks and tips. The latest webinar is on the topic of Channels/Advanced Reporting. That topic includes:

Learn how to set up channel tracking in your AdSense account
Find out how you can optimize AdSense using channel data.
Track AdSense performance for a specific ad placement
Measure the performance of individual sites

The webinar is tomorrow, June 4, 2009 at 6:30 pm PDT. You should be able to sign up via this page, but for some reason, the signup link doesn't seem to be working for me at this moment. I posted the issue to Google, so hopefully it will work shortly.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Earn More AdSense Money By Slowing Down Your Server

Posted: May 20th, 2009, 3:48pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has many experienced publishers talking about a tip they never talked about before. The tip is about how slowing down your server, actually increases your AdSense CTR and leads to higher earnings.

WebmasterWorld moderator, incrediBILL, said that by accident he noticed that when his server is slow and bogged down by traffic, his AdSense CTR climbs. As soon as he posted it, Moderator martinibuster and Senior Member, youfoundjake both said he let the secret out.

They both confirmed that slowing down your server will make people impatient and encourage people to click on the ads, assuming they load faster then the rest of the page.

One member points out that "smart pricing" is linked directly to how fast your pages load. So in the long run, it might hurt your earnings. But I guess if you make it slow enough to not be considered slow by Google's standard but yet slow enough to make people want to click on ads, you win?

In the past, we heard reports that speeding up your server increases AdSense earnings by as much as 25%.

Who knows? Do you think faster or slower servers have an impact on earnings? Take our quick poll:

How Does Speed Impact Google AdSense Earnings?(opinion poll)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Webinar on Getting Paid Scheduled for Tomorrow

Posted: May 20th, 2009, 3:43pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google has been holding webinars for both new and expert AdSense publishers. The next webinar is tomorrow, Thursday, at 6.30 pm PDT. It is on the topic of getting paid.

The topic is named "Understanding the payment cycle" and is described as:

De-mystifying the AdSense payments system. Learn about the various payment options and understand the payment cycle.

One of the most discussed topics in the various AdSense forums are about payments, so a webinar devoted to payment topics, makes a lot of sense.

Keep in mind, Google caps the attendance to 500 people. So go register for the event now and don't forget to be there.

AdSense experts will be on hand to answer questions submitted from the audience.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Empty Google AdSense Ads is Linux Bug

Posted: May 14th, 2009, 3:49pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld and Google AdSense Help thread reports seeing more of empty or test AdSense ads. We have seen them back in March 2007 but they have disappeared until now.

Here is a screen capture of one ad that reads "text goes here" in the ad and the URL reads yoururlgoeshere.com.

Google replied to the threads confirming this is a Google bug with Linux operating systems. Google said:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. This issue is isolated to Linux users, and our engineers are looking into it.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google AdSense Help.

Lack of Google AdWords Coupons Causing Lower AdSense Earnings?

Posted: May 4th, 2009, 4:15pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread started by moderator martinibuster has been getting a lot of attention over the weekend. MartiniBuster asks other members to come up with theories on why it appears AdSense earnings are lower these days then a year prior.

MartiniBuster's own theory is pretty interesting. In short, he says that there are less AdWords coupons floating around these days, so less people are experimenting with the content network. Let me quote MartiniBuster:

As I recall, there were thousands of dollars worth of AdWords coupons flooding Internet conferences. Those AdSensers who have not attended conferences several years ago won't know what I'm talking about so before you comment on this theory, hear me out.
Every conference I went to there were thousands of dollars worth of coupons available from denominations of $250 on down (as I recall). I think there may have been $500 coupons available, too. There were so many coupons floating around that some people were selling them, exchanging them between themselves, and opening multiple AdWords accounts to take advantage of them.

Could part of the higher payouts have to do with there being less publishers in the system? Is it possible that another contributing factor in those early days of higher ECPM was the flood of AdWords coupons?

Now, there are many other theories for the lower earnings, outside of the world being in a recession. They include:

Google needs to take a bigger piece of the AdSense pie
Slow down in new fresh to the net ad clicking users.
Ad blindness for veteran net surfers.
Less MFA has to affect a segment of publishers.
Landing page rules turning off some advertisers.
AdWords complexity
Google dropping the ball on code quality due to lack of competition for too many years leading to data loss that is later artificially unfairly balanced out.
More advertiser control positively affecting few and devastating the rest.
Google silently taking a bigger portion of publisher's earnings to meet the market expectations.
Smarter advertisers
Over saturation of content

There are many more ideas and theories being debated in the thread.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Not Paying Some Israeli Publishers

Posted: May 4th, 2009, 3:17pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A Google AdSense Help thread has many reports from Google AdSense publishers based in Israel, that Google has not paid them yet. There was an issue last week with publishers getting paid late, but most of those issues are resolved by now. The issue seems to be a problem for Israeli Google AdSense publishers, even today.

Google AdSense representative, Obair, confirmed the issue:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We've noticed this issue with a few accounts in Israel. Rest assured, we've notified our payments specialists have been notified. Thanks for your patience. Please also direct any other publishers with this issue to this thread. Thanks!

Hopefully this issue will be resolved shortly.

Also over the weekend, a WebmasterWorld thread reported that the ad statistics were "frozen." Meaning, the reports in the AdSense console seemed to not be updating. That issue seemed to resolve itself over time.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help and WebmasterWorld.

Swine Flu Concern Helping With Google AdSense Revenue?

Posted: May 1st, 2009, 3:11pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Profiting off of medical concerns, such as with the recent Swine Flu outbreak, is something most people don't think about. But in a WebmasterWorld thread, some people are suggesting that if people are afraid to go out, they might spend more time on their computers.

Clearly, more people sitting front of a computer, surfing the web, can lead to higher AdSense earnings. So technically, publishers and Google may profit off of this concern. At least, indirectly.

The thread said:

I believe if this flu does take hold, then it could be good for adsense members, due to the amount of people staying away from shops etc. More online shopping, more clicks :)

Sad, but possibly true.

In any event, Chris Sherman posted Tracking the Swine Flu Epidemic at Search Engine Land the other day.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Filter Google AdSense Ads By Category

Posted: April 24th, 2009, 3:15pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

The Google AdSense Blog announced they are beta testing a new feature for publishers that allow them to filter ads based on category. So if publishers don't want ads that are about dating, religion or "get rich quick" type of ads, they can block those ads from showing on their site by blocking the whole category.

Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? In fact, They shared a screen shot that details the various categories. In addition, it even shows you how much money you are making from each category. This way, you don't block your most profitable category.

Here is a screen shot:

So what is the issue? A WebmasterWorld thread asks a very important question. Who is classifying the ads into categories? Is it Google or the advertiser? One member said that when someone asked a Google rep about this at the ADSPACE conference (where this was announced), Google said the advertiser is categorizing their ads.

Here is the post from the thread on that:

Someone asked this question at the google panel at adspace today, and the way i heard the answer is that the _advertiser_ sets the category.
Both the questioner and the answerer were not too clear, but this is what i gathered from the exchange.

The concern is that advertisers will make sure not to categorize their ads in certain categories that might be perceived as negative towards publishers. Now, I am not 100% sure if advertisers to categories their own ads, we will have to wait and see how this all works.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

AdSense "Orientation" Webinar on April 18th

Posted: April 15th, 2009, 2:18pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

This coming April 18th, at 11am PST, Google will be hosting a free AdSense Webinar on the topic of "Orientation" for the first 500 people who sign up. To sign up, go to this URL and click on the "Sign Up" link in the middle of the page.

The first Webinar is to give you the "understanding of the basics of your AdSense account. Learn more about the program and get familiar with your account."

AdSensePro Obair said in a Google AdSense Help thread, you can expect to learn the following from this Webinar:

Learn how to make the most of your AdSense account
Get an opportunity to chat with some AdSense Specialists
Get detailed insight in to different account features

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

This article was written earlier this week and scheduled to go live April 15th.

Bad Idea: Google AdSense Twitter Units: Twitter Streams in AdSense

Posted: April 6th, 2009, 3:29pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

On Friday, I reported on an AdAge article that showed Google was testing incorporating Twitter streams in AdSense units. The first test, which was confirmed by Google as a limited beta, would show TurboTax's Twitter stream in AdSense units, likely on pages about taxes.

If you scan the recent @turbotax communication via Twitter, you can see why I am nervous about this implementation. If it was purely marketing speak, showing promotions or helpful tax tips, then I would understand it. But as you can see from the stream, TurboTax is having disconnected conversations with other Twitter users. If you see the latest five Tweets from TurboTax in an AdSense unit on a page on taxes, you would have no clue what the ad meant - in this case.

I have asked Google to provide a sample of what this ad unit looks like, but they did not comply. They did give me this statement:

To provide more marketing opportunities for our advertisers to reach users in moments that are relevant and useful to them, we are currently testing different ways that allow advertisers to better update their ads in real time. We are currently in a limited test with a small number of advertisers and publishers.

I understand that Intuit wants to grow a following for @TurboTax on Twitter, but is this the best way to do it? A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion around this news. Many are skeptical, but skeptical for the wrong reasons. I am fairly confident I understand Twitter well, I have been on it very early, before most people and I am fairly active on it, under @rustybrick, but using it in this manner, at least the way I understand how it is being used, seems off.

Problems with showing your last five or so Tweets in an AdSense unit?

The Tweets may not be relevant to the content of the page
You may display disconnected conversations that the public won't be able to understand
Many people still are clueless as to what Twitter is
Followers are great, but will it lead to sales (many cases, yes, it will)

In this case, I am very skeptical that this type of ad unit will work for Google and advertisers. I am sure publishers won't like to see someone else's Twitter stream on their pages.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Bug Still Holding Payments For Publishers

Posted: April 6th, 2009, 3:15pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

It has been about five to six months now of us reporting that Google has a bug that holds payments to some publishers. In fact, many publishers have been waiting months to be paid and some seem to still be waiting.

A Google AdSense Help thread has confirmation from Googler, Obair, who is still manually removing the hold status on publisher accounts.

It is sad to see that publishers are still experiencing major slow downs in being paid. In fact, if they don't reach out to Google via the help section, they may never get paid. The issue goes back months and months, but was initially confirmed in January 2009.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Funny & Sometimes Evil Google Ads

Posted: April 1st, 2009, 3:26pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A DigitalPoint Forum thread has a collection of "weird" or "funny" ads people spotted through Google AdSense or AdWords. I thought I share them in text format, but feel free to see the thread to see screen captures.

AdSense shows ads on a skydiver accident for American Airline with the slogan, "we know why you fly."
AdWords shows ads for Big Daddy and Big Juicy Butts
AdWords ads for used toilet paper
Hillary Clinton Naked ads?
Amazon selling "human remains."
A search for world of warcraft showing an ad for virgin males (I guess that makes sense)
You can visit hell on ebay
Or sell your kids on ebay

Feel free to add more to the forum.

Forum discussion and pictures at DigitalPoint Forum.

Google Fixes AdSense Impression Glitch

Posted: March 27th, 2009, 7:13am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday we reported that AdSense impressions were double reporting. Well it turned out to be more than just a reporting error. Google was double or triple serving the same ads on the same site, which is not something they should have been doing. In any event, Google has announced they fixed the issue:

If you're displaying multiple ad units on your pages, you may have noticed that your pageviews were higher than normal for part of yesterday and today. Our engineers identified a bug which prevented ad units from detecting other units on the same page. As a result, our system logged a pageview for each ad unit that was loaded on a page, instead of a pageview for each page containing ads. In some cases, this also may have caused specific ads to appear in multiple ad units on the same page.
Please be assured that ad unit impressions were still logged correctly and ads were still displayed on your pages, so you were properly credited for all earnings generated from your ads. We've resolved the issue, and although you won't see the pageview count in your reports retroactively changed, your pageview tracking is now back to normal.

But like I said, some ads were double or triple served on the same page.

Forum discussion at Webmaster World and Google AdSense Help.

Google AdSense Reporting Off Again: Impressions High & CTR Low

Posted: March 26th, 2009, 11:18am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Feels like at least once a week, I write about how Google AdSense has reporting issues. Today, I spotted a WebmasterWorld thread that has dozens of AdSense publishers complaining that the reports seem off again.

Specifically, the issues are as follows:

Impressions are twice the normal expected amount
Click through rates are about half of the normal expected amount
Earnings are (obviously) on target with what is expected

In summary, many publishers are noticing high numbers in impression reporting, but lower in the actual click through rate, which leads to the same earning reports as they historically see.

AdSenseAdvisor said a few hours ago:

I'm happy to look into this, but please forgive me if it takes some time (it's pretty late in California right now).

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: This is now fixed but ads were double or tripled served in some cases.

AdSense Comes To Twitter Via Hex To ACSII Tweet

Posted: March 26th, 2009, 10:49am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

We know Google is on Twitter, so is AdWords and we know at least two AdWords reps are also. Yesterday, AdSense joined Twitter @adsense. The way AdSense joined was in Google style, the first Tweet was:

Ads by 47 6F 6F 6F 6F 6F 6F 6F 67 6C 65

What does that mean? Well, if you use an Hex/ASCII converter and plug in 47:6F:6F:6F:6F:6F:6F:6F:67:6C:65 it translates it to "Gooooooogle." As you see on many Google AdSense ads, they have a line that reads "Ads by Gooooooogle."

The Inside AdSense blog officially announced the new Twitter account. So feel free to follow it on Twitter and while you are at it, follow @seroundtable and @rustybrick.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google: More AdSense Ads = Higher Revenue Per Impression

Posted: March 25th, 2009, 12:51pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

AdSenseAdvisor said in a WebmasterWorld thread that having more ads on the page will lead to higher revenues per impression.

This may be obvious, that showing more ads, will lead in more revenues per page view, but not for all publishers. Some are of the belief that showing less ads increases the value of each click and then might lead to more revenue per impression.

It is nice to see that a Google representative has went on record as saying that this is generally the case.

I assume many of you disagree, if so, why?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense With Matt Cutts Banners

Posted: March 25th, 2009, 12:40pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A DigitalPoint Forums thread posted a screen shot of an unusual Google AdSense ad. Here is a picture of the ad:

Matt Cutts is the head of Google's web spam team. I am not sure how many sales this type of banner would lead to, since those who are looking for SEO services, may not know Matt. But it might lead to conversion for those prospects that do their homework.

In any event, this was a funny thread to spot.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

23% of Google AdSense Publishers Say 75% of Their Income Comes From Google

Posted: March 24th, 2009, 1:19pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Last week, I ran a poll asking if Google AdSense made up most of your income. The 129 responses are in and I wanted to share them with you. It seems like 47% of those that make money will AdSense say Google makes up more than 25% of their income. 53% said Google makes up less than 25% of their income. Here is the breakdown:

:: Less Than 25% of My Income said 58 respondents or 45%
:: Over 75% of My Income said 25 respondents or 19%
:: Not Applicable To Me said 20 respondents or 16%
:: Over 50% of My Income said 14 respondents or 11%
:: Over 25% of My Income said 12 respondents or 9%

Is it possible that 23% of publishers make 75% or more of their income with Google? The 23% is when you take out the "Not Applicable to Me" results, since they likely are not AdSense publishers.

Forum discussion continued at DigitalPoint Forums.

AdSense Publishers Not Happy With YouTube Earnings

Posted: March 23rd, 2009, 1:03pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

There are two threads at Google AdSense Help discussions with AdSense publishers who are simply not happy with the earnings they have been reported to receive from their YouTube content.

Let me quote you some upset publishers:

My revenue is down more than 50%. There were people who were expecting to earn $200 in January and instead earned $80. I was expecting $1000-$2000 and earned a little over $80.

Received my report. 1/5th of my Content Host earning. Shame.

63. Wow. Just as we're writing about it, the amount posted. And it ain't pretty. I had $67 in Content Host earnings (63,600 views/1000 clicks) and only $17 in YouTube earnings... sheesh, that sure wasn't worth the wait!

Some feel ripped off by Google while others feel that there may be a glitch in the system. But one publisher recommends "patience," explaining:

Settle down guys. The Partner program is definitely not a "get rich quick' program. Part of the low revenue is the economy and the other part might be the simple fact that an advertiser does not want to pay a lot to run ads on your videos.
I have seen my YT amount drop to 1/20th or so what I would expect but content host amount is going up and that is fine with me.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

AdSense Stats Issue Maybe Related To Google's Contextual Relevancy Failure

Posted: March 10th, 2009, 2:58pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

This and last week we reported issues with Google reporting up to date stats. Many publishers felt that Google had a major reporting delay and they were very concerned. Typically, it turns out to be nothing and the numbers tend to update themselves over time. But this time, it was a little different.

Google admitted to a bug in the AdSense contextual targeting system that returned irrelevant ads on publisher sites. Typically, Google AdSense ads are relevant to the content on the page, but something went wrong where Google's contextual targeting went off. On Thursday of last week at 2pm (PST) a bug for "approximately 10 hours" triggered these issues. The issue was resolved by Friday morning, according to Google.

Google admitted that non-contextually targeted ads may result in lower earnings and impact your earnings for those ten hours. Google said:

You were still credited for all valid clicks and impressions on the ads which appeared on your sites, but this bug may have impacted your overall AdSense for content revenue if you had visitors to your pages during these hours. Please note that because we're unable to determine which ads would have been viewed or clicked on by visitors to your sites in the absence of the bug, we will not be manually adjusting yesterday's earnings.

The big question was, was this a reporting glitch or were these publishers that severely impacted by the relevancy issue?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Ignoring AdSense Font Selection

Posted: March 9th, 2009, 2:50pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A few weeks ago, Google finally gave AdSense publishers a way to specify the font type they want to show on their web sites. AdSense publishers were really happy with the added control and Google was happy to give publishers this level of control.

So why am I seeing reports that Google is ignoring these AdSense font preferences and overriding them with something else?

A WebmasterWorld thread has several publishers complaining that Google is not using the font they picked in the AdSense ad set up.

One said, he doesn't mind, because it helps against "ad blindness." But why give the publisher the option. If I set my preferred font, then use it. If I don't set it, then feel free to experiment.

One publisher said:

just curious whether anyone else has set up their ads with a fixed font, only to see them carry on changing.
i know it's probably just google testing the fonts again, but why are they carrying on testing them when they've already given us the option to change them

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Frozen Google AdSense Stats Continues to Plague Publishers

Posted: March 9th, 2009, 2:32pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google AdSense statistics have been having issues updating since March 4th. In fact, we have seen reports prop up again and again since then. March 6th, people were complaining and people have been complaining since, including this morning.

We have two threads, one at WebmasterWorld and the other at Google AdSense Help. Each thread complains about the same thing, over the course of the weekend and today.

There are also dozens of threads at DigitalPoint Forums on the issue.

We have no official word from Google on these recent issues.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google AdSense Help.

Take Google to Small Claims Court: You Might Win

Posted: March 6th, 2009, 2:58pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Huffington Post has a story about a Google AdSense publisher who had his account terminated by Google for "posing a signficicant risk to advertisers." That advertiser sued Google in small claims court for $721, the amount of money he had accrued for clicks on his site. Guess what? He won! Seriously, go read the story, it reads very well.

Let me now give you the AdSense publisher reaction from DigitalPoint Forums.

Its small claims court. Google didn't even have lawyers representing them - a paralegal instead.
All you'll win is the few bucks Google owes you. Better than nothing I guess... but you cannot get your account back via small claims court.

Sounds like a rare exception, doubt others would be able to do it.

Very nice article. I'm happy for the dude. Everybody whose account got cancelled, sue Google!

You can see his original posts in the Google AdSense Help Forum.

Is this going to spark a ton of law suits for Google?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google Ad Blindness: Google Introduces Expandable AdSense Ads

Posted: March 5th, 2009, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

In a day and age where 70% of Google publishers are reporting less earnings with Google, Google needs to take bold moves to get more people to see and click on their ads.

Google introduces expandable ads. The ads will be displayed on publisher sites and they can click on the ad to make them expand into a much large ad that overlays over the content of the page. The expandable ads can contain movie streams, show video game clips, or display various views of an item for sale.

Google said this won't disrupt the end user because it has to be clicked on to be expanded, will never be "double its width or height," the "user may close the expanded panel at any time," it won't change your content, and it has to comply with their terms. There is a comprehensive help section devoted to expanded ads at Google AdSense Help.

Here is a sample ad:

Publishers await to see if this helps earn them more money. Who is the real loser here? I guess the searcher or the average consumer. Outside of that, the advertiser, publisher and Google are all winners.

Also, this may lead to publishers trying new tricks to get people to click on the ad. Note, clicking on an ad to expand it does not generate cost to the advertiser, it is only the click that leads to the advertiser's landing page that has any cost.

By the way, Google is also testing more interactive ads, according to Amit Agarwal.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Google AdSense Updates Home Page While Stats Lag

Posted: March 4th, 2009, 11:16pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

If you visit the Google AdSense home page you may notice that the login page has been redesigned. Here is a picture of the new page:

The old one looked like this:

We anticipated the new home page would be coming soon this morning, when we reported about the recent login issues with AdSense. This also probably means that many (not all) AdSense counters, notifiers and trackers are having issues operating now.

Note that this is occurring while there are major stat delays with the AdSense reports.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google AdSense Publishers Unable To Login Last Night

Posted: March 4th, 2009, 2:38pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Last night, I noticed dozens of reports that Google AdSense publishers were unable to login to their AdSense consoles. The first report came in at 1:59am (EST) from a Google AdSense Help thread.

Most of these publishers noticed a new Google AdSense login page. The page then wouldn't allow them to login. The question is, is Google testing a new login page for AdSense? I know a lot of third party AdSense tracking tools stopped working last night as well. Maybe Google tried to change things up to prevent those scraper bots from bogging down their system? I don't know.

At 5:57 this morning, a Google AdSense representative, William, confirmed the issue and said it was fixed. Some publishers may still have issues logging in, if you do, he recommends "clearing the cache and cookies or try using a different browser."

At about 2:50am, I saw first reports at a DigitalPoint Forums thread that publishers were able to login again. But there are still lingering reports of publishers not being able to login. So make sure to listen to William's suggestion above.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help, DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Account Console Goes Offline For 90 Minutes

Posted: February 27th, 2009, 2:49pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

There were reports this morning at about 1am (EST), that the Google AdSense console was down. A DigitalPoint Forums thread has several publishers upset with the downtime, but soon later it came back up.

The Wall Street Journal blog has confirmation from Google about this downtime. I am a bit shocked they bothered to cover AdSense console downtime, but as they said:

AdSense is the online-ad server of choice for thousands of Web sites, and while it’s not unheard of for it to experience down time, it comes in a week that’s already seen the catchphrase “Gfail” bandied about.

Google told the Wall Street Journal that the downtime was for about 90 minutes and did not impact all publishers.

This news comes days after Gmail went offline for a couple hours.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google Tries To Get Organized On AdSense Payment Issues

Posted: February 26th, 2009, 2:05pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

One of the official representatives in the Google AdSense Help Forums, AdSensePro Jen, has posted three threads in an effort to help publishers who are having payment issues. Those threads are named:

The first thread is the only thread that has any current complaints in it, but the threads are less than 12 hours old anyway.

Let me break out the payment issues with each thread:

(1) I have no visible holds on my account, and have not been paid:

Please reply to this thread if you meet the following criteria:
- you have no visible holds on your account
- you have over $100 in earnings
- you have not yet been paid

However, please keep in mind that the payment hold issue that was occurring earlier was fixed after the 2/15 Feb payment cycle deadline. As a result, if you believe you were under this issue, you should be paid in the next cycle at the end of March.

(2) I have requested a check reissue but not received a confirmation:

If you have once submitted a check reissue request and never received a response, please reply to this thread.
Keep in mind that if you requested a reissue and received a reply about your earnings being credited back in 15 days, the request was processed and there is nothing more you need to do.

Moreover, if you are using EFT, you cannot request a reissue, you must check with your bank as to why the earnings were not received.

(3) My check/payment was returned or expired and I'm unable to remove a hold on my account:

Please reply to this thread if you have a payment that was returned or expired and after you entered your updated address/account information, the hold still hasn't been removed from your account.

Hopefully, you don't have to reply to any of these threads.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

70% Of Google AdSense Publisher Report Lower Earnings in January '09

Posted: February 20th, 2009, 3:11pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Earlier this month, we polled Google AdSense publishers, asking how their earnings from Google is working out in this recession. After receiving about a 120 responses, I thought I share the results with you.

About 70% said they are earning less these days, whereas 22% said their earnings are the same and 8% said their earnings have increased.

Here is the break down:

:: Earnings Have Dropped said 82 respondents or 68.91%
:: Earnings Remain The Same said 27 respondents or 22.69%
:: Earnings Have Increased said 10 respondents or 8.4%

Yes, this recession is likely cutting AdWords budgets, impacting both publishers and Google.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

Google Finally Gives AdSense Publishers Font Selection

Posted: February 20th, 2009, 2:47pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

After years and years of testing different font types and styles in Google AdSense, Google is now giving the publisher the option of defining which font they prefer on their sites. The AdSense blog finally announced this feature last night and the new fonts include Arial, Times and Verdana. Here is a screen capture:

Plus, publishers can set their default font preference over here.

Google has been testing font styles since early 2007 and then began aggressively testing fonts in May 2008, using fonts such as comic sans both then and in June and August.

Publishers are very happy about the extra control and already want more font options.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

Google's Search Partners Ignoring Match Type Controls?

Posted: January 29th, 2009, 9:52am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

An advertiser notes in a WebmasterWorld thread that Google's Learning Center module has an interesting piece of content, under the section 3D, Targeting/Keyword Targeting. It said:

Note: Partner sites don't recognize keyword matching options. Therefore, all keywords on these sites are treated as broad-matched keywords.

This means, that when AOL displays Google AdWords ads on AOL Search, they might not listen to if you want to only show an ad for blue shoes, as opposed to red shoes. As you can imagine, this really got many advertisers worried.

The original poster brought this to the attention of his Google representative, who told him, that note needs to be clarified. He basically said, match types do apply to the search network, including search partners, but does not include the content network.

So match type controls do not make a difference on the content network, but they do make a difference on the search network and search partners.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Is AOL Testing Google AdSense Ads in Messenger?

Posted: January 29th, 2009, 9:38am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Before starting, I am finding this very hard to believe. A fairly active member at DigitalPoint Forums, posted a thread linking to his blog, where he has a screen capture of Google AdSense showing up in place of the ad spots of AOL's Instant Messenger software.

Here is his screen capture from his blog:

I was going to dismiss this post completely, but then I looked at the members history at the forum. He has over 700 posts at the forum and has been an active member since February 2007. So it seems like this member has some history.

I am still very skeptical that this image was not 'photoshoped' to look this way.

So I will leave it at being extremely skeptical if this is a true screen capture or something that was made up. I simply do not know.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Out Dated Sites Earning More Money with Google AdSense Then Fresh Sites?

Posted: January 29th, 2009, 9:12am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

An interesting WebmasterWorld thread has several publishers claiming that they make more money with Google AdSense with their old, not updated sites, as compared to their larger, more updated and cleaner looking sites.

In the past, we did discuss how ugly sites earn more with AdSense and most agreed that this is true. But outdated, old sites are earning more than updated and fresh sites?

Here is a poll, which one makes you more money?

Which Site Earns You More with Google AdSense?
( polls)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google's SVP Rosenberg Said AdSense Revenue Down Due To Arbitrage Cleanup

Posted: January 23rd, 2009, 12:39pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

In the Google earnings call, that we reported earlier, Google's Senior Vice President, Johnathan Rosenberg, said on the earnings call:

AdSense revenue was weaker, though AdSense for content was strong. When it comes to AdSense for Search, we did a lot of arbitrage cleanup in Q3 and Q4.

This quote comes from a WebmasterWorld thread, and discusses the significance of such a statement.

Made for AdSense sites (MFAs are banking on arbitrage and Google promised to shut them down in May 2007. But stronger action appeared this past May. It seems like it has impacted Google's earnings.

In Q4 2007 Google earned 1.31 billion with AdSense (and that network), but in Q4 2008 Google earned 1.29 billion. Even in the third quarter, Google earned 1.33 billion. So there did seem to be a downturn recently in that area.

Some are using this statement to reduce their estimated tax payments in 2009.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Inauguration Day A Big Bust for Google Advertisers & Publishers

Posted: January 22nd, 2009, 11:46am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has a lot of discussion from Google AdSense publishers on how poor of a day they had on Inauguration Day.

Traffic and clicks and earnings were way down for most of these publishers on the day. It seems like very few web users were out and about using these sites.

So let me poll our audience, how did you do on Inauguration Day?

Did You Earn More or Less Money via Google AdSense on Inauguration Day?
( surveys)

I know this site's traffic was pretty even, but I think that was because we wrote a post about the day.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Confirms Not Paying Some AdSense Publishers

Posted: January 21st, 2009, 1:49pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

There is an extremely large thread at Google AdSense Help group with publishers complaining that they have not received payment this month from Google.

Jennifer, a Google AdSense representative, confirmed that Google did not pay some publishers due to a bug of some sort. She said:

We've been monitoring this thread and I can confirm that we have an issue on our back end that is preventing some publishers from seeing payment holds on their accounts. We are working with the YouTube team to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we have been working to contact affected publishers individually. Thank you all for posting in the forum. The faster we can aggregate data on a possible bug, the faster we can fix it, and forum threads like this are hugely helpful in surfacing these issues.
We appreciate your patience, and I assure you that we hear you and are taking this issue seriously.

Jennifer makes it sound like this is just impacting YouTube partners, but I am not too sure about that.

Google is known to have made many mistakes paying publishers in the past.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google AdSense Ad Filter Problem Might Be Related To Definitions

Posted: January 20th, 2009, 2:52pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Last week, I really gave it to Google hard with my post named Publishers Feeling Screwed By Google AdSense Competitive Ad Filter. In short, the complaints about the Google AdSense competitive ad filter not working had lingered on with no response from Google.

Google caught wind of the increased level of dissatisfaction from publishers and finally posted in the WebmasterWorld thread saying:

Sorry, guys. This one is entirely my bad. It's not that AdSense dropped the ball, it's that I dropped the ball.
We've been looking into it, but I haven't provided updates because I've been out of the country. I apologize for not giving you all a heads up.

I'm going to message a few of you privately to get more specifics if you don't mind providing them (for troubleshooting use only) so we can determine if there is an issue on our end.

One quick question for all of you: what method are you using to determine the destination URLs you're adding to your filter?

Okay, fine, so she/he is human and missed this thread. We forgive you. But what I find very interesting is the last line of the response. AdSenseAdvisor said:

What method are you using to determine the destination URLs you're adding to your filter?

To me, that implies that the issue is not necessarily with the competitive ad filter not working, but it not working as publishers think it should work. Publishers might be blocking URLs, thinking they are blocking a whole domain, when in fact, they are not. It seems to me, that this may be more of an issue of education then of bugs. Or maybe not?

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

Google's New AdSense Code Might Invalidate Your HTML Code

Posted: January 20th, 2009, 2:34pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has a lot of discussion around the AdSense code not complying with the W3C validation requirements. Some webmasters want their pages to be 100% validate, and adding this code may ruin that.

I am told the piece that invalidates the HTML is:

id="cse-search-box"

There is no word from a Google representative on this issue, yet. But I suspect we should hear soon about this. I mean, the thread is pretty active and it should be an easy fix for Google, I would suspect.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Publishers Feeling Screwed By Google AdSense Competitive Ad Filter

Posted: January 16th, 2009, 2:21pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

In late December, we reported that Google's AdSense Competitive Ad Filter stopped working for many publishers. Guess what, it is still not working for many of them and they are feeling very let down by Google. If you don't know what Google's competitive filter is, it basically gives publishers the functionality to block specific ads from appearing on their pages.

Successful AdSense publishers depend on the competitive filter to block out the MFAs and poor quality sites from displaying on their sites. But since late December, the filter stopped working for many. Here are some of the continued complaints in the WebmasterWorld thread:

I've managed to keep earnings up by constantly monitoring and blocking ads but my filter is filling up with garbage. Once it's full and my site visitors see nothing but crap ads and stop clicking, that's it, buh bye AdSense.
I'm with coach. This is pretty sad.

I let it go a few weeks to see what would happen- Sounded like ASA was all over it. I guess not. I tried blocking a few more today and they were already in the ad filter. Nothing can be done I guess.

I am surprised the ASA has become quiet over this. It is not as if he/she isn't aware of the problem.

Is it intentional? Is Google doing this to earn more money? They recently cut jobs and products, plus they have been spewing ads everywhere and anywhere. Time will tell.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Now Pushing Fat Ads: Is this Offensive?

Posted: December 31st, 2008, 2:55pm CET by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

If you're fat and get offended easily, don't use any service that uses Google AdSense. That's what WebmasterWorld members are spotting -- ads targeting the "fat" people of America. Apparently there's a conception that the holidays may have gotten people overweight. Or perhaps this is a way to ring in your New Year's Resolutions.

But that isn't satisfying publishers who are using Google AdSense. On top of other offensive Google AdSense ads, this isn't faring well for Google.

In reality, though, not every publisher is that disappointed in these ads. Some are considering clicking on the ads because they are looking to lose weight. Others are seeing a fair share of earnings from other clicks. It's certainly not as bad as ads featuring naked people, but it's not necessarily in the best taste for everyone.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

How'd You Do With Google AdSense this Holiday?

Posted: December 26th, 2008, 2:53pm CET by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

Do people really use the Internet during the holiday season? According to the activity on Twitter yesterday, perhaps they actually do. But elsewhere on the 'net, that may not necessarily be the case. Publishers report that they get the lowest earnings during the holiday time, for the most part.

Of course, like any industry, there are always anomalies. A few publishers, but hardly the majority, report that the performance has been pretty good.

I guess I'm not too surprised.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Google & Yahoo Pay Publishers Early for Holiday Season

Posted: December 24th, 2008, 2:25pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Both Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network publishers are reporting getting payment early this month. Some suspect it is due to being closed during the normal pay period, due to the holidays. Some suspect Google and Yahoo are being nice for the holiday season. Some suspect it might have to do with making sure payment goes out before the end of their fiscal years (due they even go by the calendar year?).

We have a Google AdSense related thread at WebmasterWorld where many have reported already receiving the money in their bank accounts. We also have a Yahoo Publisher Network related thread at DigitalPoint Forums.

For whatever reason the payments are going out now, many publishers are finding it to be a nice holiday gift.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Google AdSense Hiccup Reported on December 19

Posted: December 22nd, 2008, 3:38pm CET by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

On Friday, a number of Google AdSense publishers reported that AdSense was down. The cause was unknown and Google officially never actually volunteered more information about it.

Google AdWordsAdvisor was able to provide the publishers with information -- mostly ensuring them that Google was prioritizing the issue -- but there is no further information on behalf of Google's actual AdSense team.

AdWordsAdvisor does say, though, on a completely side point, that "In the AdWords side of the world, though, the stats that advertisers see in their account are delayed by up to three hours as a matter of course, under normal circumstances." We're not entirely sure how this factors into reporting on Google AdSense's side, but this is interesting information regardless.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Google Promises They Don't Cap AdSense Earnings

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 2:07pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

We have questioned if Google limits how much an AdSense publisher can earn in the past. We even ran a poll where the majority of publishers felt Google did not have a glass ceiling for AdSense earnings.

Now, a WebmasterWorld thread pulls out a quote from the new AdSenseAdvisor that Google does not cap publishers. Let me quote you:

I 100% guarantee that there are no earnings caps on AdSense accounts. I will swear it on a big stack of Google search results. No earnings caps.

That is believable to me. Do you believe it?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense's Two Hour Reporting Outage

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 12:59pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google AdSense had a two hour outage yesterday morning causing lots of concern amongst the publisher groups.

There are two long threads, one at Google Groups and another ad WebmasterWorld discussing the outage.

The first report came in at 4:09am (EST) Thursday morning and at about 6:44am, first reports came in that the statistics started to populate in the AdSense reports. At 1:05pm (EST), AdsenseAdvisor and AdSensePro Jennifer wrote the same message, a minute apart, at the respective forums:

There was a minor reporting issue for about 2 hours. This should be back to normal, and all data form that period will be restored.
Thanks for your patience.

Jennifer

All looks good now.

Forum discussion at Google Groups and another ad WebmasterWorld.

Google's Geolocation API Comes to the Browser

Posted: October 24th, 2008, 3:17pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

First go read Greg Sterling's write up at Search Engine Land named Location in the Browser: What Does It Mean?

Now that you read that, you will realize that the implication of Google adding geolocation capabilities to your desktop browser can be huge. The Geolocation API can run on any browser that has Google Gears and automatically will run on Android and Google's browser, Chrome.

Google currently knows your approximate location for when you do searches only via IP data, personalized search data or other, less exact methods. But now, if the browser can detect wifi locations and/or cell towers, Google will know where you are, almost to your exact location. GPS is supported, but most laptops or desktops do not have GPS devices built in yet (yes, yet).

The reaction to this from advertisers and searchers are split. A WebmasterWorld thread has advertisers excited that Google's geolocation capabilities will be able to target their ads better. But searchers are not yet 100% comfortable with Google knowing their exact whereabouts, at all times while using Google properties. Personally, I am not about privacy - I actually am considering wearing a GPS enabled device with me at all time to track me where ever I go and then publish that data on my personal web site. :)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Poll Results: Google AdSense Publishers Discuss 2008 Earnings

Posted: October 14th, 2008, 2:32pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

In late September, we ran a poll asking AdSense publishers if they are earning more or less than the previous year. The results are now in and honestly, don't tell us much.

Most said they earn more but just about the same number of respondents said they are earning less.

Here is the break down:
:: Earning More said 49 respondents or 42%
:: Earning Less said 43 respondents or 37%
:: About the Same said 19 respondents or 16%
:: Other answer said 5 respondents or 4%

So the results are pretty much all over the place.

Tamar covered the question on if the economic downturn is hurting publishers or not. We have added a new poll to that thread, so please participate!

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

This post was pre-written and scheduled for publication on October 14th.

Has The Economic Downturn Resulted in an Google AdSense Downturn?

Posted: October 14th, 2008, 2:22pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

Are you a Google AdSense publisher who has taken a hit from the recession? A few forum threads, one at WebmasterWorld and the other at DigitalPoint Forums, discuss the impact of the economic crisis on money earned through the Google AdSense program. What have publishers noted?

Some publishers haven't observed a thing. The behavior is expected with no indications of decline. On the other hand, though, there are a few publishers who have spotted some decline, though they have no idea about whether to attribute the financial crisis to it. Some have seen reduced click-throughs, and a small percentage of folks are actually making more money.

Where are you at?

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

This post was pre-written and scheduled for publication on October 14th.

Does Google Allow Ads that Mock Suicide?

Posted: October 13th, 2008, 5:01pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

Michael VanDemar blogged about apparent Google AdSense insensitivity as it relates to the recession. He says that there's a possibility for the suicide rate to skyrocket, just like it did in the Great Depression. Thus, he's a little disturbed by a Google AdSense ad for Woot.com which said the following:

"Before you jump out of
that window, why not spend your
last remaining dollars at Woot?"

Naturally, Michael has found that quite offensive and tasteless, and many users agree. It's possible, though, that Google missed this one for removal. I think it may be questionable, but I understand the sarcasm in Woot's usual marketing messages and this is no exception.

Should it be removed? You tell me. Take the poll.

Forum discussion continues at . And a hat tip to Gary for spotting this as well.

Google Messes Up AdSense Exchange For Indian Rupee

Posted: September 26th, 2008, 2:19pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A DigitalPoint Forums thread has a three page thread on the topic of Google messing up yet again with the exchange rate given to publishers. This time Google equated one US dollar to one Indian Rupee. The true current exchange rate is $1 US to 46.555 INR. Yes, a huge difference.

The main questions Indian AdSense publishers are asking themselves are:

(1) Is this just a reporting glitch?
(2) If not, how long will it take for them to get the difference they are owed?

We have seen this happen in the past. First with Australian publishers and then with Canadian publishers, every time - it benefited Google.

I know the US dollar is at risk, but $1 US to 1 INR?

Honestly, don't panic, I am sure Google will make things right.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Update: Google is aware of it and will let us know what they will do to fix the issue.

Google to Adjust Canadian Exchange Rate Used for AdSense

Posted: September 3rd, 2008, 3:04pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Recently, there have been many complaints about the exchange rate used in Canada by Google to payout AdSense publishers. A DigitalPoint Forums thread says the rate was 1 to 1, calling the US dollar equal to the Canadian dollar. Plus, Google charges a fee on top of that, according to the thread.

But it seems like Google is making a change to that Canadian exchange rate.

Both the DigitalPoint Forums and a WebmasterWorld thread said Google has sent out a notification to Canadian AdSense publishers that the exchange rate will be changed.

The email sent to these publishers said Google used an "incorrect exchange rate" for Canada. The WebmasterWorld post said:

Did anyone else receive a notice from Adsense about being issued a payment with an incorrect exchange rate? Apparently they're going to issue another payment to correct this. I remember that this happened before last spring and they recalled a whole bunch of EFT payments and reissued the corrected versions immediately. I'm in Canada, by the way.

This is not the first time Google reissued payment due to exchange rate issues. Google inverted the Australian exchange rate and had to reissue payments in the past. Plus, often publishers complain about the exchange rate Google uses.

Forum discussion DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Adds Western Union Option To Five Countries

Posted: August 11th, 2008, 3:05pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

One of the most sought after payment options for Google AdSense publishers is the ability to be paid via Western Union.

Google had announced at Google Groups and WebmasterWorld that they have expanded Western Union payment to the following five countries:

Bulgaria
Egypt
Lithuania
Morocco
Taiwan

Western Union payments are also currently available in other countries, including Argentina, Chile, China (Mainland), Colombia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines and Romania.

If you are in any of these 14 countries and would like to receive payment via Western Union, follow these instructions. You must also be set up as an "individual" publisher to qualify.

AdSensePro Ashley added that "payments will be made in US dollars, but your Western Union agent may be able to convert your payment to your local currency."

Forum discussion at Google Groups and WebmasterWorld.

What Exactly Happens During Google AdSense Maintenance?

Posted: August 8th, 2008, 4:15pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday, AdSenseAdvisor posted on WebmasterWorld that there would be an outage for Google AdSense tomorrow, August 9th, between 10AM and 2PM PDT. Ad serving isn't affected but AdSense addicts won't be able to check their accounts.

Usually, these announcement threads go unanswered. This time, though, someone asked the details behind such a maintenance procedure. At first, AdSenseAdvisor gave the generic answer: "our engineers carry out all the tasks required to keep our systems running as they should."

Did the political answer suffice? Not so much. Forum members started speculating what would happen. A good explanation (though purely speculation) was offered by Hobbs, who said:

During maintenance, raw data is redirected from processing into storage mode, this includes all the traffic and clicks logs plus every thing else Google collects, think of it as a huge bucket filling up.
Post maintenance: First a raw data sample is processed and analyzed for consistency, click fraud, earnings .., if all is well the data processing tap is opened and reports start to trickling in till the bucket is empty.

So why can't you access your data? A few reasons are proposed: it may be on hold until this is complete, or if there are any problems, the reports would be inaccurate anyway so Google tries to avoid displaying it until everything looks good again.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Advertisers Are Happy But Scared Over New Google / DoubleClick Cookie Tracking

Posted: August 8th, 2008, 3:13pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday Google announced that they will utilizing the DoubleClick cookie-based tracking technology to bring more targeted ads and better targeting features to adveristers. You can read most the blog and news commentary via Techmeme.

The features are simple:

Frequency Capping to enable advertisers to say, show my ad to this specific user only X times.
Frequency Reporting so advertisers can see the frequency data.
Google says this will provide "Improved Ads Quality."
And better conversion tracking with "View-Through Conversions".

So, there are many good features here for advertisers. But it also scares many people.

DoubleClick is huge, they run a huge portion of the ads across the web. In fact, some of the ads on this site are powered through DoubleClick. But then, look at the number of sites with AdSense on them. Now combine them. Google will be tracking individual computers from all sites containing a DoubleClick served ad and a Google AdSense served ad. Of course, Google the opt out details.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google in Class Action Lawsuit Over AdSense for Parked Domains

Posted: July 17th, 2008, 5:14pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

InformationWeek reports that there's a class action suit against Google about having AdSense on parked domains when they aren't likely to yield conversions. In the specific case, a legal services provider had his ads running for about 6 weeks on parked pages. He received over 200,000 impressions, 668 clicks, and zero conversions. The plaintiff spent $136.11 and is disappointed that he had nothing to show for it. By forming a class action suit, he and his lawyers are hoping that this affects other Google advertisers.

Barry writes about the lawsuit at Search Engine Land and makes sure to point out that the ads were running when Google announced that advertisers can opt out of AdSense for Domains.

Meanwhile, forum members say that this can put a damper on the domaining industry. It also makes the lawyer (specifically the one behind the lawsuit) look silly for suing Google when he isn't seemingly reading the fine print and learning how to use Google AdWords effectively. They feel that the plaintiff, an individual named Hal K. Levitte, is just looking for a big fat check from Google but that he's wasting his time. Other people think that Google's "AdSense for Domains," specifically for domains that lack content, is a bad strategy.

This sentiment is echoed by others as well. Why would you want to spend your money on parked domains? And why would visitors actually hang around?

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

A Reminder to Update Your Google AdSense Login to a Google Account

Posted: May 27th, 2008, 4:16pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

We posted about the requirement to link Google AdSense accounts with a Google Account in February. As indicated in the comments of that blog post, the frustration of doing so is still there and a lot of publishers are not taking the plunge as a result.

Well, Google is reminding you that you have no choice. You'll need to do it, according to a Google Groups thread. AdSensePro Ashley refers to a new post on the Inside AdSense blog which states that if you don't make the change, you'll be locked out of your account -- for good. (Roger, I'm sorry.)

There's no exact date for when this will be rolled out, but Google states that it will be a requirement "in the next few weeks."

Forum discussion continues at Google Groups.

Publishers Upset with Poor Google AdSense Quality Targeting

Posted: May 23rd, 2008, 4:16pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

What's worse than having pop-up ads on your website? Having ads on your website that aren't actually contextual and aren't properly matching the text of your website to draw in prospects. (Well, maybe it's not worse, but it's surely frustrating a lot of publishers.) At WebmasterWorld, incrediBILL says that "[t]here were ads for all sorts of junk linking to sites that didn't have what it claimed, Amazon affiliates, off topic garbage, even phone company directory listings." He started trying to weed out the bad ads by hand, but says that his filter list is already full, so it wasn't easy to do.

Bill is not alone. It seems that a lot of other publishers are starting to filter out up to 90% of new ads that are using the Google AdSense program. Publishers complain that "[a]pparently the targeted ads aren't quality/relevance checked at all by Google," which doesn't make the viability of AdSense a strong one at this time.

Is there a correlation to a holiday weekend? Some forum members suggest that to be the case. One member says that "[l]ow advertiser inventory lowers the threshold to the bottom feeders." But others contest this claim, saying that bottom feeders should cease to exist if Google is really screening them for quality. This is a valid point.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Getting Married: How To Change Your Google AdSense Payee Name

Posted: May 9th, 2008, 2:26pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

First, congrats on your wedding - I like to personally wish you both a long happy life together.

Now, let's get down to the money... You make a lot of money with Google AdSense. But now that you are married and you are taking on your spouse's name, you want to get the checks made out to your new last name. How do you go about changing your name on Google AdSense, so that you and your new spouse can share in the huge amounts of money you are making with Google AdSense?

That is the question asked at a Google Groups thread. AdSensePro Stephanie offers a link as aid on changing one's payee name. The process is fairly simple, you simply fill out the Change Payee Name AdSense form and wait. But here are some of the rules behind changing the payee name:

According to our program policies, AdSense accounts cannot be transferred or sold. If this is your reason for requesting the change, we will not be able to update your payee name.
You won't be able to change your payee name if you already have another AdSense account under that name.
Once we've updated your information, you'll need to re-enter your tax information and form of payment.
If you've received a payment to the old payee name that you're unable to deposit, you'll need to request a reissue after the 25th of the month following your payment.
We start processing payments on the 16th of each month. If you're scheduled to receive a payment this month and the payee name in your account is updated after the 16th, your payment will be issued to your old name.

Again, to change your AdSense payee name to your new spouse's name, use the Google AdSense Change Payee Name Form and congrats!

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

Image sourced from Steena on Flickr

Google Says They Fixed AdSense Reporting Bug But Publishers Not Convinced

Posted: May 8th, 2008, 2:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday we reported about a major reporting bug that impacted both AdWords & AdSense users. Yesterday at about 9pm (EST), Google's AdSensePro Stephanie said the reports were now fixed. Yes, that is about 40 hours after received our first reports of the outage. Stephanie said:

This reporting issue has now been fixed, so you should now see all of your missing data from yesterday in your account. (We've also reflected this update on our Known Issues page at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=92365.) I'll leave this thread pinned to the top of this category for another day, to make sure more forum members see this update.
Thank you all again for your continued patience, and our team sincerely apologizes for the delay.

Even though Google said the issue is now fixed, many AdSense publishers are not convinced. All the replies to Stephanie's post claim the reporting issues were not resolved. Of the five replies, all five said the reports still seem way off.

AdSenseAdvisor posted an updated at the WebmasterWorld thread also, this reply was at 4:06 am (EST) this morning saying the issues have been resolved. But like the Google Groups thread, the publishers in that thread are all not convinced the reports are bug free.

Forum discussion at Google Groups and WebmasterWorld.

Monday: The Biggest Pay Day For Google AdSense Publishers

Posted: May 7th, 2008, 3:47pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A few weeks ago, I ran a poll asking Which Day Do You Make Most Your Google AdSense Income?

We now have 92 responses, over the course of the week and most people voted that Monday they earned the most revenue on average from Google AdSense. Note that this is a very small sampling. I am not surprised that Saturdays and Fridays are the smallest earning days for publishers (being a publisher myself). I am a bit surprised by the Thursday response, but again, this is a small sampling.

Here are the results:

:: Monday - 24 responses - 26%
:: Tuesday - 18 responses - 20%
:: Sunday - 14 responses - 15%
:: Wednesday - 12 responses - 13%
:: Thursday - 8 responses - 9%
:: Friday - 8 responses - 9%
:: Saturday - 8 responses - 9%

Forum discussion continued at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google AdSense Test Four Text Ads In Large Rectangle Unit

Posted: May 7th, 2008, 2:48pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Honestly, I am not sure if this is brand new, but a DigitalPoint Forums thread reports the Large Rectangle (336 x 280) unit as having four text ads within it as new.

Here is a screen capture of the ad unit:

A typical ad unit looks like what you see listed on the Google AdSense ad formats page. I.e. four lines of ads and not four boxes of ads. Here is a live ad from my AdSense account for testing purposes:

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google AdSense & AdWords Reporting Still Showing Incorrect Data After Over 24 Hours

Posted: May 7th, 2008, 2:34pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Starting at about 5am (EST) yesterday, I have been noticing reports in the forums about Google being slow to update both the AdSense reports and the AdWords reports. The two largest threads discussing the issues can be found at WebmasterWorld and Google Groups, but there are plenty of other threads throughout the forums with complaints.

Again, first reports came in at about 5am (EST) yesterday and the issues have still not been resolved. We do have reassurance from Google in the WebmasterWorld and Google Groups threads that the issue is only reporting related and all the data is being tracked. When the reporting issues are fixed, it will show correct data.

AdSenseAdvisor posted at WebmasterWorld saying:

Thanks for your comments and your patience, and apologies for the delay. Our engineering team is working to address this issue as soon as possible. Please be assured that your account statistics have still been tracked, and we are working on displaying them in your account.
I will be sure to post with any additional updates.

AdSensePro Stephanie posted twice in the Google Groups thread (and other Google Groups threads) saying:

I've escalated your reports to our engineers, and they're currently investigating the issue. I'll be sure to update this thread as soon as I have any more info -- thanks for your patience in the meantime.

She then added a little bit later:

I've just received an update from our engineers: they're still working on resolving the issue, but they have confirmed that no statistics or data have been lost from your accounts. I'll let you know when I have more info about when you might expect to see updated stats. Again, we appreciate your patience.

The WebmasterWorld thread has over a 130 posts, and the Google Groups thread has almost a 100 posts.

In addition, you can see the brand new AdSense Known Issues page for an update that shows the issue is still not resolved, as of 7:45am (EST) today.

Forum discussion on both the AdWords and AdSense side at the following threads:

Google AdSense Adds "AdSense for Search"

Posted: May 6th, 2008, 5:07pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

The Inside AdSense blog talks about the newest feature available to Google AdSense users: AdSense for Search is now powered by custom search. This new feature gives you the following benefits: site search, improved indexing of pages, vertical search, the ability to fine tune search results and ads with keywords, selecting ad location, and more.

Check out the video for more information:

As someone who had an extremely difficult time trying to get Google Coop with AdSense installed on my site in the past, this was a breeze. Literally. I'm so glad that the Google AdSense team fixed it up. Thank you. :) (On that note, I *strongly* recommend that you set up your Google Custom Search Engine through the Google AdSense control panel, not through google.com/cse -- that's where my problems started!)

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums, Google Groups, and WebmasterWorld.

Screen Shots of New Google AdSense Font, Comic Sans

Posted: May 6th, 2008, 3:13pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Friday we reported that Google is testing new fonts in AdSense ads. Well, I finally found a screen capture of this in action via DigitalPoint Forums.

Here is the screen capture:

Pretty funky looking, no? If anything, this is a Google test and if they launch this new font, I hope they make it an option for the publisher. Personally, I find the font a bit unprofessional for many sites. But it may work for a specific type of site.

This may show signs that Google may be enabling the ability for publishers to pick a font style for their AdSense ads. If so, that is great news.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google Fishing Out AdSense Arbitrageurs Through AdWords Accounts?

Posted: May 6th, 2008, 3:05pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has speculation that Google is now seeking out AdSense arbitrageurs through AdWords accounts. The rumor is that Google is banning AdSense publishers by looking to see if their AdWords accounts are sending traffic to pages with AdSense on them.

About a year ago, we reported, Google To Shut Down AdSense Arbitrageurs. But then learned it was more focused on made-for-AdSense (MFAs) AdSense arbitrageurs. Google didn't deny that they have been going after some arbitrageurs but the topic died down a month later.

What this recent speculation is causing, is a rush for AdSense publishers to close out their AdWords accounts. They do not want their AdWords accounts to be tied to their AdSense account and possibly give Google a reason to ban them from AdSense. So many have reported that they shut down their AdWords account.

Is there sound reason for this or are publishers acting out of fear? I honestly don't know.

Hat tip to Frank for blogging this last night.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Adsense Testing New Font Styles?

Posted: May 2nd, 2008, 3:24pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google AdSense publishers are reporting via WebmasterWorld that Google is testing new fonts for the ad titles of the Google contextual ads.

The new font styles seen include:

Comic Sans
Times New Roman

The folks in the forum find the Comic Sans font to be funny. FYI, I am really font blind - if that is a real eye condition. :) In any event, this is what Comic Sans looks like, via Wikipedia.

Seems somewhat curvy and cartoon-like. I personally have not yet seen this test on ads that I have been looking at. But this is not the first time we had reports on Google messing around with the title fonts. Google tested italics font titles in the AdSense ads in the past.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Publisher Prepping Site For New York Times Feature

Posted: May 1st, 2008, 2:51pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A DigitalPoint Forums thread has the owner of a Google Maps mashup named Speed Trap get ready for being mentioned in the New York Times. The publisher said his site will be featured in the NY Times online site and in the physical paper and he wants to prep his site for the traffic.

On one hand, he is worried about the traffic raising a red flag and possibly, as he puts it, getting him "dinged" in Google. But at the same time, he would like to optimize the AdSense ads on his site to ensure he places the ads where they will get the most valid exposure and make the most money.

So the other AdSense publishers are offering him advice on ad placement, server requirements, general usability and giving him a shout of support during this exciting time for him.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Which Advertiser Types Do You Put in Your Google AdSense Filter?

Posted: April 30th, 2008, 3:10pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion on what type of advertiser would you automatically add to your AdSense competitive filter list. I.e. which type ads do you not want showing up on your site?

Here are some of the responses:

Adult Related Sites
Ringtone Sites
Win Free Stuff Sites
Irrelevant Sites
MFAs
Deceptive Sites
Parked Domains
Work From Home
Etc.

I would create a poll here, but the answers can be so open ended. Which type of ads would you block immediately?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Click Fraud Rate Decreases Across Yahoo and Google, Says Click Forensics

Posted: April 28th, 2008, 4:10pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

In the first quarter of 2008, Click Forensics announced that click fraud has decreased across Google and Yahoo to 27.8% (from 28.3% in Q4 2007).

Is that a number to be worried about? As Barry says on Search Engine Land, these numbers may not account for discounted questionable clicks. Google has said before that click fraud only accounts for 0.02% of clicks.

Meanwhile, forum members believe that the report by Click Forensics may be misleading. After all, they are a traffic quality management firm and as such "has an interest in reporting exagerrated click fraud rates," according to martinibuster. He says that if the numbers were in actuality this high, "I am certain we'd hear about it in the AdWords forum." After all, that translates to millions of dollars lost.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Which Day Do You Make Most Your Google AdSense Income?

Posted: April 28th, 2008, 2:48pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A DigitalPoint Forums thread asks other Google AdSense publishers which day of the week, do they make the most amount of money with Google. Most say, Monday and Tuesday are their highest yielding days, while some say the weekends are.

I am very curious, which days our readers do best on. Please take the poll below, you can select multiple days.

Which Day(s) Do You Make Most Your AdSense Income:

I promise to report the results of this poll very soon.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Banned in Google Adsense? Appeal vs. New Account

Posted: April 24th, 2008, 5:13pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

A WebmasterWorld member has been banned from Google AdSense and wants to try again after several years on hiatus. He says that the past banning was due to fraudulent clicks but does not know the origin, and he'd like to start anew from a clean slate.

Is it possible, or is the ban for life?

AdSenseAdvisor says that you are able to appeal your account termination, but if you get banned for invalid clicks, you cannot participate in the program again. Since it's been several years for the publisher, it appears that the appeals process is the only way to go. In other words, you can't reapply, but you can certainly try to talk to Google about your previous banning and see if there's any recourse.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Publishers Report: Clicks Not Being Counted

Posted: April 21st, 2008, 3:00pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

WebmasterWorld members are reporting that they're logging into their Google AdSense accounts due to an addiction that needs to be stopped and are finding that AdSense is reporting much lower clicks. One person in particular said that his ads are showing zero clicks but even had it clicked on by someone "overseas" to see if it was a problem on Google's end).

Everyone agrees that "something is weird" and only martinibuster suggests that you should check your server logs for an indication of what's happening with your ad clicks. Till then, though, on April 17th and on the 18th, this seemed to be a problem. (Ed note: As of this writing -- the 18th at 4PM EST -- this issue hasn't been resolved as no forum members report anything but strangeness.)

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

This post was written on April 18th and was scheduled for publication for Monday, April 21st.

The Most Annoying Google AdSense Unit Is: The Large Rectangle

Posted: April 21st, 2008, 2:50pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

About 6 weeks ago, I polled our readers on which Google AdSense unit they found to be the most annoying. The results are in and the winner of the most annoying AdSense unit is the large rectangle unit.

As you can see, the Large Rectangle, by far, beat out all the other units. What does the large rectangle look like? Here is a live large rectangle:

google_ad_client = "pub-0102506597954630";
/* 336x280, created 4/18/08 */
google_ad_slot = "5515056076";
google_ad_width = 336;
google_ad_height = 280;
//-->

src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">

Here are the full results from the 108 responses:

Large Rectangle (336 x 280) - 29 - 27%
Medium Rectangle (300 x 250) - 21 - 19%
Leaderboard (728 x 90) - 14 - 13%
Wide Skyscraper (160x600) - 14 - 13%
Skyscraper (120x600)v8 - 7%
Banner (468 x 60) - 7 - 6%
Square (250 x 250) - 5 - 5%
Small Square (200 x 200) - 5 - 5%
Small Rectangle (180x150) - 3 - 3%
Vertical Banner (120 x 240) - 2 - 2%

Forum discussion continued at Google Groups.

Note: This article was written the week prior and scheduled to go live on August 21st.

Reminder: Don't Publish Test Ads on Google's Ad Network

Posted: April 21st, 2008, 2:11pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

A DigitalPoint Forums thread kind of laughs at an ad they spotted within the Google AdSense network. An ad leading to Fragrance Net shows how sometimes advertisers can get too busy to remember to not publish an ad that is just a test.

To be fair, this doesn't have to be an ad from Fragrance Net, it can be from one of their affiliates.

In any event, the lesson is the same, be careful with your creatives before publishing. An ad like this may jump out to readers and people might click out of curiosity or just ignore that ad. The creative is one of the most important criteria in qualifying the click before they click. So instead of wasting $0.10 or $10, whatever that click might be, hopefully your ad content will qualify them beforehand.

In this case, it likely can lead to a wasted click.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Note: This post was written last week and scheduled to be published automatically on April 21st.

Google Pays AdSense Publishers Larger Share Overall

Posted: April 18th, 2008, 2:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Whenever Google announces earnings, we have a thread at WebmasterWorld that summarizes how much share Google is taking from the earnings AdSense publishers make.

So if you click on an AdSense ad on my personal blog, how much of that cost-per-click am I get and how much is Google getting.

Based on the earnings report, Google is taking 21% and the remaining 79% is going to me. Now, I doubt this is an exact number, because this includes premium publishers, special partners and so on. So I am sure some of those partners get a higher or maybe even a lower share than the typical AdSense publisher.

But overall, Google is being fair. In fact, Google seems to been paying out publishers more then they have done historically. The thread summarizes:

The past few quarters have been between 75% and 79%.

One other member has a nice post as well:

Revenues up 41%, earnings up 31% - doesn't sound like they're ripping anyone off to me. Now if revenues were up 30% and earnings were up 40%, that would be a different story.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Adds "Choose Units" Reporting Option

Posted: April 15th, 2008, 2:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

I am not a huge report guy on Google AdSense, but according to a WebmasterWorld thread, Google has added a new filter option on their advanced reports. You can now filter the reports by unit type.

If you want to see how much money you are making from "ad units" versus "link units," you can now easily do that via the "Choose Units" option in the Google AdSense advanced reports section. Here is a screen capture:

Honestly, I would not have known if this option is new or not myself. So I am going by the word of three different WebmasterWorld members, who are reporting it is brand new.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Low CTR: Is Google AdSense Encountering a Glitch?

Posted: April 11th, 2008, 4:38pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google AdSense

A Google AdSense publisher at WebmasterWorld is reporting that his highest earning day had poor performance. He wonders if it has something to do with a new AdSense glitch or if this problem is just personally impacting him.

Fortunately for him, he's not alone. One member reports that the ads were not very contextually relevant. Another reports that it may not be a glitch after all but is reporting instead that his earnings dropped after Google added scrolling arrows to AdSense adds.

What recourse do you have? Martinibuster lists four things you can check in your website's log files:

What keywords did your visitors use to access your site? Is it different than previous days?
What are your most popular pages? Are those different than previous days as well? What were the earnings on those pages?
Are more people abandoning your pages than in previous days?
How deep did your visitors venture into your pages? Is this any different than how they performed previously?

Martinibuster (and other forum members) also report that he didn't have a problem with AdSense during this time. Other members believe that it may just be tax season playing into the behavior of some website visitors who cannot make a purchase until they finish paying their dues to the IRS.

I guess you never know.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Google AdSense Tax Season Advice

Posted: April 9th, 2008, 3:20pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

It is that time of the year again, just a few more days until Tax Day in America. That reminds me, I need to call my accountant and see the status of my returns...

In any event, this is typically when AdSense publishers try to come up with a list of what they can deduct from their AdSense earnings. Keep in mind, I am not an accountant, so any advice here must be run by someone who is a professional in this area.

A WebmasterWorld thread has a list of items you may be able to deduct. I have complied some of the items into this bulleted list below:

Internet Connections
Hosting Fees
Tax preparation fees
Bank fees
Computer Costs
Forum Membership Fees (i.e. WebmasterWorld)
Conference Fees (hotel, food, travel and event - careful with this)
Lunches & Dinners for Business
Office Furniture & Supplies
Ads & Site Promos
Health Insurance
Telephone
Postage
etc

You can find our coverage of this from two years ago at Tax Deductions For Google AdSense: It's Tax Season.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Blocking An Advertiser Via The Adsense Ad Review Center

Posted: April 8th, 2008, 3:16pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Google has been rolling out a new AdSense feature that you can likely see by going to the "Ad Setup" screen and clicking on the "Competitive Ad Filter" link. Then you should see access to the "Ad Review Center" (aka ARC).

It gives you more granular control over the ads displayed on your site. Here is a screen capture:

But it does not work exactly like the "competitive ad filter." In fact, in a WebmasterWorld thread, AdSenseAdvisor confirms that if you block an advertiser in the Ad Review Center, it will not block that advertiser from showing up in the contextually relevant area. So, it will only allow you to block ads for placement targeted ads and not contextually targeted ads. Here is more Q&A from AdSenseAdvisor:

There is no limit on how many ads/advertisers you can block in a session.
An ad group is either placement or contextually targeted. If you block a placement-targeted ad, it will not then appear on your site as a contextually-targeted ad.

If you add a site to your Competitive ad filter, ads for this site will not appear in your ARC.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

UK Google AdSense Publishers Payment Delay

Posted: April 1st, 2008, 3:06pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: AdSense Google

If you are based in the UK and are awaiting your Google AdSense payment, you might have to wait a little longer. A Google Groups post from an official Google AdSense representative, Stephanie, said that due to Easter coinciding with the first payment processing day, payment will be delayed in the UK.

I've checked in with our payments specialists about your reports of not seeing any 'Payment in progress' links yet (especially for publishers located in the UK).
Because the Easter weekend coincided with the start of the March payment process, payments to the UK will be slightly delayed this payment period. If you're eligible for a payment, please be assured that it will be issued and details posted to your account by the end of the week.

Thanks for all of your reports, and we apologize for the delay.

You will receive your payments by the end of the week, and Google apologizes for the delay.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

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Posted: April 12th, 2010, 3:04pm CEST by rustybrick

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Posted: April 9th, 2010, 3:39pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: April 2nd, 2010, 2:30pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: March 18th, 2010, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: March 17th, 2010, 2:08pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: March 11th, 2010, 3:18pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: March 5th, 2010, 12:21pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: March 3rd, 2010, 1:19pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 26th, 2010, 9:37am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 17th, 2010, 2:38pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 15th, 2010, 2:57pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 12th, 2010, 2:39pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 11th, 2010, 2:48pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 9th, 2010, 3:03pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 4th, 2010, 3:03pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 4th, 2010, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: February 3rd, 2010, 2:10pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: January 29th, 2010, 2:10pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: January 28th, 2010, 2:18pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: January 26th, 2010, 2:59pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: January 25th, 2010, 2:09pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 2:45pm CET by rustybrick