Google’s own definition of AdSense

For online advertisers, AdSense is a huge network through which they can sell themlselves, their products and their services. For web publishers, it’s a revenue stream but what about Google, what’s their take on the service?

Over the years, a large number of AdSense publishers have wondered what words Google would use to properly define the “publisher side” of its all important pay-per-click advertising system (comprising other elements, namely AdWords where advertisers purchase the ads [that are later shown through AdSense]).

If you’ve been wondering about that too, here’s how Google defines AdSense, in its 2008 annual report, on page 56:

AdSense for content is our online service for distributing ads from our advertisers that are relevant to content on our Google Network members’ web sites. Under this program, we use automated technology to analyze the meaning of the content on the web page and serve relevant ads based on the meaning of such content. For example, a web page on an automotive blog that contains an entry about vintage cars might display ads for vintage car parts or vintage car shows. These ads are displayed in spaces that our AdSense for content partners have set aside on their web sites. AdSense for content allows a variety of ad types to be shown, including text ads, image ads, Google Video Ads, link units (which are sets of clickable links to topic pages related to page content), themed units (which are regular text ads with graphic treatments that change seasonally and by geography) and gadget ads (which are customized “mini-sites” that run as ads on AdSense publisher web sites).

For our online AdSense program, our advertisers pay us a fee each time a user clicks on one of our advertisers’ ads displayed on our Google Network members’ web sites or, for those advertisers who choose our cost-per-impression pricing, as their ads are displayed. To date, we have paid most of these advertiser fees to our Google Network members, and we expect to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. We recognize these advertiser fees as revenue and the portion of the advertiser fee we pay to our Google Network members as traffic acquisition costs under cost of revenues. In some cases, we guarantee our Google Network members minimum revenue share payments based on their achieving defined performance terms, such as number of search queries or advertisements displayed. Google Network members do not pay any fees associated with the use of our AdSense program on their web sites.

Our agreements with Google Network members consist largely of uniform online “click-wrap” agreements that members enter into by interacting with our registration web sites. The standard agreements have no stated term and are terminable at will. Agreements with our larger members are individually negotiated. Both the standard agreements and the negotiated agreements contain provisions requiring us to share with the Google Network member most of the advertiser fees generated by users clicking on ads on the Google Network member’s web site or, for advertisers who choose our cost-per-impression pricing, as the ads are displayed on the Google Network member’s web site.

Whoever wrote this, at Google, did a very good job at explaining AdSense… in just three paragraphs!

If similarly-sized businesses, like IBM, Cisco or Microsoft had attempted to define such an important business operation as this one is such a short linespan, chances are they would’ve failed, filling page after page to eventually “get to the point”.

This AdSense definition, published in the annual report and reprinted here, follows the exact same logic as Google’s search home page. “Easy does it” seems to be the general rule of thumb behind what AdSense is and seeks to be. In itself, this is wonderful news for all the smaller web publishers out there because it means Google doesn’t intend to overly formalize its ad network, like some competitors have.

Take APT, Yahoo!’s unified digital advertising platform.

It’s probably good but you likely need millions of visitors per day to get any level of attention from them to be —considered— for their ad program. Which is basically out of reach for over 99% of the web publishers out there. So all these fine web enthusiasts flock to Google’s AdSense where such insane “barriers to entry” simply don’t exist.

Talking about Yahoo!’s ad network, one has to wonder why they insist on being so elitist about who gets to show their ads. Is it because Yahoo! hate smaller publishers? Are they convinced only “they” know how to deliver content, and value? It’s anybody’s guess why Yahoo!’s “external publisher base” is so severely skimmed to keep only astronomically huge publishers while slamming the door in the face of all others.

Oh! Well, it’s their problem, not Google’s.

For those who like to read annual reports (even if the very idea of it might seem odd, at first), Google’s 2008 review of its activities, amidst the economic downturn that has started to be felt at the end of that year, proves that Larry and Sergei still steer this search giant with agility and grace.

Tens of thousands of people stand behind Google’s success but even though the valuation of the company has skyrocketed in the last decade, the people at the top have kept cool about it.

And it’s probably why any web publisher with sound content (i.e.: unique, useful and valuable) and a legitimate desire to generate revenue can apply to Google’s AdSense and reasonably expect to be accepted.

If you’re looking for a true sense of entrepreneurial spirit, online, look no further that Google AdSense… even in these hopefully episodic times of economic crisis.

Tags: google, adsense, adwords, definition of adsense, what is adsense, why adsense, how does adsense work, adsense publishers, ppc, pay-per-click, online ads, ad network, advertising, contextual ads, yahoo, apt, online publishers, money, revenue, online revenu, content monetization

AdSense’s low eCPM for web publishers

This financial crisis isn’t good for Google, its AdWords advertisers and its AdSense publishers.

While Google’s 2008 annual report shows a dip in the pay-per-clic advertising revenue model, the situation hasn’t improved since the beginning of 2009. In fact, the eCPM levels many publishers are seeing are hitting what appear to be record lows.

What probably hurts the most is the roller-coaster effect, of sort, between the “banner year-like” revenues of 2008 and the abysmal counterpart, in 2009.

AdSense is still the most lucrative PPC ad program online but countless publishers can’t make ends meet anymore. One publisher saw eCPM metrics shrink threefold. In real life, it’s the difference between making some $75 a day (in 2008) and some $25 a day (in 2009).

While many publishers had quit their day job to build high-quality web destinations, financed through AdSense, in 2007 and 2008, this year’s revenue slide has convinced most to get back on the job market and basically forget (for a while, at least) about their newfound lifestyle, as work-at-home web publishers.

But the more creative web publishers continue to derive enough money from AdSense to hold on tight during these generally harsh financial times.

Here’s what’s being done by some web publishers to “stay in the AdSense game”…

1. Cater to niche markets (namely to the debt consolidation and troubled assets niches);
2. Bank on the social networking trend (including “spin marketing” in Facebook groups);
3. Reduce the number of AdSense “ad zones” to show only the most lucrative ads;
4. Redesign the looks and add new features to existing web destinations;
5. Find a way to get more visitors in order to make up for the lost revenues (with the “original” visitor count).

Let’s hope that you’ll get creative too and basically endure the current market downturn. This will likely put you in an enviable position when the market goes back up, again. Assuming that it will. Of course.

So, is it possible to survive even though AdSense’s eCPM levels appear to be lower than ever? Probably, yes. But it’s not going to be a joyride. This time around, AdSense publishers won’t be laughing all the way to bank, like so many were, in 2008, the year AdSense really shined — for Google, the advertisers and the publishers alike.

Mathematically speaking, known and [publicly] unkown factors affect AdSense’s eCPM.

Rather weird situations seem to have wildly unpredictable effects on this particular metric but suffice it to say that for a large group of AdSense publishers, it hasn’t been as good in 2009 as it’s been before.

Given Google’s inherent creativity and leadership, one can safely assume that this particular “revenue decline” issue is being dealt with quite seriously at the search king’s headquartiers, in Mountain View, CA.

In the meantime, web publishers are welcome to get creative in order to beat this financial crisis and prove, once again, that AdSense’s online advertising continues to be a huge bargain, even for cash-strapped advertisers.

Tags: google, adsense, adwords, ecpm, ppc, pay-per-click, ads, advertising, online ads, publicity, web ad zones, adsense publishers, adwords advertisers, revenue down, overall revenue, revenue generation, work-at-home, web publishers, web publishing

Are AdSense publishers’ revenues on a slippery slope, or what?

If you’ve been a Google AdSense publisher for several years, you probably remember the 18th of November, 2007.

That’s the day the clickable zones in Google’s ads were dramatically modified so only the title and the link were clickable, instead of the whole ad, including the description and the surrounding “white space”.

This modification in the way the Google AdSense ads were delivered to publishers’ web pages had desastrous consequences in their revenue — most publishers seeing their click through rate (CTR) drop by over 50%, with revenues plunging accordingly.

The AdWord advertisers were happy but even through this measure should’ve encouraged them to spend more (because of the heightened legitimity of the clicks), it didn’t seem to have any significant effect and publisher revenues have never recovered from that spectacular drop, starting in mid-November of 2007.

Fast forward in March of 2009, with a nasty recession hitting the US and many other “first world” countries, AdSense publishers are being hit by another revenue drop, this time, by the way of free falling effective cost per thousand impressions (eCPMs).

While the eCPM for a business blog might’ve averaged around $15 in January of 2009, something happened in mid-February that has been tanking the eCPM since. Nowadays, in March, the same profile is lucky to get $3 (of eCPM) instead of the usually very stable (over the last year, at least) $15 revenue threshhold.

Because of this, a typical publisher used to getting some $50 a day will likely get 5 times less and with a meager 10$ —for the exact same number of valid clicks— to live by, which obviously isn’t enough.

Most AdSense insiders know Google has taken a bit more than its “fair share”, over the last year but this latest drop in web publisher revenues is probably linked directly to the advertisers themselves… and how little money they now invest in the online advertising campaigns.

But Google isn’t providing web publishers with any sort of insight that would confirm this theory so we’re all forced to speculate to guess what’s causing Google AdSense’s publisher revenues to hit (what appears to be) record lows.

Other long-time web publishers think the global (and domestic) inventory of quality advertising zones has grown exponentially and therefore, advertisers now have access to a nearly unlimited number of online venues to reach their “intended audience”. This is likely to take a (serious) toll of the already battered web publisher revenues.

And there’s another thing…

Yes, it gets worse — Google AdWords now features way to screen out certain type of publishers and as such, an advertiser can decide to spend his money in Google’s own network of sites instead of “spreading the wealth” elsewhere, in the “web publisher network”. The controls allow for more fine-tuning but the stage is set for yet another hit of web publisher revenues. Even for those who create unique, valuable and sought content.

And last but not least, Google’s rules on what constitutes a “valid click” seem to be quite variable, depending on who you ask.

Most web publishers were under the impression that whenever a visitor —an genuine one, that is— clicked on an ad, money was awarded to their account, for that click. Well, it’s not simple, anymore.

It seems Google AdSense’s rules have evolved in such a way that if a visitor doesn’t stay “x” number of minutes of the advertisers’ web site, the click doesn’t count, at all. Speculation about a “one minute minimum” time requirement is rampant in several AdSense-related forums but, as with so many things regarding AdSense, any information of remotely significant value is usually kept —secret— so articles like this one are only going to multiply, all over the web, with all flavors of “requirements” being discussed. Google should really clear the air on all of these matters but if it hasn’t done so in the past so, realistically, there’s little chance things will change, in the future.

So, for the time being, countless web publishers are getting hit head-on by the “financial crisis” and it’s unclear when things will head back up… if ever.

For the hour, what seems to be akin to a tragedy is taking place and web publishers will need to take action, sooner or later, to recoup their lost revenues.

Tags: adsense, google adsense, falling revenues, lower revenues, low ctr, low ecpm, financial crisis, recession, economic downturn, dramatic drop in adsense revenues, advertisers, adwords, google adwords, speculation, speculation about adsense, web publishers, publishers losing money, adsense money, adsense advertising

Do lower AdSense revenues make you blue?

Small and not-so-small webmasters alike are currently feeling the financial crises pinch all the way down into their daily AdSense earnings with lower than average eCPM numbers making it next-to-impossible to bring in a decent monthly pay even when tens of thousands of (hopefully valid) clicks being registered.

In fact, some bloggers believe it’s Google’s fault and that they’re keeping a larger share of the money that, in their view, usually goes to publishers but that explanation doesn’t add up. It could be (nobody knows for sure) but it just doesn’t feel right.

The more logical explanation has to do with basic supply and demand.

The supply of advertising space, namely in blogs like this one, have been growing steadily over the last months. That means advertisers are presented with more choices than ever before, within AdWords. So the supply side, meaning the countless AdSense Publishers, is busting at the seams.

On the other hand, advertisers are likely to hold back on frivolous spending, such as AdSense, resorting to local TV and radio spots or going back to specialty publications… offline. Even if these advertisers stick with AdSense, they’re likely to ease on the PPC budget they allow Google to manage so that, in turn, makes for lower revenues downstream… towards publishers.

So what can publishers do to push up their AdSense revenues in these times of financial crisis?

A lot of things, surely but here are a few…

• Display your ads as close to the top of your page as possible — it appears Google, through some secret wizardry nobody can be quite sure about, awards more revenue to publishers putting their ads at the top, where all visitors can clearly see them;
• Have less ad zones — this will filter out the less lucrative ads and only display those that pay the most. It might be risky since less visitors might see the ads but perhaps it’s worth a shot;
• Go for colors that work for you — lots of AdSense ads still display using the “generic” Google-blue. Keep in mind that “ad blindness” is more likely to happen with this configuration even if you feel “visitors will be comfortable with colors they know”, you also risk that they won’t see them, at all;
• Redesign your page layout — how your site looks makes a significant difference in the number of clicks you’ll get so make sure to put a lot of time to make your AdSense-bearing site as appealing as possible;
• Link to other nice folks — especially if you operate a blog, linking with other blogger buddies will do wonders for your visitor count… and theirs.

Being blue because of lower AdSense revenues just doesn’t fix the basic problem: a much lower monthly check.

To cure these (probably temporary) blues, you must take action.

Google provides you with limited metrics about what’s really going on, clickwise but savvy publishers have a sixth sense to juice as many details as they can from those numbers by using channels and testing various advertising scenarios. This improves their knowledge of how AdSense rewards certain types of scenarios instead of others.

The financial crises Wall Street has basically engineered (from way back) and for which we feel a painful pinch now might take a few months (or even years) to wane away but as long as it hangs over our heads, publishers need to become even more creative in finding ways to stabilize and hopefully increase their revenues.

Good luck to all the good publishers out there who feel bad about getting less money for their hard work. Hang in there, there seems to be lots of light at the end of this tunnel.

Tags: adsense, google adsense, adwords, google adwords, publishers, advertisers, pay-per-click, ppc, daily adsense revenues, monthly adsense check, publishing content, adsense blues, revenue blues

Third-party ads displayed through AdSense

If you’re an advertiser looking to manage all your online advertising through the powerful Google AdWords interface, things are looking up since Google has decided to display third-party ads, through AdSense.

At first, this new ad sourcing alternative will only be made available for English pages viewed in the United States but as the program evolves, it’s expected to be offered in other languages and countries.

For publishers, displaying these third-party ads is done automatically if the AdSense code is set to accept “images”. Since most publishers choose this option, the distribution network for the third-party ads should be quite large and varied.

This being said, countless publishers are looking to get more details about the revenue opportunities these third-party ads could bring. While the AdSense network is popular, in part, because of the “cost-per-click” model, the third-party ads are known to shy away that particular model in favor of a fixed price per thousand or per million ad banner displays. It’s still unclear how Google AdSense will reconcile these heavily differentiated payment models.

Publishers looking to filter out specific ads can still do so using the competitive ad filter and to make that job even easier, Google states that only advertisers with whom they have proven relationships and who’ve clearly demonstrated commitments to their quality standards may participate in their program — futhermore, Google policies governing ad content and formatting remain unchanged.

So, where do these third-party ads come from?

From a more technical standpoint, the ads will be served by both DoubleClick DFA and Mediaplex/ValueClick, for North America. Meanwhile, the third-party ads will come from DoubleClick Rich Media, Eyeblaster, EyeWonder, Interpolls, Pointroll and Unicast. On the research front, Dynamic Logic/Safecount, Factor TG, IAG and InsightExpress have all been certified by Google.

It seems malware will not be an issue with these new third party ads as Google specifically forbids fourth-party calls or sub-syndication to advertisers or vendors they haven’t certified. Also, publishers and users can rest assured all third-party ads are checked for malware when they’re initially entered into the AdWords system.

While this new announcement from Google will surely fire up the advertisers looking to make sense of the online advertising complexity using AdWords’ relatively simple interface, it’s still unclear if the publishers will feel this latest move contributes significantly to their bottom line or if it dilutes the currently profitable pay-per-click model.

Tags: third-party ads, google, adwords, adsense, pay-per-click, advertising, ads, banners, images

Rapid Keyword helps e-marketers

Successful e-marketers already understand the importance of choosing the most profitable keywords over those which yield a lot less return.

Just as every year brings new dictionary words, the keyword landscape is continuously shifting.

Wether you’re experienced in keyword research or not, the basic idea turns around the concept of “conversion”. The right keywords bring the visitors who have the most conversion potential, for your offerings.

Since the keyword research drill can become somewhat tedious and repetitive, perhaps it’s a wiser path to let your computer do the heavy lifting while you provide minimal (but nevertheless essential) guidance. Rapid Keyword (version 2.2, nowadays) installs on your Windows computer in just a few seconds and starts hunting down all the most lucrative keywords, for your business, within Google AdWords, Yahoo’s Overture and even MSN’s Digital Advertising Solutions.

The software is quite flexible as you can, for instance, analyze your competition’s keywords, generate highly probable typos and manage the relevant keywords lists that are produced. Furthermore, the META tag parser makes it fun to gather all the best keywords used at leading web destinations.

For the Google fans out there, it’s now possible to extract all the “Google Suggest” keywords that you want so, in this particular case, you’re absolutely certain these words (or expressions) are top performers. In every way, they’re “Google-approved”!

All the keywords are harvested in a live setting so your results are always fresh. That makes a huge difference since search patterns change all the time, especially in certain niches where new offerings come out frequently.

If you’re not sure about Rapid Keyword, you’re invited to download it for free and try it out for yourself. If you choose to buy this keyword research software, you’ll see it’s surprisingly affordable and continuously updated to reflect the latest updates, namely in the major search engines.

Other keyword generation tools either have less features or work too slowly to stay productive when using them so Rapid Keyword appears to be the leader in the keyword search market.

Tags: rapid keyword, e-marketing, marketers, keyword research