Google Adsense Mistakes

Adsense Mistakes I've Made and Mistakes You Should Avoid

I've been an Adsense publisher for about a year now and have made my share of Adsense Mistakes.  Over time there are many things I wish I had done differently and some I've been able to correct.  This article outlines my mistakes in hopes you can avoid them and make your Adsense campaigns more successful.  Some may disagree with the information in this article but its my opinion based on my experience that the Adsense Mistakes I mention in this article are indeed mistakes.

Not using Channels

I've not committed this Adsense sin but if you aren't using Adsense Channels you are losing money and flying blind.  Don't believe me?  Setup at least URL channels for your pages and you'll see in real time what works and what does not.  This is Adsense 101

Using 728x90 Leaderboard Adsense Ad Units

This same logic can apply to many other Adsense Ad units.  In my early days as an Adsense Publisher I tried to blend in ad units using ad units I saw in days past. The problem is that a 728x90 is really seen as a banner by your visitor and will suffer from banner blindness.  The same goes for the half banner and in my opinion smaller units like the 125x125 and maybe the 250x250 but to a lesser extent.  I've found that the 300x250 and sometimes the 336x280 works best consistently and makes creating content simple as I have an ad unit I can rely on in most cases.

Using Multiple Domains Vs Subfolder In A Strong Domain

I've always had a domain www.gallconsulting.com This is the domain I started with and used for all my hobby sites.  Then when I got serious creating other sites with other themes I started using unique domains such as www.sandalspictures.com , www.napavalleypictures.com , www.elkriverdirectory.com etc.  I can tell you with 100% certainty that NO new content shows up in the SERPS as fast or as high as that which is done under my original strong Gallconsulting domain.  The moral of this mistake is that my visitors find my using search engines.  Using special domains based on themes is a mistake of vanity.  Sure these weaker domains may catch up someday but consider all the time required to develop links, pay renewal fees when my visitors could care less what the domain name is.  All my new content goes under www.gallconsulting.com which I hope makes that domain even stronger.

Placing Adsense Ad Units on the top, bottom, right and left of content

This may ruffle feathers in the Adsense publisher community but don't hide your ads by neatly stuffing them on the borders of your site.  Put your Adsense Ad Unit in the middle where your visitor will be forced to see them.  Its not that your visitor doesn't want to see the ads its that over the years of web surfing we've become blind to traditional banner locations.  This is why banner and skyscraper ads are not the high performing ad units.  I liken this to playing poker.  If someone wants to see my cards they've got to pay to see my hand.  Based on this concept I put my ads in the middle below my title and then provide the content below the ad unit.  The payment isn't necessarily a click but the eye stopping on the ads to get to my content.

Forgetting to put your Adsense Ads on your page

This is going to sound dumb but it's happened to me.  I had a great page about the Villagio Inn and Spa.  When I rebuilt the page I got so excited about the new layout I forgot to put my 300x250 ad unit back on the page.  When my stats dropped I figured the advertisers went on the search only route in Adwords and put my time into other areas.  After a month I hit the site after killing my Adwords campaign that steered traffic to the page.  Then I realized NO ADSENSE ADS!  No wonder I was paying PPC fees and getting no return.  As soon as I put my ads back and restarted my Adwords campaign the money started rolling back in.  My key advertisers had not changed a bit, I made a huge mistake.