AdSense
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
AdSense is an advertising program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text and image advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on a per-click basis. Google utilizes its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted ad system may sign up through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the ads are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the ads is often relevant to the website.
It currently uses JavaScript code to incorporate the advertisements into a participating site. If it is included on a site which has not yet been crawled by the Mediabot, it will temporarily display advertisements for charitable causes known as public service announcements (PSAs). (Note that the Mediabot is a separate crawler from the Googlebot that maintains Google's search index.)
Many sites use AdSense to monetize their content and some webmasters work hard to maximize their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:
- They use a wide range of traffic generating techniques including but not limited to online advertising.
- They build valuable content on their sites; content which attracts AdSense ads and which pay out the most when they get clicked.
- They use copy on their websites that encourage clicks on Ads. Note that Google prohibits people from using phrases like "Click on my AdSense ads" to increase click rates. Phrases accepted are "Sponsored Links" and "Advertisements".
The source of all AdSense income is the AdWords program which in turn has a complex pricing model based on a Vickrey second price auction, in that it commands an advertiser to submit a sealed bid (not observable by competitors). Additionally, for any given click received, advertisers only pay one bid increment above the second-highest bid.
In May 2005, Google unveiled a version of Adsense than runs on RSS feeds that have more than 100 active subscribers. According to the Google Blog, “advertisers have their ads placed in the most appropriate feed articles; publishers are paid for their original content; readers see relevant advertising - and in the long run, more quality feeds to choose from”.
Abuse of Google AdSense
Some webmasters create sites tailored to lure searchers from Google and other engines onto their AdSense to make money from clicks. These "zombie" sites often contain nothing but a large amount of interconnected, automated content (e.g. a directory with content from the Open Directory Project). Possibly the most popular form of such "AdSense farms" are splogs ("spam blogs"), which are centered around known high-paying keywords. These and related approaches are considered to be search engine spam and can be reported to Google.
