Massaging Ad Placement To Increase Click Through Rates

I provide a variety of SEO services for my clients, but most of these have first been hatched on my own sites and blogs before being exported. After all, can I really recommend something that hasn’t been tested and tried by me?

Maximizing CTR

One area where I seem to get more calls for help than others involves the placement of Google ads or similar type advertisements. On static HTML pages you go with Google’s recommendations and hope for the best, but when it comes to blogging, trying a number of different approaches seems the best way to go.

Admittedly, this blog is my worst example of ad placement, simply because I haven’t approached the blog all that seriously as far as its set up goes. MK|SEO exists primarily to provide SEO for other sites and to showcase some of my work. I realize that this is a poor excuse, but AdSense just isn’t a biggie here for me here.

Google Lends A Hand

Getting back to ad placement, if you are using AdSense you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the Adsense Help Center where Google has set up optimization essentials and strategies to help you succeed. After all, if they click through while on your site and at greater numbers, then Google can prove to customers that AdSense works (and they make more money, ‘natch!) Whether sales are converted or not is a different discussion.

A Nifty Plugin For AdSense and YPN!

My most recent strategy is to test a WordPress plug-in which allows ads to appear within the body of the article. I’ve tried this in the past, but was always dissatisfied with the results until I came across the All In One AdSense and YPN plugin, which makes configuring ads a snap. What I like best about this particular plugin is that it serves ads where you want them — left, right, center, upper, lower, random, etc. — lots of choices and places for them to appear. YPN, btw is Yahoo! Publishers Network. The plug-in can be used for other CTR programs, not just these two.

I’ve only used the plugin for two days on three different sites, but I am already seeing an increase in CTR which spells more money for me. This is especially good news as AdSense lost its sheen for me me three years ago when my income suddenly dropped. Though I don’t expect to make a bundle off of AdSense again, there is room for growth and I plan on optimizing my blogs to take advantage of my discovery.

In conclusion, I can tell you that massaging your ad placement from time to time makes good business sense. I’ll know better in a week or two whether the AdSense/YPN plugin consistently brings improved results, but for now it is off to a good start.

Making money through your site is more difficult than a few years back, but if you update your mindset you can succeed and make money online.