Adsense is a program offered by Google that allows website owners to earn revenue by placing Google ads on their site. You get paid when someone clicks on an ad.Google Adwords
Google Adsense works in conjunction with another Google program called Adwords. Google Adwords is a network of advertisers that buy ad placement on Google search and also on Google’s site partner network (Adsense).
Adwords advertisers buy ad space on the content network by bidding on keywords. If their bid is high enough, they get placement on sites with that particular keyword.
Because the advertisements only show up when the keywords are present on your site, you’ll get highly targeted ads that are relevant to your site and add value to your readers. Having ads that are related to your content also means your readers are more likely to click on the ad and earn you money.
Making money
How much you get paid by Adsense per click is dependent on how much the advertisers are bidding on that keyword. Usually, companies with high dollar value or high margin products and services will pay more per click. Common products in this area include web hosting, travel, car loans and bank loans.
If your goal is to earn money online, take into account which keywords have high competition and design your site around them. To learn which keywords have high competition, visit Google’s free keyword tool.
Different types of Adsense Programs
In addition to providing ads for content, Adsense has some other programs available for publishers including:
- Adsense for domains – with this program, you can take a website address that you own and have it set up to just run ads without other content. This program will work best if you have a website URL that people are likely to type into their address bar without a search (this is called direct type). If it is a simple name it’s more likely to get a high number of direct types. Domainers (people who buy domains strictly to place ads on) also sometimes buy commonly misspelled company names in the hopes that someone will go there by mistake.
- Adsense For RSS – this program allows you to add Adsense ads to your RSS feed so that when readers look at your content in their RSS reader, they’ll also get ads by Google. Adsense for RSS works well in conjunction with placing ads on your blog.
- Adsense for Mobile – just like it says, with this program, you can add Adsense to a mobile website. You can actually create your own mobile site with a WordPress plug-in, but we’ll talk more about that in future posts.
- Adsense for Search – with this program, you can embed Google’s search engine on your site. When someone uses search on your site and clicks through to a paid ad, you get paid.
Before you start using Adsense, make sure you review their terms of service closely, as you don’t want to get banned from the program and miss out on the opportunity to make money.
Adsense Guidelines:
- Click Fraud – don’t click on your own ads or ask friends to click them for you
- Don’t tell users to click on your ads in any way
- Never alter the Adsense code in any way
- Don’t run automated programs to click on your website’s ads
- Never divulge your Adsense earnings publicly
- Don’t place AdSense on sites that promote violence, drugs or any other illegal activity.
To find out more about Adsense policy, visit Google’s Terms and Conditions.
