How Adsense Works - Newbie Series

[built]

How do you know if you have been smart priced?

 

[CCarter]

My question to this would be the about the re-marketing. Wouldn't the user see their cookied ads (if they have any) and not the contextual ads?

Yes, if they are on a site with adsense and it makes more sense for the re-marketing AD to show instead of the normal ADs. I unfortunately cannot tell you HOW Google determines that. I get re-marketed to in the weird and out of context places all the time. But I wouldn't worry about the re-targeting being so overwhelming it'll reduce your revenue or anything.

Shit is not that serious... But I don't have an answer directly for that. Bottom line my websites are generating high CPC revenue regardless of the retargeting/remarketing potentially going on my visitors.

 

[built]

The more I'm reading about adsense, the more I want to move away from it. Seems like you have no control over what happens to your revenue, one month you could be making bank, next month you could be shit out of luck

 

[Ryuzaki]

My question to this would be the about the re-marketing. Wouldn't the user see their cookied ads (if they have any) and not the contextual ads?

Yes, and Adsense shows the highest paying ads. So if the ads of the page are worth more than the content types or specific ads they are cookied for, you see the ads of the page instead. It all boils down to who bid the highest CPC. I'm fairly certain there's no average CTR for their campaigns thrown in the mix. It's all about the CPC.

 

[backwoods]

The more I'm reading about adsense, the more I want to move away from it. Seems like you have no control over what happens to your revenue, one month you could be making bank, next month you could be shit out of luck

No, adsense is the best choice for general content especially if you are a lone wolf who doesn't have time to manage ads and advertisers all day long. Google has plenty of ad inventory and they do everything for you. Again, I'm talking about general news type content where you aren't trying to directly sell something.

You need to focus on the content and marketing it. That's it. The money will come.

I've watched Scott (ViralNova) build his first website 10 yrs ago and has always used Adsense with all of them. He has experimented with other ad networks but always comes back to it because it's more profitable, it's automated, they pay on-time every month, it's convenient, etc. He has the data to back it up. A LOT of data. And he never did any of that silly CTR trickery crap either. If it's good enough for him and the multiple exits he has had, it's certainly good enough for you to make money with.

 

[turbin3]

Not sure to post this here,anyway i'll still ask,between TE and the serpwoo keyword tool which one is better?

I work for an 8 figure company, where resources are almost never an issue. We use SERPWoo. It's also the most cost-effective option, and yet the most powerful. 'nuff said. Just do it already.

*Edited to add* This is a really solid post Carter & eliquid. The thing I particularly like is the emphasis on the implications of various choices and their relationship with the "big picture" of how a person's life might look if they go a certain route. Most people starting out might suffer those poor choices for years before they gain that perspective, so it's a great thing being given that glimpse right off the bat.

 

[Joe]

I have a question. I'm currently setting up an adsense account, which I plan to use for everything (mobile app ads, website ads). However there are two choices of type: personal or business. You also can't change this later on.

Basically, if I choose 'business' I'm going to need to set up a business bank account. I plan to do this at some point, but because of local complications this is going to be a pain in the ass. Hence, I currently plan to just enter a personal account, so that this doesn't stall me.

My concern is later changing over. You have to close the existing personal adsense account, and reopen a business adsense account. Is this going to cause any severe hiccups? For example, will any of my apps with adsense ads become dead in the water? Or will all my currently running ads just reassociate with the new account without any problems?

Cheers

 

[CCarter]

However there are two choices of type: personal or business. You also can't change this later on.

Basically, if I choose 'business' I'm going to need to set up a business bank account.

I believe you are over complicating things, there is no difference in the banking account numbers on a personal account versus business, so how would they know it's not a "business bank account"? Just go with business. I dunno but if I'm starting out in a new business endeavor, I like to setup all methods of getting paid as soon as possible before doing business. Otherwise this sounds like just a hobby.

 

[Joe]

I believe you are over complicating things, there is no difference in the banking account numbers on a personal account versus business, so how would they know it's not a "business bank account"? Just go with business.

They say the account must be in the name of the specified business name, otherwise you have to use a personal account. I'm just starting out so I'm in the dark, thus I'm just following instructions.

 

[CCarter]

They say the account must be in the name of the specified business name, otherwise you have to use a personal account. I'm just starting out so I'm in the dark, thus I'm just following instructions.

Go with business if you plan on doing serious business. (Adsense: Check your AdSense account type)

You "MAY" be able to change the Payee: (Adsense:Change of payee name) when you select Business, using your real name and Social as the Tax ID, then switch it to your new business's name, But that's TOO MANY "Ifs" and "Maybes" for my liking. Just setup a business and set it up right from the beginning.

"No matter how tempting, never accept short-term solutions to long-term problems." - Dan Peña​

 

[Ryuzaki]

I've had a personal account under my name since the day Adsense opened, or very close to it anyways. It's never mattered. They track the data and pay out. I report the income and pay taxes on it. The money flows. That's all that matters.

The reps and all that come when you start pushing big numbers on the account, not before, and not just because you have a business account. Aaaand whoops, I just re-read, you said "apps" not "reps". Not sure if they'll merge.

Just grab an account and get going. It's in my personal name, I file the income under my biz and pay the taxes, and nobody cares as long as you're honest.

 

[CCarter]

What's funny is I went into my account and it had neither "Personal" nor "Business" as the account type. I think that was introduced way after I had gotten my Adsense account, so I can't even tell you what I'm on. My first earning was August 2004 = $0.23, #WeBallingNow. I've got a business name in there but I know it's a new business name since I've had the account for so long, so I definitely had to have changed it at some point. I have no idea how.

 

[Ryuzaki]

My first earning was August 2004

Yep, mine was June 2004. Literally one year after Adsense started in June 2003. It took me that long from being approved and then actually applying the ads to a site and making it earn anything! I wrote content that entire year and never promoted a thing. Never got enough traffic to even get a $0.01 CPM. My account mentions nothing about business or personal, but it's been under my own personal name since June 2003 and never an issue.

That's sad to think about, since around 2002 I was doing pretty well with a forum and an ecommerce site. Been infatuated with Adsense authority sites ever since.

 

[Joe]

OK I just went ahead and set it up with 'business' selected. It turns out that you can't even select a pay-out account until you've accrued money in the adsense account anyway, so setting up a business bank account isn't a pressing matter after all.

 

[Durbtron]

I work for a digital agency that buys adwords display traffic. It is refreshing to see the publisher perspective. I can confirm that most buyers In-house/Agency hardly ever block placements.

 

[Jared]

Question for the AdSense vets: Is my AdSense math correct, and are the numbers realistic?

I'm hoping for something along the lines of $2 per click (dental niche), with a 5% CTR. To simplify things: Around 10 cents per impression.

I plan on using the maximum of 3 ads per page, so I'm expecting around 2 impressions per page load. 20 cents per page load.

I'm hoping for around 2 page loads per unique visitor -- 40 cents per unique visitor.

So, with 1,000 unique visitors a day, I'd be looking at about $400 per day, $2,800 per week, and $12,000 per month.

$12,000 a month sounds pie-in-the-sky high for AdSense, so I'm thinking I'm being unrealistically optimistic, or is this doable?

Am I?

Thanks.

 

[Calamari]

I don't know the dental niche, but these assumptions you're making are leading you to unrealistic expectations.

With 1,000 visitors a day, earning $50 a day would be doing really really really really really like really really great in a good paying niche.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I think the deadliest assumption here is 5% CTR in today's world. 3.5% would be more realistic in my mind as a high end rate. An actual realistic expectation would be 1% - 2.5%.

A second problem would be a 2 pageviews per visitor on that niche, even if it's organic traffic or paginated viral traffic. I don't see you being at that or above it over the long haul. 1.5 maybe? Maybe you can pull it off, I'm just speaking from my own experience in niches like these.

I've never personally done dentistry... is $2 an average click or a "nice" click with the rest being more like $0.85 and $1.25, etc.? That would make a difference in your calculation too.

But substituting in my numbers from above and leaving your average click alone brings it to 7 cents per impression and with 1.5 views/session, you'd get 10.5¢ per user. At 1000 uniques per day, you're talking about $105 per day, $735 per week, and $2,940 per month. Still great numbers but drastically different from your extrapolation, based on two small fluctuations in key metrics. This value is actually very close to what I was doing in a site in a similar vertical. But drop the CTR to 2.5% or lower and your earnings are going to roll off real fast.

648 x 413​

 

[Jared]

Thanks, fellas.

One mistake I've made is counting every ad load as an impression. It seems AdSense counts every pageload as a single impression, regardless of the number of ads loaded within that page. So, right away that cuts my projection (based on 2 impressions per pageload) in half.

****.

Ah, well.

I've decided to lower my goals to $3-5K a month for this site. I figure if I can create an info-packed dental site, bringing in plenty of quality traffic, there's bound to be a number of ways to turn it into a great earner outside of just AdSense.

For anyone who wants to try dental, here's a list of 23,000 dental keywords, 2,750 of which show a CPC of $10.00 or higher: http://ranknova.com/dental.csv

 

[miketpowell]

Yes, and Adsense shows the highest paying ads. So if the ads of the page are worth more than the content types or specific ads they are cookied for, you see the ads of the page instead. It all boils down to who bid the highest CPC. I'm fairly certain there's no average CTR for their campaigns thrown in the mix. It's all about the CPC.

No CPC does not matter at all without taking into account the CTR and it's the CTR of the specific ad they are showing. If the ad doesn't have enough data it falls back on adgroup/campaign/account until it has the data to estimate eCPM.

CPC is completely moot without CTR for every single thing within Adwords/Adsense.

Question for the AdSense vets: Is my AdSense math correct, and are the numbers realistic?

I'm hoping for something along the lines of $2 per click (dental niche), with a 5% CTR. To simplify things: Around 10 cents per impression.

I plan on using the maximum of 3 ads per page, so I'm expecting around 2 impressions per page load. 20 cents per page load.

I'm hoping for around 2 page loads per unique visitor -- 40 cents per unique visitor.

So, with 1,000 unique visitors a day, I'd be looking at about $400 per day, $2,800 per week, and $12,000 per month.

$12,000 a month sounds pie-in-the-sky high for AdSense, so I'm thinking I'm being unrealistically optimistic, or is this doable?

Am I?

Thanks.

That's very unrealistic. The easy way to think of this is RPM, which is on average how much do you make for every 1000 times your page loads. For viral/general traffic it's usually between $.50 - $6 for Adsense. For targeted traffic in certain niches it starts to get above $10, getting above $50 or $100 is pretty damn tough. You are estimating $400.

 

[AYGJoe]

I work for a digital agency that buys adwords display traffic. It is refreshing to see the publisher perspective. I can confirm that most buyers In-house/Agency hardly ever block placements.

Do what now? I spend half the day blocking non-converting placements for clients. I know which placements convert and why. It's easy to tell when traffic types change. If your working in higher CPC markets (insurance, health, fiance) don't go and send 10 times your daily traffic from some viral/popunder bullshit. There are companies that pay people like me to sit here and monitor their ROI/CR.

Just my 2cents.