AdSense
Encyclopedia
Google AdSense which is a program run by Google Inc. allows publishers in the Google Network of content sites to automatically serve text, image, video, and rich media adverts that are targeted to site content and audience. These adverts are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google, and they can generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression
basis. Google beta tested a cost-per-action
service, but discontinued it in October 2008 in favor of a DoubleClick
offering (also owned by Google). In Q1 2011, Google earned US$2.34 billion ($9.36 billion annualized), or 28% of total revenue, through AdSense.
. AdSense has become a popular company in creating and placing banner advertisements on a website, because the advertisements are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the advertisements is often relevant to the website.
Many websites use AdSense to monetize their content; it is the most popular advertising network. AdSense has been particularly important for delivering advertising revenue to small websites that do not have the resources for developing advertising sales programs and sales people to generate revenue with. To fill a website with advertisements that are relevant to the topics discussed, webmasters place a brief HTML code on the websites' pages. Websites that are content-rich have been very successful with this advertising program, as noted in a number of publisher case studies on the AdSense website. AdSense publishers may only place three ad units per page.
Some webmasters put significant effort into maximizing their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:
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. AdSense commands an advertiser to submit a sealed bid (i.e., a bid not observable by competitors). Additionally, for any given click received, advertisers only pay one bid increment above the second-highest bid. Google currently shares 68% of revenue generated by AdSense with content network partners, and 51% of revenue generated by AdSense with AdSense for Search partners.
and Adam Weissman. Oingo developed a proprietary search algorithm that was based on word meanings and built upon an underlying lexicon called WordNet
, which was developed over the previous 15 years by researchers at Princeton University
, led by George Miller.
Oingo changed its name to Applied Semantics in 2001, which was later acquired by Google in April 2003 for US$102 million.
In 2009, Google AdSense announced that it would now be offering new features, including the ability to "enable multiple networks to display ads".
and Atom
feeds that have more than 100 active subscribers. According to the Official 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."
AdSense for Feeds works by inserting images into a feed. When the image is displayed by a RSS reader or Web browser, Google writes the advertising content into the image that it returns. The advertisement content is chosen based on the content of the feed surrounding the image. When the user clicks the image, he or she is redirected to the advertiser's website in the same way as regular AdSense advertisements.
AdSense for Feeds remained in its beta state until August 15, 2008, when it became available to all AdSense users.
This offers domain name owners a way to monetize domain names that are otherwise dormant or not in use.
AdSense for domains is currently being offered to all AdSense publishers, but it wasn't always available to all.
On December 12, 2008, TechCrunch
reported that AdSense for Domains is available for all US publishers.
including popular YouTube
videos.
code for the AdSense search box does not validate as XHTML
, as it does not follow modern principles of website design:
1: using a table structure for unintended purposes is strongly discouraged by the W3C, but nevertheless does not cause a document to fail validation — there is currently no algorithmic method of determining whether a table is used "correctly" (for displaying tabular data or for displaying elements, that get proportionally wider or narrower when browser window resizes in width without active client side scripting).
2: the
Additionally, the AdSense advertisement units use the JavaScript method
The terms of the AdSense program forbid its affiliates from modifying the code, thus preventing these participants from having valid XHTML websites.
However, a workaround has been found by creating a separate HTML webpage containing only the AdSense advertisement units, and then importing this page into an XHTML webpage with an
, or scraper websites
relying on RSS feeds for content). Possibly the most popular form of such "AdSense farms" are splogs (spam blogs), which are centered around known high-paying keywords. Many of these websites use content from other websites, such as Wikipedia
, to attract visitors. These and related approaches are considered to be search engine spam
and can be reported to Google.
A Made for AdSense (MFA) website or webpage has little or no content, but is filled with advertisements so that users have no choice but to click on advertisements. Such pages were tolerated in the past, but due to complaints, Google now disables such accounts.
There have also been reports of Trojan horses
engineered to produce counterfeit Google advertisements that are formatted looking like legitimate ones. The Trojan uploads itself onto an unsuspecting user's computer through a webpage and then replaces the original advertisements with its own set of malicious advertisements.
, Google AdSense has been criticized by some search engine optimization
firms as a large source of what Google calls "invalid clicks", in which one company clicks on a rival's search engine advertisements to drive up the other company's costs.
To help prevent click fraud, AdSense publishers can choose from a number of click-tracking programs. These programs display detailed information about the visitors who click on the AdSense advertisements. Publishers can use this to determine whether or not they have been a victim of click fraud. There are a number of commercial tracking scripts available for purchase.
The payment terms for webmasters have also been criticized.
Google withholds payment until an account reaches US$100,
but many micro content providers require a long time—years in some cases—to build up this much AdSense revenue. However, Google will pay all earned revenue greater than US$10 when an AdSense account is closed and not disabled.
Many website owners complain that their AdSense accounts have been disabled just before they were supposed to receive their first paycheck from Google. Google claims accounts have been disabled due to click fraud or forbidden content, but have offered no proof of this. An automated email is sent to the publisher's owner which offers no reasoning, or options but a link to file an appeal. In the email, Google states that "Because we have a
responsibility to protect our AdWords advertisers from inflated costs due to invalid activity, we've found it necessary to disable your AdSense
account. Your outstanding balance and Google's share of the revenue will both be fully refunded back to the affected advertisers." The revenue generated - whether legitimate or not - is taken, and all complaints are deferred.
Google came under fire when the official Google AdSense Blog showcased the French video website Imineo.com. This website violated Google's AdSense Program Policies by displaying AdSense alongside sexually explicit material. Typically, websites displaying AdSense have been banned from showing such content. Some sites have been banned for distributing copyrighted material even when they hold the copyright themselves or are authorized by the copyright holder to distribute the material.
It has been reported that using both AdSense and AdWords may cause a website to pay Google a commission when the website advertises itself.
In some cases, AdSense displays inappropriate or offensive ads. For example, in a news story about a terrorist attack in India
, an advert was generated for a (presumably non-existent) educational qualification in terrorism.
AdSense uses tracking cookies that are viewed by some users as a threat to privacy. Webmasters that use AdSense must place the appropriate warning in the privacy policy page.
Cost Per Impression
Cost per impression, often abbreviated to CPI or CPM for Cost per thousand impressions, is a phrase often used in online advertising and marketing related to web traffic. It is used for measuring the worth and cost of a specific e-marketing campaign. This technique is applied with web banners,...
basis. Google beta tested a cost-per-action
Cost Per Action
Cost Per Action or CPA is an online advertising pricing model, where the advertiser pays for each specified action linked to the advertisement....
service, but discontinued it in October 2008 in favor of a DoubleClick
DoubleClick
DoubleClick is a subsidiary of Google that develops and provides Internet ad serving services. Its clients include agencies, marketers and publishers who serve customers like Microsoft, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Motorola, L'Oréal, Palm, Inc., Apple Inc., Visa USA, Nike, Carlsberg among others...
offering (also owned by Google). In Q1 2011, Google earned US$2.34 billion ($9.36 billion annualized), or 28% of total revenue, through AdSense.
Overview
Google uses its Internet search technology to serve advertisements based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted advertisement system may enroll through Google AdWordsAdWords
Google AdWords is Google's main advertising product and main source of revenue. Google's total advertising revenues were USD$28 billion in 2010. AdWords offers pay-per-click advertising, cost-per-thousand advertising, and site-targeted advertising for text, banner, and rich-media ads. The AdWords...
. AdSense has become a popular company in creating and placing banner advertisements on a website, because the advertisements are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the advertisements is often relevant to the website.
Many websites use AdSense to monetize their content; it is the most popular advertising network. AdSense has been particularly important for delivering advertising revenue to small websites that do not have the resources for developing advertising sales programs and sales people to generate revenue with. To fill a website with advertisements that are relevant to the topics discussed, webmasters place a brief HTML code on the websites' pages. Websites that are content-rich have been very successful with this advertising program, as noted in a number of publisher case studies on the AdSense website. AdSense publishers may only place three ad units per page.
Some webmasters put significant effort into maximizing their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:
- They use a wide range of trafficWeb trafficWeb traffic is the amount of data sent and received by visitors to a web site. It is a large portion of Internet traffic. This is determined by the number of visitors and the number of pages they visit...
-generating techniques, including but not limited to online advertisingOnline advertisingOnline advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...
. - They build valuable content on their websites that attracts AdSense advertisements, which pay out the most when they are clicked.
- They use text content on their websites that encourages visitors to click on advertisements. Note that Google prohibits webmasters from using phrases like "Click on my AdSense ads" to increase click rates. The 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
Vickrey auction
A Vickrey auction is a type of sealed-bid auction, where bidders submit written bids without knowing the bid of the other people in the auction, and in which the highest bidder wins, but the price paid is the second-highest bid. The auction was created by William Vickrey...
second price auction. AdSense commands an advertiser to submit a sealed bid (i.e., a bid not observable by competitors). Additionally, for any given click received, advertisers only pay one bid increment above the second-highest bid. Google currently shares 68% of revenue generated by AdSense with content network partners, and 51% of revenue generated by AdSense with AdSense for Search partners.
History
Oingo, Inc., a privately held company located in Los Angeles, was started in 1998 by Gilad ElbazGilad Elbaz
Gilad Elbaz is an American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist best known for co-founding, along with Adam Weissman, Applied Semantics . He is the founder and CEO of Factual, an information-sharing startup...
and Adam Weissman. Oingo developed a proprietary search algorithm that was based on word meanings and built upon an underlying lexicon called WordNet
WordNet
WordNet is a lexical database for the English language. It groups English words into sets of synonyms called synsets, provides short, general definitions, and records the various semantic relations between these synonym sets...
, which was developed over the previous 15 years by researchers at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, led by George Miller.
Oingo changed its name to Applied Semantics in 2001, which was later acquired by Google in April 2003 for US$102 million.
In 2009, Google AdSense announced that it would now be offering new features, including the ability to "enable multiple networks to display ads".
AdSense for Feeds
In May 2005, Google announced a limited-participation beta version of AdSense for Feeds, a version of AdSense that runs on RSSRSS (file format)
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...
and Atom
Atom (standard)
The name Atom applies to a pair of related standards. The Atom Syndication Format is an XML language used for web feeds, while the Atom Publishing Protocol is a simple HTTP-based protocol for creating and updating web resources.Web feeds allow software programs to check for updates published on a...
feeds that have more than 100 active subscribers. According to the Official 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."
AdSense for Feeds works by inserting images into a feed. When the image is displayed by a RSS reader or Web browser, Google writes the advertising content into the image that it returns. The advertisement content is chosen based on the content of the feed surrounding the image. When the user clicks the image, he or she is redirected to the advertiser's website in the same way as regular AdSense advertisements.
AdSense for Feeds remained in its beta state until August 15, 2008, when it became available to all AdSense users.
AdSense for search
A companion to the regular AdSense program, AdSense for search, allows website owners to place Google Custom Search boxes on their websites. When a user searches the Internet or the website with the search box, Google shares 51% of the advertising revenue it makes from those searches with the website owner. However the publisher is paid only if the advertisements on the page are clicked; AdSense does not pay publishers for regular searches. Web publishers have reported that they also pay a range from $0.64 to $0.88 per click.AdSense for mobile content
AdSense for mobile content allows publishers to generate earnings from their mobile websites using targeted Google advertisements. Just like AdSense for content, Google matches advertisements to the content of a website — in this case, a mobile website. Instead of traditional JavaScript code, technologies such as PHP, ASP and others are used.AdSense for domains
AdSense for domains allows advertisements to be placed on domain names that have not been developed.This offers domain name owners a way to monetize domain names that are otherwise dormant or not in use.
AdSense for domains is currently being offered to all AdSense publishers, but it wasn't always available to all.
On December 12, 2008, TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
reported that AdSense for Domains is available for all US publishers.
AdSense for video
AdSense for video allows publishers with video content to generate revenue using ad placements from Google's extensive Advertising networkAdvertising network
An online advertising network or ad network is a company that connects advertisers to web sites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is aggregation of ad space supply from publishers and matching it with advertiser demand...
including popular YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
videos.
XHTML compatibility
, the HTMLHTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
code for the AdSense search box does not validate as XHTML
XHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
, as it does not follow modern principles of website design:
- Non-standard end tagsHTML elementAn HTML element is an individual component of an HTML document. HTML documents are composed of a tree of HTML elements and other nodes, such as text nodes. Each element can have attributes specified. Elements can also have content, including other elements and text. HTML elements represent...
, such asand - The attribute
checkedrather thanchecked="checked" - Presentational attributes other than
id,class, orstyle— for example,bgcolorandalign - A table structure for purely presentational (i.e., non-tabular) purposes1
- The
fonttag2
1: using a table structure for unintended purposes is strongly discouraged by the W3C, but nevertheless does not cause a document to fail validation — there is currently no algorithmic method of determining whether a table is used "correctly" (for displaying tabular data or for displaying elements, that get proportionally wider or narrower when browser window resizes in width without active client side scripting).
2: the
font tag is deprecated but does not fail validation in any XHTML standard.Additionally, the AdSense advertisement units use the JavaScript method
document.write, which does not work correctly when rendered with the application/xhtml+xml MIME type. The units also use the iframeIFrameiFrame can be:* I-frames, in video compression; see video compression picture types* iFrame * The HTML iframe element....
HTML tag, which is not validated correctly with the XHTML 1.0 Strict or XHTML 1.0 Transitional DOCTYPEs.The terms of the AdSense program forbid its affiliates from modifying the code, thus preventing these participants from having valid XHTML websites.
However, a workaround has been found by creating a separate HTML webpage containing only the AdSense advertisement units, and then importing this page into an XHTML webpage with an
object tag. This workaround appears to be accepted by Google.How AdSense works
- The webmaster inserts the AdSense JavaScript code into a webpage.
- Each time this page is visited, the JavaScript code uses inlined JSONJSONJSON , or JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight text-based open standard designed for human-readable data interchange. It is derived from the JavaScript scripting language for representing simple data structures and associative arrays, called objects...
to display content fetched from Google's servers. - For contextual advertisements, Google's servers use a cacheCacheIn computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...
of the page to determine a set of high-value keywordsKeyword (Internet search)An index term, subject term, subject heading, or descriptor, in information retrieval, is a term that captures the essence of the topic of a document. Index terms make up a controlled vocabulary for use in bibliographic records. They are an integral part of bibliographic control, which is the...
. If keywords have been cached already, advertisements are served for those keywords based on the AdWords bidding system. (More details are described in the AdSense patent.) - For site-targeted advertisements, the advertiser chooses the page(s) on which to display advertisements, and pays based on cost per milleCost Per MilleCost per mille , also called cost ‰ and cost per thousand , is a commonly used measurement in advertising. Radio, television, newspaper, magazine, out-of-home advertising, and online advertising can be purchased on the basis of what it costs to show the ad to one thousand viewers...
(CPM), or the price advertisers choose to pay for every thousand advertisements displayed. - For referrals, Google adds money to the advertiser's account when visitors either download the referred software or subscribe to the referred service. The referral program was retired in August 2008.
- Search advertisements are added to the list of results after the visitor performs a search.
- Because the JavaScript is sent to the Web browser when the page is requested, it is possible for other website owners to copy the JavaScript code into their own webpages. To protect against this type of fraud, AdSense customers can specify the pages on which advertisements should be shown. AdSense then ignores clicks from pages other than those specified.
Abuse
Some webmasters create websites tailored to lure searchers from Google and other engines onto their AdSense website to make money from clicks. Such websites often contain nothing but a large amount of interconnected, automated content (e.g., a directory with content from the Open Directory ProjectOpen Directory Project
The Open Directory Project , also known as Dmoz , is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links. It is owned by Netscape but it is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors.ODP uses a hierarchical ontology scheme for organizing site listings...
, or scraper websites
Scraper site
A scraper site is a spam website that copies all of its content from other websites using web scraping.In the last few years scraper sites have proliferated at an amazing rate for spamming search engines...
relying on RSS feeds for content). Possibly the most popular form of such "AdSense farms" are splogs (spam blogs), which are centered around known high-paying keywords. Many of these websites use content from other websites, such as Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, to attract visitors. These and related approaches are considered to be search engine spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
and can be reported to Google.
A Made for AdSense (MFA) website or webpage has little or no content, but is filled with advertisements so that users have no choice but to click on advertisements. Such pages were tolerated in the past, but due to complaints, Google now disables such accounts.
There have also been reports of Trojan horses
Trojan horse (computing)
A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is software that appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install, but steals information or harms the system. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology.-Malware:A destructive program that masquerades as a benign...
engineered to produce counterfeit Google advertisements that are formatted looking like legitimate ones. The Trojan uploads itself onto an unsuspecting user's computer through a webpage and then replaces the original advertisements with its own set of malicious advertisements.
Criticism
Due to alleged concerns about click fraudClick fraud
Click fraud is a type of Internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target...
, Google AdSense has been criticized by some search engine optimization
Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...
firms as a large source of what Google calls "invalid clicks", in which one company clicks on a rival's search engine advertisements to drive up the other company's costs.
To help prevent click fraud, AdSense publishers can choose from a number of click-tracking programs. These programs display detailed information about the visitors who click on the AdSense advertisements. Publishers can use this to determine whether or not they have been a victim of click fraud. There are a number of commercial tracking scripts available for purchase.
The payment terms for webmasters have also been criticized.
Google withholds payment until an account reaches US$100,
but many micro content providers require a long time—years in some cases—to build up this much AdSense revenue. However, Google will pay all earned revenue greater than US$10 when an AdSense account is closed and not disabled.
Many website owners complain that their AdSense accounts have been disabled just before they were supposed to receive their first paycheck from Google. Google claims accounts have been disabled due to click fraud or forbidden content, but have offered no proof of this. An automated email is sent to the publisher's owner which offers no reasoning, or options but a link to file an appeal. In the email, Google states that "Because we have a
responsibility to protect our AdWords advertisers from inflated costs due to invalid activity, we've found it necessary to disable your AdSense
account. Your outstanding balance and Google's share of the revenue will both be fully refunded back to the affected advertisers." The revenue generated - whether legitimate or not - is taken, and all complaints are deferred.
Google came under fire when the official Google AdSense Blog showcased the French video website Imineo.com. This website violated Google's AdSense Program Policies by displaying AdSense alongside sexually explicit material. Typically, websites displaying AdSense have been banned from showing such content. Some sites have been banned for distributing copyrighted material even when they hold the copyright themselves or are authorized by the copyright holder to distribute the material.
It has been reported that using both AdSense and AdWords may cause a website to pay Google a commission when the website advertises itself.
In some cases, AdSense displays inappropriate or offensive ads. For example, in a news story about a terrorist attack in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, an advert was generated for a (presumably non-existent) educational qualification in terrorism.
AdSense uses tracking cookies that are viewed by some users as a threat to privacy. Webmasters that use AdSense must place the appropriate warning in the privacy policy page.
See also
- The AdSense CodeThe AdSense CodeThe AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense is an Internet marketing book by Joel Comm - an Internet marketing expert, professional speaker and entrepreneur - published in April 2006. The book's cover was based on the cover design of Dan Brown's best-selling novel...
(book) - Google AdWords
- List of Google products
- Pay per playPay per playPay per play , also known as Cash per play , is an online advertising method that plays an audio advertisement on websites. The term "pay per play" comes from advertisers paying for each audio ad played. Also, the web page playing the audio ad is normally paid for each ad they serve. Ads are...
- Scraper websiteScraper siteA scraper site is a spam website that copies all of its content from other websites using web scraping.In the last few years scraper sites have proliferated at an amazing rate for spamming search engines...
External links
- Google AdSense
- Google AdSense patent application
- Inside AdSense — Google's official weblog on AdSense