Google AdSense™ Ads Targeting

Now, you know how AdSense™ does the targeting: Google MediaPartners bot “interprets” the content of your page and establishes the theme. Based on this will appear the ads on your pages.

Many of us have experienced at least once the appearance of ads that have feeble relevance or no relevance at all for the content of the page, or the appearance of PSA (which is worse for the AdSense™ publisher, as these do not generate any revenue).

This might occur when the theme of your page is not very clearly outlined or when there is not enough text content and the resulting ads represent what Google AdSense robot interpreted as the main theme of your page.

Other Cases when PSAs Are Displayed

Technical problems

Login required, as specified in Google™'s AdSense support section — cases when MediaPartners bot is prevented from reading or interpreting correctly your page.

“stop words”

Words interpreted as offensive, usually belonging to one of the categories specified in Adsense™'s Program Policies (as a precaution, we will not exemplify here, in text. We have an image containing a quite comprehensive list.)

Yet, it seems that AdSense™ does analyze also the context in which these words appear, so you shouldn't fret about using occasionally “stop” words.

If none of these is the case of your page and you still get ads that seem irrelevant to you, then maybe the type of your site (or the page topic) might not work that well with AdSense. Practice shows that not all topics represent a good medium for AdSense. Sites that have non-commercial content or themes are more likely to be served irrelevant ads.

How to Increase Content Relevancy

Where to start?

1. The aim is to make your pages content-relevant for Google bot. So, first thing's first: you have to check on your pages' content relevancy.

   You can do that by using the Preview Tool. Thus you can correct the display of ads by customizing your page content or by filtering unwanted ads.

   A “hot tip” you can use to test site relevancy and see how theme-interpreting works: Google's Site-Flavored Search (now in beta version) — you enter your site's URL on the profile page and Google “reads” it and shows in the box on the right the results of its interpretation, what the bot “thinks” your site is about.

2. “Secrets” to help improve targeting (well, between us, they are not at all secrets, but for the sake of suspense...):

   Optimize Your Keyword Content

   The number of occurrences of keywords in the content should be enough to make the content theme-relevant. But keep them coming naturally in the content, do not overdo it.

   • The key-positions should be: title, description tag, headings, URL, a top-page position. Proximity to the AdSense™ code seems to get weighted more heavily.
   • Also keywords should appear bolded and in italics.
   • Increase the number of keywords in the plural. Google ranks plurals separately.
   • Ensure a keyword density between 5 and 20%. You can check this with the help of a keyword tracker.
   • Anchor texts should include keywords.
   • Stick to one main theme per page. Better more pages with just one or two related keywords per page than one long page.

   HIGHLY DESCRIPTIVE FILE NAMES can be very effective (this is applicable to new pages that are not yet in the search engines, for changing the name of an older one may result in losing traffic).

   Sometimes, the THEME OF THE EXTERNAL SITES you link to MATTERS for the relevance of your own ads. You may try to place relevant links near your ads.

   RELEVANT DOMAIN NAMES have an influence on Google's choice of ads.

3. The style of your writing is not the last as importance.
   • As we've seen in the end of the previous section, some topics are better than others for AdSense. However, through the way you write, you can turn a content-based, non-commercial site into a money-maker. How? By manipulating your content a little. It's necessary to have at least some pages with practical information or recommendations (products/books) on your topic, or, better, to blend this type of info in as many pages as possible.
   • Getting feedback from your visitors is valuable: find out what they want and what they are looking for. Thus you can target your content accordingly.

Although not widely popularized, there is an additional facility that Google offers some publishers: the largely discussed Google hints -- the publisher is allowed to specify the exact keywords (at his choice) for his ads targeting, adding a supplementary line to the javascript. Obviously, the matter is selectively allowed by Google.

If you've tried it all and you're still unhappy with the results, AdSense permits the choice of an alternate ad -- an ad you choose yourself, not related in any way with Google's system.

Remember!

Above all, make sure you check the ads Google serves your pages for not only may they be irrelevant and little producing but they might damage your image; many visitors think that you've chosen those ads to represent your page.

Cases are when really funny ads are shown; for example, on a page on Indian archaeology, a dating ad about meeting hot Indian women.

However, don't loose from sight another aspect of the content work: try not to use it by all means with the primary aim of gaining money. You'll be surprised maybe to learn that your earnings will improve if you just go on with your work/content building out of real preoccupation and enthusiasm (is it too much :)?). It might sound like bare theory, but if you work conscientiously on something you love to do, your income will improve in a natural (and sounder) manner.

Odd manner of content "improvement" for AdSense

There is the theory (very annoying, in fact, for a writer:)) according to which if you have an uninteresting, dissatisfactory content/page, visitors will look for a way out by clicking on an ad! (twice annoying, as it seems to work!) Well, at least some things are sure: your site will not get any browsing through and you won't have probably any return visitors if you do this! Plus the surfers arriving on your page might be so annoyed that they might choose leaving your page by just closing the browser (with no clicks)!