Home
>
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
>
When Adsense Makes No Sense: Knowing When Not To Use The Google Adsense Pay-Per-Click Program

When Adsense Makes No Sense: Knowing When Not To Use The Google Adsense Pay-Per-Click Program

Google's AdSense program is a proven money-maker that has enriched the pockets of many website owners. Unlike many pay-per-click systems, the AdSense program has a large pool of advertisements to draw from -- the ads come from Google's AdWords program, which you can think of as the flipside of AdSense -- which almost guarantees that AdSense can find relevant advertisements to display alongside a site's content.

There are times, however, when using AdSense makes no sense at all. Here are some common scenarios:

1. Your site gets too much traffic.

The basic AdSense program is geared for small-to-medium sites. If your site gets significant traffic, look into the Google AdSense Premium Service (http://services.google.com/ads_inquiry/ct). This is the program used by sites like Amazon.com and the New York Times.

2. Your site does not conform to AdSense program policies.

You cannot display AdSense advertisements on any site that violates the AdSense program policies (https://www.google.com/adsense/policies). This is outlined in the first section of the AdSense terms and conditions (https://www.google.com/adsense/terms) to which you agreed when you joined the AdSense program.

Practically speaking, this means that any content that promotes pornography, gambling, drug use or any illegal activity is unsuitable for AdSense use. You are also forbidden from using AdSense to promote alcohol, tobacco, conterfeit goods and other controversial products or services. If you're running an online casino, for example, AdSense cannot be used on the casino's site.

3. Your visitors are offended by advertisements.

Above all else, AdSense is an advertising distribution program: you're renting space on your pages to Google for the display of advertisements drawn from its AdWords program. In return for the use of your space, Google gives you a cut of the pay-per-click revenue it makes from the advertisements shown on your pages. If most of your visitors find ads offensive, they'll stay away from your site and you won't make any money from the ads that are displayed anyhow, so you might as well not display any ads.

Note that there's a difference between offending your visitors by showing any advertisements at all and offending them by showing the advertisements in so obnoxious a manner that all they want to do is leave your site. In fact, displaying ads in an intrusive manner violates the AdSense program policies and should be avoided for that reason alone.

4. The ads are simply unsuitable.

Although Google does its best to find targeted advertisements that are relevant to a page's content, sometimes that targeting fails and unsuitable ads are shown. If your content is about the evils of dieting, for example, you probably don't want to see advertisements promoting specific diets. Nor do you want to see advertisements for competing products or services. AdSense lets you filter out many advertisements, but in some cases it's simply impossible -- or too much work -- to keep out the unsuitable advertisements.

5. You make more money by keeping visitors on your site.

The fundamental premise of pay-per-click advertising is that you're willing to send your visitors elsewhere in return for some kind of payment. If AdSense is your only form of revenue then this is an acceptable trade-off. If, however, your site makes you more from other programs, you should consider whether or not losing some of your visitors to pay-per-click ads is worth it.

You don't have to remove ads entirely to handle this problem. You can simply reduce the number of ads that you display and even reposition them so that they're clicked less often. Or place them only on the site's exist pages -- the pages from which your visitors typically leave the site. Remember that your visitors are going to leave your site eventually anyhow, you're just trying to get them to stay longer.

Another strategy is to use AdSense link units instead of regular text or image advertisements, because you can configure link units (unlike the regular ads) to open in a separate window when clicked.

Remember that the AdSense program is a flexible pay-per-click program. You don't have to show advertisements on each page of your site -- in fact, the AdSense program policies forbid you from displaying ads on certain kinds of pages. Nor do you have to display ads on each site you own. You can even decide whether image or text advertisements (or both) are to be shown on a page-per-page basis. And of course you can use AdSense channels to discover just exactly which pages are making you money and which pages aren't.

Use AdSense's flexibility to your advantage, but don't get stuck on it if it's not working for you. There are other pay-per-click and impression-based advertising systems out there to explore. For a general, all-purpose program it's hard to beat AdSense, but your situation may warrant a more specialized program. Some sites make more from affiliate programs that from selling advertising, or use a combination of both. Do the search and figure out what's best for you.

Copyright 2005 by Eric Giguere. Permission is granted to reproduce the article in electronic newsletters or on websites provided that the complete article text is included, unchanged, and that neither the copyright declaration nor this license are removed. This article was originally published at http://www.MakeEasyMoneyWithGoogle.com/no-adsense.html.

Eric Giguere is the author of Make Easy Money with Google: Using the AdSense Advertising Program, an introductory AdSense book published by Peachpit Press. Find out more about the book from the companion site http://www.makeeasymoneywithgoogle.com or by contacting the author directly at http://www.makeeasymoneywithgoogle.com.

detailed home cleaning Park Ridge ..

In The News:

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Concerned about Google's AI scanning your Gmail? Learn how to disable Gemini features that access your emails, Drive files and Chat messages for privacy.

Google warns Android users about dangerous fake VPN apps hiding malware that steals passwords, banking details and personal data from phones and tablets.

Apple's digital passport feature lets iPhone users breeze through TSA checkpoints this holiday season using Digital ID technology at 250+ airports.

When Adsense Makes No Sense: Knowing When Not To Use The Google Adsense Pay-Per-Click Program

Pay-Per-Click Advertising