Ad Placement Is Paramount

How often do you click on ads on the internet?

If you are like most people, it isn't often. Now, second question.

How often do you click small ads at the bottom of a long webpage?

I'm guessing never.

This is common sense right? People don't click on ads often to begin with. Putting ads in places where people aren't likely to click on them doesn't make a whole lot of sense as a publisher or an advertiser. That is why ad placement is so important to Google AdSense. If you have bad ad placement, you will have a low click through rate (also called CTR). If you click through rate is low, you will get fewer clicks and make less money.

So what does a good ad placement look like? Well, it usually boils down to one rule. Ads that are close to the content get clicked.

If you put ads closer to the content, they are more likely to be seen and clicked on. It's a pretty simple idea, but it's one that a lot of websites mess up over and over again. So, you have to have a good ad placement near the content. Some sites will put their main ad block inside the first paragraph of an article and that can work really well if it makes sense for your design. Also a large leaderboard ad at the top of the page can work well.

Also, Google AdSense limits you to three ads. If you want to maximize your earnings you are going to have the most success focusing on having just one ad unit and getting the best placement for that ad on your site. Then, consider a second, but many times you'll make more by having just one or two ads, than if you try and put ads all over your site.