New look to AdSense ad units

Google has announced a revamped design of three of their AdSense for content ad units. After analyzing publisher site layouts and reviewing requests around the world, they decided to make their formats more space efficient and visually pleasing by changing the layout of the text. They are starting with changes to the following ad units:

• Leaderboard (728x90): The title, description, and URL are now arranged in rows instead of columns (except, of course, in the case when only one ad is showing).
• Medium and large rectangles (300x250, 336x280): The URL is now in the same line as the title.

In certain cases, you will also see a few minor adjustments to the font size. For example, the font size for the leaderboard with four ads is much more readable. You should expect these changes to roll out over the next few weeks.

My initial impression is that the changes for the most part are a good idea. Too many times I see sites that attempt to make the AdSense ads appear as if they will lead to another part of the site's content. Having the URL right next to the AdSense links lets the surfer know they will be leaving the site. Though I admit I'm not too crazy about the look of the leaderboard units being laid out in rows as opposed to the now traditional columns.

Got an opinion about the new look? I'd like to hear what others think - either for or against, so leave a comment.

Maximize your earning potential with AdSense webinars

AdSense webinars are free online workshops conducted and moderated by experts in optimizing Google AdSense. This series of webinars is designed to help you learn what you can do to maximize your potential earnings from AdSense.

After recording a webinar you will receive a link to a Google Moderator page, where you can ask questions related to the theme webinar and vote on the issues of others. They will answer as many questions as possible during the event.

Before each webinar, you are encouraged to research the topic using the links provided on the agenda for each.

Technical Requirements: To participate, all you need is a computer with Internet connection and speakers or headphones. Note to Mac users: The current version of WebEx Event Center does not support Internet Phone (VoIP) for Mac users. Please note, however, that the recorded webinar will be posted here in the days following each live event.

Most Recent Webinars:

• AdSense Optimization - Best Practices
• AdSense For Search
• AdSense Top Tech Tips

Past Webinars:

• Improving AdSense Performance using DFP Small Business
• Teaching our teachers: AdSense on your Education site
• Using Analytics to optimize your AdSense performance
• Why AdSense is right for Retail
• Maximize your AdSense revenue on your Home and Garden site
• Make the most of your forum with AdSense
• Market your site to Advertisers using Google Ad Planner
• Optimizing AdSense on your Business and Finance site

New and Improved AdSense For Search

Over the past two years, the AdSense team has offered the powerful Google Custom search engine (CSE) of the product as an improvement on the original AdSense for search. After some recent improvements, we are now ready to retire the old version of AdSense for search. If the Google logo on your search results page says "Powered by Google" instead of the latest "Google Custom Search", then you have not yet upgraded to the latest version. AdSense for search with new CSE is available in your account, and we encourage you to make the change by updating your code as soon as possible.

AdSense for search with CSE gives you more control over their search results without changing how you make money showing ads to AdSense for search. For example, with the new version, you will have access to advanced features such as refinements and promotions. Our team has developed a series of upgrades and improvements over the last few months, and you can access the most advanced capabilities at www.google.com / cse.

Your existing AdSense for search box will continue to work normally for a few months more, and we'll be sure to update it when you retire this version. To take advantage of the benefits offered by the new version of AdSense for search and ensure you do not lose any revenue during the transition, we encourage you to update your code now. You only need to regenerate your AdSense code to search by signing into your account and follow these instructions:

1. Visit your AdSense Setup tab and choose AdSense for search.
2. Select the sites you would like your users to search on.
3. Customize the appearance of their search results.
4. Update the code on your site.

AdSense Ads in your RSS Feeds

If you're like me, and most AdSense publishers for that matter, then you have placed your AdSense units into your blog or site's template - ensuring that each page has the maximum number of ad units without the fussy bother of working your content around the ad units. You've probably allready set up your RSS feed so that readers can bookmark your feed to get the latest posts. But if they are reading your blog through a feed aggregator like feedburner, then they aren't getting exposed to your ad units and you're missing out on potential clicks!

If you are new to feed advertising with Google or feedburner, follow these steps to add Google ads to your feeds.

1. Sign in to your AdSense account.
2. From the AdSense Setup tab, choose AdSense for feeds as the product.
3. Your ad units will be automatically named and properly sized for your feeds.
4. Set your ad type, frequency, duration, position, position and color. See tips for these settings.
5. Add a channel and mark it targetable by advertisers. We recommend this to increase the visibility of your ad space.
6. Choose a feed in which you want the feed ads displayed.
a. If you've used feeds in the past, choose one from your list of active feeds that do not yet have the ad units included.
b. If this is your first time setting up feeds with AdSense or FeedBurner, you'll need to burn a new feed first. Click the burn a new feed, then enter your blog or feed. Some platforms may present you with a choice of feeds to use as the source, usually the Atom feed is the best choice. After supplying this information you will be given a new URL for the feed you should promote or redirect to make sure all subscribers are seeing your replacement feed.
7. Save your changes and start using your Google-powered feeds with AdSense.

AdSense Clicks But No Money

Ever checked your stats, and seen that you had clicks but no revenue was generated? There are a couple of reasons why this may have happened.

Configuration of allowed sites

The Allowed Sites feature allows you to specify a list of sites where your ads can be displayed. If you use this feature, you must ensure that you have entered all the places you want to display your AdSense code.

To check whether this is the case, log into your account and visit the "Allowed Sites" page to your AdSense Setup tab. If the "Allow any site to show ads for my account is complete, you are not affected by this problem, and this isn't the case. However, if "Only allow certain sites to show ads for my account 'is populated, the revision of the list of sites in the box below - are all the sites you own listed in this box? If the answer is' no ', you do not get credit for clicks on sites not listed. Please make sure you add all the sites where you want to display your AdSense code.

Invalid clicks

The Google AdSense program monitors clicks for suspicious activity, such as artificial clicks generated by bots as well as click fraud. Often times, programs which advertise sending large volumes of traffic to your site will instead use bots that will look like visitors in your traffic logs. These bots will click around your site, including your AdSense links, to make it look like you're getting good quality traffic. It doesn't take much to lose your AdSense account, so I would encourage steering clear of any program that promises traffic. Write good content, and the visitors will come. Targeted organic traffic, traffic that has come naturally to your site interested in whatever topic your site is about, is more likely to click an ad than a visitor that got there by misdirection.