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100% Google AdSense: Tools, Tips and Resources
By Glen Stansberry and Smashing Magazine Editorial Team
Google AdSense is a simple and low-risk way for publishers to quickly monetize their content. The pay-per-click ad system has created an opportunity for anyone to instantly have advertising on their website, without the hassle of having to actively sell ad space. AdSense makes up a good portion of the advertising revenue for many websites, and other websites may use AdSense to earn the bulk of their revenues. Either way, AdSense is an excellent system for monetizing your content.
In this post we present an ultimate collection of resources, tools and tips to help you make the most out of Google AdSense. Among other things, this post covers various Google AdSense tools, Firefox-extensions, WordPress-plugins and related resources.
Please feel free to suggest related tools in the comments to this post. You may also be interested in our post Google AdSense: Facts, FAQs and Tools that was published two years ago.
1. Google AdSense Tools
iPhone AdSense Statistics Application
SenseApp is a program that lets you track your Google Adsense earnings on your Apple iPhone.
AdSense Earnings Tool
Free and fast tool to monitor adsense earnings in realtime. This tool posts all the correct post fields to Googles universal Account Services login and collects information about your earnings. You’ll able to see today, yesterday, this month and since last payment earnings. You don’t need to log in to Google anymore.
Google AdSense Toolbox
Type any web page URL (e.g. cnn.com) or keywords (e.g. web development), select a country (optional) and hit Enter to see the latest Google Ads that are contextual and geo-targeted.
Google AdSense Preview Tool
an addition to the right-click menu for Windows Internet Explorer 6.x, allowing you to preview the ads that may show on any webpage. With just a few clicks, you can see what ads may appear on your new webpages, or make an educated decision on whether to add AdSense to your existing site pages.
Google Search-Based Keyword Tool
The search-based keyword tool allows you to find high-paying keywords to target, based on the domain name you specify.
Google Traffic Estimator
The Google Traffic Estimator is an easy way to determine the search volume of certain keywords, and it shows related keywords and their volumes as well.
SpyFu
SpyFu allows you to look up any website and see how much it is spending on AdSense, how it ranks for each keyword, and which keywords it buys. The tool is quite useful for researching competitors.
adsblacklist
Identify and block low-paying advertisers and increase ROI with AdSense.
2. Google AdSense Online Tools
Contextual Ads Preview/Comparison Tool
This comparison tools comes in handy when you compare AdSense ads to those of other advertisement services (Chitika, Yahoo). You also have the ability to customize the colors and view what ads a certain URL would be likely to display.
Google AdSense Calculator
This AdSense Calculator is designed to help you to predict changes in your earnings depending on improvement (or deterioration) of Page Impressions, Click Through Rate and Cost Per Click. You can download further calculators here.
WordTracker
During the search, people use different keywords. Using this tool, you can find the most effective words before deciding what content to include on your page. Not free, but the free trial is available.
Traffic Estimator Sandbox
To use this tool, you need an AdWords account. This traffic estimator helps you to figure out what keywords result in the highest paying AdSense ads (more details on uphook).
Pubmatic
While Pubmatic isn’t strictly an AdSense tool, it will definitely help you earn more money from your website by optimizing your ads. With each page view, Pubmatic determines whether showing an AdSense ad or an ad from a different network would be best, based on the CPM.
AlterNut Ad
Instead of earning nothing from the PSA ads that Google fills the page with when it has no ads to show, earn a set fee by giving AlterNut Ad your unused PSA ads.
3. Google AdSense Firefox Extensions
AdSense Notifier
This extension displays your AdSense earnings in the status bar.
AdSense Preview
Check what Google ads would be displayed if they were shown on a particular page with this preview tool.
Money Quake
Money Quake allows you to see your real-time earnings for many popular advertising programs, including AdSense.
GraphSense
GraphSense gives you a visual look at your AdSense reports by adding graphs to the interface. As of this post, the extension is still classified as “experimental,” so you’ll have to log in to Mozilla to install it.
4. Official AdSense Resources
Google has provided some official tools and resources to help publishers get started with AdSense.
Google AdSense Help Center
A database of questions and answers about the AdSense program.
Inside AdSense Blog
The official AdSense blog. Find news, tips and other features about the ad system here.
AdSense Community Forum
Have an AdSense question? Ask a community of publishers and the AdSense team.
Official Optimization Tips
A collection of tips provided by the AdSense team.
Official AdSense Channel on YouTube
Instructional videos and interviews by successful AdSense publishers.
Interest-based advertising with Google AdSense
Just recently Google announced the launch of interest-based advertising. This help section addresses the new mechanism and explains how you can benefit from it.
5. Getting Started with AdSense
Because of the popularity of AdSense, many so-called “experts” out there try to give “inside information” or sell their secrets in the form of ebooks. If you’re truly a beginner to AdSense, use the official AdSense help database that Google provides.
Here are some “getting started” articles by a few trusted authors.
Problogger’s AdSense Tips for Bloggers
Darren Rowse’s excellent eight-part series will get you well on your way to making money from AdSense.
The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Effective AdSense Link Units Optimization
A great rundown of the different types of link units and how they’re best used in a website layout.
Where Should I Place Google Ads on my Page?
The Google AdSense team has made a helpful map showing the different regions of a website layout where AdSense units perform the best.
6. Optimization Tips
Like any ad system, AdSense can be optimized to generate more clicks and revenue. Here are some tips to help boost AdSense performance.
Adsense Success Stories
Several examples of websites that increased their earnings significantly with Adsense. The success stories talk a lot about ad optimization, etc.
Google AdSense Tips
Google Blogscoped provides an excellent collection of AdSense tips based on its experience with implementing Google ads.
My top 5 tips for increasing adsense earnings (without increasing traffic)
Experiment with color and position, use different adverts for different dates, use content targeting, referrals and take care of the SEO.
Eye-Tracking Studies by Jakob Nielsen
Great eye-tracking examples that show where users’ eyes start and end up on a page.
Adsense Tips, Layout Optimization Tricks for Higher CTR
A collection of excellent do’s and don’ts for new publishers, as well as advice for more advanced AdSense users.
Rotate Google AdSense Ad Colors : Reduce Ad Blindness
One of the many enemies of publishers who rely on ads is banner blindness. Rotating ad colors is a good way to combat banner blindness, resulting in more clicks on ads.
Google AdSense Tips, Tricks and Secrets
Popular SEO blogger Michael Gray has an extensive post on various AdSense tips and performance boosters.
How to Display Ads Only to Search Visitors
Click-through ratios are much higher if you show your AdSense units only to visitors who were referred by search engines. Here’s an article on how to implement that functionality on your website.
Using the Competitive Ad Filter to Increase AdSense Earnings
Learn how to block made-for-AdSense websites as competitors, allowing only the best and most relevant ads to show on your units.
100 Google AdSense Tips
While this article is a few years old, it still has some very valuable tips on how to optimize Google AdSense. Perfect for the beginner.
20+ Practical and Ethical Tips to Earn More Revenue from Google AdSense
eTechBuzz shows us some useful and ethical AdSense tips.
Blogmitize!
The Official AdSense Blog has a post on how to make the most money from your blog layout.
Little Known ‘Boring’ Websites that Make Incredible Money with AdSense
An article highlighting that nearly anyone with a niche website can make money from AdSense.
7. AdSense WordPress Themes
WordPress is the most popular blogging platform, so it’s no surprise that a few themes come AdSense-ready, with ad placements already determined.
8. AdSense WordPress Plug-Ins
If you want to integrate AdSense in your existing website, here are some plug-ins to help display your ads.
AdSense Manager
The AdSense Manager widget allows for the automatic creation of AdSense ad zones on your WordPress blog. The plug-in also supports other ad networks, such as YPN, AdBrite and Commission Junction.
Easy AdSenser
Easy AdSenser is a feature-filled plug-in that allows you to easily insert AdSense into your posts and layout. It has an extremely user-friendly interface, with lots of features that make adding AdSense much easier than it is with other plug-ins.
AdSense Revenue Sharing
Share AdSense earnings with co-authors using the AdSense Revenue Sharing plug-in.
All in One AdSense and YPN
Use the All in One AdSense and YPN plug-in to automatically insert YPN and AdSense ads into your existing blog posts.
AdSense Under Image
If a post has an image, this plug-in automatically inserts an AdSense block under the image.
AdSense Deluxe 2
Another plug-in to automatically insert AdSense ad units into blog posts.
Google AdSense for Feeds
A simple plug-in that places AdSense in your blog’s feed.
Ozh’ Who Sees Ads
Determines what type of visitor will see ads on your website. This plug-in allows publishers to hide ads from regular visitors and show them only to search visitors.
9. AdSense Books
If you’re looking for an entire collection of tips and advice on making the most out of AdSense, you might want to try a print book instead. Plenty of excellent AdSense articles are available online, but on the whole, it is easier to find more accurate information in print media. Here are some of the most popular books on AdSense.
The Best Damn Google AdSense Book
Google Advertising Tools: Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords and the Google APIs
The Google AdSense Millionaire
10. AdSense Forums and Communities
Webmaster World AdSense Forum
The WMW forum is by far the best forum for getting expert advice on AdSense. A member of the Google AdSense team actually reviews all the threads and answers questions, so the information is legitimate.
Digital Point AdSense Forum
Digital Point’s AdSense forum isn’t as strict as the Webmaster World forum, so there is a lot of engagement but less experienced users and less informed advice.
SEOChat
SEOChat doesn’t have an entire forum dedicated to Google AdSense, but it does have a thriving forum for affiliate marketing in which many AdSense topics come up on a regular basis.
11. Those Against AdSense
It’s always a good practice to hear the other side of the story when rounding up resources on a topic, especially one as controversial as AdSense. Many experts argue that AdSense isn’t the best choice for publishers to monetize their content. Here are a few articles that criticize AdSense.
Dear AdSense, You Broke My Heart
Problogger Darren Rowse’s open letter to AdSense about why he was disappointed in its decision to change the referral policy for publishers outside the US.
Have You Weaned Your Blog from AdSense Yet?
A convincing argument for moving from AdSense’s cost-per-click structure to CPM ads and other affiliate programs.
Why You Can’t Make Money Blogging
Copyblogger’s Brian Clark provides some compelling reasons to ditch AdSense and sell products that solve real-world problems.
10 Reasons Why People Hate Google AdSense
A round-up of thought-provoking reasons as to why Google ads repel publishers. Some of the reasons include: the ads are ugly, Adsense is everywhere, poor email support with the Google team and many others.
(al)
Glen Stansberry is the editor at Web Jackalope, a blog about creative Web development.
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Loading ...- 62 Comments
- 1
- 2March 19th, 2009 5:33 am
cool learned some new techniques, thx .
- 3March 19th, 2009 6:02 am
wow that a gr8, informative, useful and an awesome article on Adsense. :D
Thanks for it.
Stumbled - 4March 19th, 2009 6:07 am
lot’s of useful information here!
- 5March 19th, 2009 6:10 am
Well compiled collection..
Covers almost everything related to adsense..
- 6March 19th, 2009 6:13 am
Great to see that iPhone using T-Mobile!
- 7March 19th, 2009 6:45 am
Just in time…. I was just searching for the same thing on Google. And yaaaa…About the Article, Nicely written and well presented. Thanks Glen for the efforts.
DKumar M.
- 8March 19th, 2009 7:29 am
Great article. Just right on time.
- 9March 19th, 2009 7:43 am
I used adsense back in 2006. My article underwent a Slashdot effect, which earned me about a hundred bucks. Nothing big. The next week, I was opened to an email stating that Google had closed off my account for fraud. No matter how much I reasoned and pleaded, nothing would set them out of their ways that I had tried to fraud Google. Big mistake Google.
Yahoo pays better anyhow.
- 10March 19th, 2009 8:10 am
Fantastic! iPhone SenseApp is great! :)
- 11March 19th, 2009 9:14 am
Very nice collection of resources. The adsblacklist option looks very interesting and I may implement it on my own site.
- 12March 19th, 2009 9:23 am
nice article thanks for helpful informations..
- 13March 19th, 2009 9:35 am
If you use Google adsense, don’t forget to update or create a privacy policy by April 8. You should have received an email about it, but I didn’t take it seriously until I read that Google can suspend your account if you don’t have a privacy policy. It seems really stupid to me, because the nature of getting on the internet is that you will get cookies, and data will be collected, but I have a feeling that Google aka “Big Brother” is taking it to an extreme. I don’t really care, because I don’t have anything to hide, but I know some people are really sensitive about their privacy.
- 14March 19th, 2009 9:42 am
Another nice article!
- 15March 19th, 2009 10:06 am
in the article above mentioned Wordpress, how about blogger powered blog?
- 16March 19th, 2009 10:45 am
In regards to the Money Quake. @nastydollars = porn sales by the way…
- 17March 19th, 2009 11:01 am
What a great site this is. The Adsense post is a leading example.
- 18March 19th, 2009 11:34 am
Nice article. The Spyfu website is offline, but the rest are good examples.
- 19March 19th, 2009 12:10 pm
Excellent resource, thanks for sharing this post with us Glen!
- 20March 19th, 2009 1:55 pm
Thanks a ton for this on for. Excellent blog!!!
- 21March 19th, 2009 1:57 pm
You seem to have missed my favorite tool for tracking and analyzing my AdSense earnings:
http://www.metalgrass.com/adsenselog/
It’s well worth the investment if you like stats and charts, so you can observe the effects of various strategies over time.
- 22March 19th, 2009 2:00 pm
Now this is quality news, thanks smash!
- 23March 19th, 2009 4:31 pm
Wow, really great list of amazing plugins, its my first time l heard some of them, thanks for lovely sharing.
- 24March 19th, 2009 5:40 pm
I think I have your whole site saved in my Delicious account!
Thanks so much for all your hard work!!!
- 25March 19th, 2009 6:26 pm
For all those money freaks out there? oh wait aren’t we all?
- 26March 19th, 2009 7:11 pm
Oh, great great tips and tools! I will try with all above ways to make money for my site about debt consolidation.
- 27March 19th, 2009 7:45 pm
Wow!!! Nice compilation of useful information. I even don’t know some of these great applications exist. Well done.
- 28March 19th, 2009 8:20 pm
great post! thank you.
- 29
- 30March 19th, 2009 9:10 pm
Glen, thank you for mentioning my AdSense optimization article on Smashing Magazine. I just wanted to point to an updated version which also includes a PDF presentation made at the WordCamp.
- 31March 19th, 2009 9:23 pm
Fantastic resource!!
Forgive a bit of shameless self-promotion, but it really is relevant to this list. I’d like to add our service under section 2 above, YieldBuild. Our service optimizes your AdSense ads algorithmically. Unlike other competitive services, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to test other ad networks. You can see significant improvement just by optimizing your AdSense ad units by size, background color, border style & color, and position using YieldBuild. (You can certainly trying another network or more to see if that improves your overall revenue picture, of course). Revenue lifts are typically in the 15-30% range, with some up to 200%.
- 32March 19th, 2009 9:56 pm
Nice Resource Article.. good work:)
- 33March 20th, 2009 3:41 am
Simply Awesome… thanks…
- 34March 20th, 2009 5:17 am
nice post..this is just what i need.
thank you.. - 35March 20th, 2009 5:30 am
Great! Do you have any similar apps for adwords? I have some clients that would love real time data in some kind of widget like the AdSense earnings tool.
- 36March 20th, 2009 6:32 am
Great! Best post ever on SM!!!
- 37March 20th, 2009 11:10 am
desu desu desu desu
- 38March 20th, 2009 7:49 pm
Excellent tools and resources
- 39March 20th, 2009 8:53 pm
Interesting…Useful
thanks
- 40March 20th, 2009 10:18 pm
Very interesting article, Great resoure ^_^ thanks!
- 41March 21st, 2009 4:33 am
Awesome tutorial. Smashing Magazine really rocks. I just love this site. M a gr8 Fan of it. The references and resources are mind blowing. The article poster must have researched very well
- 42March 21st, 2009 5:56 am
this is a really great resource of Adsense tools for Adsense Publishers. I’m gonna surely digg this one! :)
- 43March 21st, 2009 7:05 am
thanks for this…..I’m going to read all of them today…..I get a lot of traffic on my blog, but almost no payout….let’s see how well this works out.
- 44March 22nd, 2009 11:58 pm
I can use some of these tools even for myself
- 45March 23rd, 2009 2:40 am
Wow really a devastating collection and handful of tools to monitor and improve our earnings….
- 46March 23rd, 2009 3:07 pm
this is an amazing resources… really
thank you so much
I loved the firefox extensions…. great tools - 47March 25th, 2009 2:03 pm
Thank you for the wealth of information. I’ve spent the greater part of my morning now optimizing our AdSense ads on our sites… hoping to see some improvements in our revenues.
The tips that were most helpful were to reduce ad blindness by changing color palettes and the Ads Black List site to help block MFA and LCPC sites. Also decided to give the AdSense for Search tool a try to see if that brings in some extra cash.
Fantastic help! Thank you!
- 48March 26th, 2009 1:33 am
Gracias por tu aporte me ha gustado mucho la variedad de herramientas de Adsense que has incluido en tu lista…
- 49March 26th, 2009 2:49 am
my google adsense account has been disabled due to invalid click activity. what is the procedure to activate my account. Iam interested in earning through adsense .
- 50March 26th, 2009 5:15 am
Nice article about Adsense ressources. Thanks.
A blog post will be published in a few days on my french blog refering to your post.
- 51March 26th, 2009 11:23 am
smashing always astronised me. Great info. I would like to know any tool which can make all the keyword related to a specific word. Will be a great help to me.
- 52March 30th, 2009 3:39 am
For iphone check also http://iearn.anxer.com , the first Google AdSense application for iphone
- 53April 16th, 2009 9:45 am
Sweet. Love the mobile apps to help us eMarketers produce results untethered
- 54April 28th, 2009 12:48 am
I really wish SenseApp worked :-(
- 55June 11th, 2009 11:31 am
great and wonder stuff
link[http://real-free-money.blogspot.com] - 56June 16th, 2009 2:23 am
for all tips and tricks for adsense see:
tips4adsense.weebly.com
Enjoy!
- 57June 20th, 2009 5:56 pm
Adsense Theme Selector allows publishers to preview their webpages using a database of thousands of professional color themes.
- 58July 2nd, 2009 8:44 am
Thank admin! Very useful article, earn money with GA is difficult!!!
- 59July 25th, 2009 12:43 pm
My name is muhammad kaleem ullah khan. My date of birth is 28/2/1946. I am challenging all the magician in this world. is there any one who can break my magic I am a black magicians no one can beat me in this world .no one can break my magic if some one cast spell to me i will reverse his spell to him I am challenging all magicians cast spell to me and my sons i have there sons mateen , mubeen ,moiz and her mother name is salma if some one cast spell to my son I will reverse his spell to him i am challenging to all magician to beat me
- 60August 3rd, 2009 4:40 am
Excellent tools and resources thanks … PAGE360.NET is AdSense Revenue Sharing Network While you are sharing blog, image, video, you will get income. Please note that you have make the video and upload your own video, also you can take it from Youtube, Google. More people viewing your video, more revenue will bring to your account, so that why you have to invite so many people to see your video. You will get 50:50 revenue sharing from all income gained by owner of the site from your video. You can also get 20 percent from each people joined from your id.
Good luck!
- 61September 28th, 2009 10:38 am
hello people
you can work with yahoo to paste yahoo ads in your own website
here is the link yahoo adsence
http://wwwyahooadsence.blogspot.com/ - 62October 22nd, 2009 3:09 am
Very useful and informative post. I really like the tools and apps, especially the one for iPhone and the Traffic Estimator. With these tools, publishers can definitely stay in control with their business and adsense account as well as plan on how to better their earnings.
- 00
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great article! thanx!