How to Make Money with Google AdSense

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Leading search engine Google began displaying sponsored links on its search result pages in October 2000. The ads that appeared were automatically selected based upon the search keywords, eg if a search was made for DVDs the associated ads would be for DVD suppliers and services.

This feature, known as Google AdWords, is charged on a "pay per click" (PPC) basis. Thus advertisers only pay where their ads generate a positive response. Visitors coming from PPC ads tend to be motivated as they have first searched for a relevant term and then responded to the advertiser's message.

The cost per click paid by advertisers varies according to the associated keywords. Advertisers bid to have their ads appear alongside particular search terms. The more advertisers bidding for a search term, the higher the price for that term.

In fact, Google’s Discounter technology automatically reduces the actual amount advertisers pay to the lowest cost needed to maintain their ad's position on the results page.

Google uses an ad’s performance (click-through rate) to determine its display position. In this way the most successful ads are displayed more often, generating more clicks for advertisers and more money for Google and AdSense Webmasters.

Obviously, advertisers are only willing to pay a price that is less than their potential profit from a visitor. This depends on the value to the advertiser per successful lead, and the advertiser site's conversion rate.

To learn more about AdWords visit the Google AdWords Help Centre.

Following the initial success of AdWords, Google introduced AdSense in June 2003. AdSense allows other Web publishers to display Google AdWord ads on their own pages by way of inserting a small block of JavaScript. The revenue from AdSense advertisements is shared between the publisher and Google.

AdSense has proved hugely popular. It allows all manner and sizes of Webmaster to monetize their sites. It allows advertisers much greater exposure for their ads while still only paying for click-throughs. And it produces more revenue for Google through their cut.

The author uses AdSense across a portfolio of sites and has found it far more profitable than any of the numerous affiliate schemes that have been tried.

For full details, or to join AdSense, see Google AdSense.

AdSense Terms and Conditions

Some key AdSense terms and conditions:

Up to three ad units may be displayed on each Web site page.
No Google ad may be placed on any non-content-based pages.
AdSense code must be pasted directly into Web pages without modification.
Web pages may not include incentives of any kind for users to click on ads.
Any method that artificially generates clicks, including Clicking on your own ads, is strictly prohibited.
Google prohibits certain types of content, eg adult or illegal material, from displaying AdSense ads.

For full details see Google AdSense Program Policies.

How to use AdSense

There are two basic approaches to using AdSense.

The first is to simply add it to an existing site, or a site that exists for another main purpose. In this case AdSense will display relevant ads based upon the site/page content and will generate extra revenue, though this may be modest.

It should be noted that where a visitor clicks an AdSense ad they will be taken to the advertiser's site (and away from yours). Thus discretion should be used as to whether, and for which pages, AdSense is appropriate. Note that AdSense conditions prohibit any manipulation of the AdSense code that would cause advertiser sites to open in new windows.