Site targeting: a refresher

Over the past few months, we've written several posts about site targeting, but given the questions we've received, we thought this might be a good time to review the details of site targeting, what it means for you as an AdSense publisher, and how site-targeted ad campaigns fit into the AdSense model.

First, a bare-bones explanation of the program. Using site targeting, AdWords advertisers can enter their CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) ad directly into their site's ad auction. That CPM ad will compete against the CPC (cost-per-click) ads in the auction -- and if it wins, it will run in place of the CPC ads that would have otherwise appeared. As an AdSense publisher, you get paid for each impression on that ad, rather than for each click.

So what does this mean? It means AdWords advertisers and AdSense publishers can connect in a way not previously possible. AdSense publishers can now offer advertisers the opportunity to bid directly on their site through Onsite Advertiser Sign-up, and advertisers can pull up a list of sites in the content network, large or small, that falls under any vertical or content theme. Advertisers and publishers of all sizes can find each other in the same virtual forum.

Site targeting also means more money for you. Period. If a site-targeted ad (text or image) appears on your site, it means that that ad is paying you more than any CPC ad that would appear in that ad unit. Many publishers have seen dramatic revenue increases as a result of these site-targeted ads appearing on their pages.

Some of you have asked, "How is an ad for an off-road vehicle targeted to my pages about hiking?" Excellent question! Contextual targeting, or targeting the text on your site (the primary targeting mechanism of AdSense), is only one form of targeting. With the launch of the site targeting program, advertisers can select sites that are relevant to their prospective visitors, thereby targeting an audience, not just content. So although the ad campaign may not be targeted directly to your site's content, it will be relevant to the specific or general interests of your readers. AdSense has always been, and will always remain, a targeted advertising system -- we're just implementing new targeting approaches to help you monetize.

Some advertisers target many AdSense sites to reach a broad set of users and interests. Others use site targeting campaigns to target only a handful of sites and a very specific interest niche. And many fall in between these two. Regardless of the level of reach, site targeting campaigns all work to provide higher network CPMs, effective monetization, and fresh, dynamic content rolling through our system.

Remember, you maintain control over the types of ads that are appearing on your pages. So if you ever see an ad on your site that you'd rather not show, simply add the destination URL of the ad to your competitive filter list, and with a snap of our fingers (well, ok, it might take a little longer than that -- but no more than 5 hours), the ad will stop appearing. Your filter list works for both keyword-targeted and site-targeted ads.

We really appreciate all of your feedback about these campaigns. We say this a lot, but it's true: we take your comments very seriously. Never hesitate to send them to us.

Here's to a safe and happy New Year, from all of us here at AdSense.

UPDATED with accurate waiting time

Posted by Mike - AdSense Publisher Support

Site maintenance this Friday

While many of you may be on vacation this week, some of our engineers are working hard to ensure the performance and stability of AdSense. Occasionally this means taking down the main AdSense site (http://www.google.com/adsense) for updates. At 8PM PST this Friday (12/30), it will be unavailable for up to 6 hours while we complete some engineering work. Of course, all your AdSense ads will still serve properly and all your stats and earnings will be recorded as usual. We'll bring the site back up as soon as we can.

In the meantime, we hope you have a happy and high-earning new year!

Season's greetings!

Posted by Rob - AdSense Product Management

AdSense fan mail 1

To celebrate the holiday season, we thought we would share with you some of the letters we have received from publishers. Here is one from Germany:

We greatly appreciate your service and feel deeply honoured to be playing amongst Google's Top Leagues now - for us it really is an honour. The whole team here is enthusiastic and motivated to optimise AdSense earnings based on your recommendations as soon as possible. Last year your AdSense program saved us from being taken over by a competitor - we will never forget that. -moonchild media AG (Germany)

We really appreciate hearing from publishers, and of course are very glad when they're happy as this publisher is. But whether your experience is positive or not, we want to hear from you too. Email us here.

Posted by Susan - AdSense Product Marketing

What's a webinar again?

We're always looking into better ways to communicate with you to help you get the most of AdSense. So on Wednesday, December 21st we held a webinar to provide an overview of some recently launched AdSense features including Onsite Advertiser Sign-up, referrals, section targeting, themed ad units, and custom and emailable reports. We also discuss each in our previous blog posts -- feel free to browse through these.

Satya Patel from product management, Mohammed Abdoolcarim from product marketing, and Phoebe Ho from account management were on hand to provide information about their areas of expertise. Their presentations concluded with a live Q&A session you might also find useful.

If you missed it, be sure to watch a recorded version of the New Features Webinar here (Firefox users, you will need to view this in Internet Explorer).

Posted by Suzie - AdSense Publisher Support

Something for the holidays...

As 2005 comes to an end, businesses close out their books, people start making New Year’s resolutions, and AdWords advertisers like yourselves start planning for 2006. To help you review this past year’s campaign performance, we’d like to remind you of the handy tools available in the Report Center. To drill down on specific metrics, try generating a custom report for the past year, 6 months, or whatever date range you specify.

Here at Inside AdWords, we’re also doing our own annual review of sorts – reading over your emails and the topics we’ve covered in our inaugural year in order to plan for 2006. We’re taking a bit of a break for the holidays (and hope that you’ll do the same), but we’ll be back after the New Year with more tips, insights and otherwise interesting AdWords tidbits to share.

Happy Holidays and see you in ’06!

Posted by Arielle & Vivian, Inside AdWords crew