AdSense Optimization - Top Paying Ads Are Displayed First

If you are using AdSense then you are probably trying to optimize ads for maximum profit. There are many tricks to increase the click-through rate and consequently earnings. Most AdSense optimizations advices mention ad blending, no to use borders, placing ads above the fold and similar tricks. All those tips and tricks are useful and can contribute to more clicks. However, one of the most important aspects of the ad placement is usually neglected.

Google delivers high paying ads first. This means that the first ad that will appear on the page is worth more than others. The order of ads is the order from the HTML code. This does not necessarily mean the same order that is seen on the page. Some website layouts are using CSS styles to define element placement and such designs are not seen properly by the crawlers and spiders that examine our pages.

Therefore, to maximize AdSense profit you should first check which ad is present on the top of the page according to the HTML code. This can be easily achieved by displaying the page source code and checking for the first AdSense JavaScript code. Sometimes you will be surprised when you will find that the first ad in code is in fact a banner displayed at the right side below the top ads. Once you know the order in which the ads are positioned on the pages, you know which positions are the most important and deserve more attention. In general, there are two possibilities. If the first ads in the code are already on top positions above the fold then you have nothing to do. If this is not the case then you will have to determine if the top ad position in the code is displayed at some relevant and visible place. If not, you will have to modify the page layout.

Once you have first ad units on top positions you can proceed to the next step of optimization. Since you know that high paying ad units are actually displayed on the top and ads above the fold perform better, you have to decide whether it makes sense to use the maximum of allowed advertising--three ad units and three link units per page. Many times it is better to have less ads on right positions. Many webmasters think that more advertising means more chances for visitors to click. This is true but it means also more chances the users will click low paying ads. By displaying only one ad unit you prevent the possibility to click on "wrong" place.