Google AdSense: How it Works and How to Work Around Issues

You’re not yet a full-blown blogger if you haven’t heard of Google Adsense how it works. You’re not yet a legit website owner if you haven’t explored the potential of earning money from your site through advertisements. While it is your primary objective to provide relevant and quality content to your target audience online, there are many ways to maximize your presence and space on the Internet. One is to allow space for advertisers to place their ads with the corresponding cost-per-click. Every click on the ad works for the advertisers as their products/services reach their target market while you earn per click on the side.

What is Google AdSense?

Google AdSense is probably one of the most popular platforms to earn money through ads on websites. It gains popularity, first and foremost, since it is under Google and everybody kind of knows Google as a trustworthy brand. Google AdSense has over 2 million clients online, monitoring and providing quality service through ad placements. Google AdSense takes care of getting the highest bidders among advertisers and referring it to you.

It also allows you to choose which ads are relevant to your readers, those who will not annoy your online visitors. It also allows you to choose exactly where to place the ads on your website. It also takes care of the monitoring and billing the advertisers as well as paying you per hits. Its benefits have been backed up by positive feedbacks, commending Google AdSense for the dollars it is channelling to the publishers in exchange for ad clicks.

How does Google AdSense work?

• Choose which ad you want your customers to see from your website.

  You have the power to choose the ad you’d want to appear on your site. The biggest advertisers usually bid the highest with Google AdSense, so you don’t have to worry about the content of the ad. The content, style, and composition of the ad, though, must also be relevant to your website. It need not be the same as what you are promoting on your website, but it would look better if the ads are relatable to your target online visitors. This way, the ads will also interest them instead of annoying them.

• Decide where exactly on your site will the ads appear.

  You wouldn’t want the ad to be the first thing that your loyal readers will see on your page. You’d want it a little subtle, a little on the side, so it’s still your content that is the centre of your page. You can do this by yourself but copying and pasting a piece of code on your website HTML just right where you want to place the ads.

• Ads will undergo bidding.

  Once your online space will be up for bidding, advertisers will go head-to-head to secure that online space you’re offering. This is the process where you’ll see how far these advertisers are willing to pay just to get more clicks.

• Google AdSense takes care of the billing.

  Once the ads are placed on your website, it will earn clicks from all your online visitors. It is Google AdSense’s job to bill the advertisers, to monitor the number of clicks per day, to check if you’ve reached the minimum amount, and to pay you your earned money based on clicks.

Ad Formats and Placement

Google AdSense offers a variety of ad formats to publishers for displaying advertisements on their websites. The following are some of the popular ad formats available through AdSense:

1. Display Ads

These are standard banner ads that come in various sizes, such as leaderboard (728×90), rectangle (300×250), and skyscrapers (160×600). Publishers can place these ads within their web pages’ content, sidebar, header, or footer.

2. Text Ads

Text ads are simple ad units that consist of a headline, a description, and a clickable link. They blend in with the website’s content and are often used in contextual advertising, showing relevant ads based on the page’s content.

3. Video Ads

AdSense also supports video ads, which can be displayed within video players on a website. These ads may be skippable or non-skippable and can generate revenue for the publisher when visitors view or interact with them.

4. Native Ads

Native ads seamlessly integrate with the website’s design and content, providing a non-disruptive ad experience. They match the look and feel of the website, making them less intrusive and more engaging to users.

5. In-feed Ads

 In-feed ads are designed for content feeds like article lists or product listings. They mimic the style and layout of the feed content and can be placed within the list of articles or products.

6. In-article Ads

In-article ads are placed directly within the body of an article, blending in with the content. They provide a more integrated ad experience and will likely get more user attention.

AdSense Policies and Compliance

Google AdSense has strict policies and guidelines that publishers must adhere to to maintain a healthy AdSense account and continue earning revenue. Failure to comply with these policies may result in account suspension or termination. Here are some key aspects of AdSense policies and compliance:

1. Prohibited Content

AdSense does not allow ads displayed on websites that contain or promote content related to illegal activities, adult content, violence, hate speech, or copyrighted material without proper authorization. Publishers must ensure their website content aligns with these guidelines.

2. Invalid Clicks and Impressions

Publishers should not engage in activities that artificially inflate ad clicks or impressions. This includes clicking on their ads, encouraging others to click on ads, or using automated tools to generate invalid traffic. Such behavior is strictly against AdSense policies.

3. Ad Placement

AdSense has specific guidelines on where ads can be placed on a webpage. Publishers should not place ads that mislead users into clicking them unintentionally. Additionally, ads should not be placed on non-content pages or pop-ups.

4. Page Content and Quality

Websites must have valuable and original content that provides a good user experience. Sites with thin or scraped content, excessive ads, or low-quality content may be ineligible for AdSense.

5. Ad Behavior

Publishers are not allowed to alter the behavior of AdSense ads. This includes modifying the ad code, using hidden ads, or placing deceptive elements around the ads.

6. Data Collection and Privacy

Publishers must comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations when using AdSense, particularly concerning user data collection and privacy policies.

7. Restricted Content

Some types of content, such as gambling, alcohol-related, or healthcare-related, may be subject to additional restrictions or require special approvals before displaying ads.

8. Multiple AdSense Accounts

Publishers can have only one AdSense account and must not create or use additional accounts to circumvent AdSense policies.

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What is the issue?

If Google AdSense how it works is known, and most websites use it to make money through online ads, what is the matter then? Why is it landing on the headlines recently? Why are some companies complaining about the ads recently posted on their websites? And what has Google got something to say to the complaints?

Well, here’s the deal.

Recently, some publishers noticed that the cost-per-click from ads is declining. In short, the publishers are not earning much despite the number of ads being placed strategically on their websites. This is where suspicions of AdSense exploit came to discussion. Plus, the fact that there are odd-looking ads placed on different websites, popping out of the screens, rightfully positioned on the site but are not clickable.

It took Craig Silverman to notice these weird-looking Google AdSense ads posted on different websites. However, the ads remain where they are. Once clicked, it just stays on the same page instead of landing to another URL. This is where the exploit surfaced. There were advertisers who, wanting just to place free ads from Google AdSense, exploited the parameters by blocking destination URLs. They just wanted to expose the ads, so they made fake URLs. In that way, they didn’t have to pay for clicks as they knew people would not click them. They just wanted views, not clicks because, with clicks, they have to shell out money to the publishers. This gave them free exposure by disobeying the rules and parameters set by Google AdSense.

Complaints reached the tables of Google AdSense, and it took them longer to respond to the issue. However, after a few weeks, they released a statement stating that they already blacklisted the advertisers. This was a relief on the part of the publishers. However, it has shown the vulnerability of the Google AdSense system regarding security. Scams like this should never pass the tight security of Google, considering that most big publishers rely on their system.

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Still Worth a Try

While there was a slight glitch on the part of Google AdSense, how it works lately, it still is worth every blogger or publisher’s money. Its benefits, as well as its reach, are enough for you to trust its cost-per-click system. Since most of the highest-paying advertisers bid on Google AdSense, it will be hard for you not to try this. It is too bankable that – in 2015, it paid $10 billion to its publishers. That’s how effective their cost-per-click campaign is. You know it is worth the price from the high-quality ads it makes, with compelling text, visuals, and rich media in its ad content.

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