Using AdSense Channels for Testing
The more information that you have about what is working for you the more successful you can be at monetizing your websites. Using AdSense for content ads is a popular method of monetization. Using AdSense channels can give you information that you need to optimize your sites.
When you go into the AdSense set-up section along the way you are offered the opportunity to identify the ad with an ad channel. You can use this feature to discover which ad placement and the type of ad that works best for you with your content and lay-out.
To do this you would need a unique identifier for each ad unit. I would suggest adding a suffix to the name to identify the type and placement of ads. You might start with the site name or some variation of the name. The suffix might include a number for various positions on the page and you might add a letter to identify a link unit or an ad unit. You might divide the page into sections like:
- header
- left column
- center column
- right column
- footer
Using a letter like ‘l’ for link unit and ‘a’ for ad unit would complete your ad channel designation. For an ad unit in the center column your ad channel identifier might look like:
mysite-3a
When you check your AdSense Report you would immediately know which ad is producing your income. You may find that a particular ad position works best with your content. You may also find that what works best on one type of page does not work as well as some other position on a different type of page. Using the ad placement that works best for the type of page can improve your income.
If you have several sections on your site like content pages, a blog, or a forum you may wish to add an additional identifier for the various sections. This would tell you which sections of your site are producing the most income with what ad position. The more information that you collect the better you are able to optimize your site.
When first starting out with AdSense you may not realize the value of the information that Google makes available to you. I used the same ad units and link units across several sites for too long. I have just begun to update these units to provide more information. I am enjoying improving AdSense income as a result. You may be able to improve your potential as well.