Inside AdSense

A look inside Google AdSense

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Stats catching up

Last night for a short period of time, we experienced a technical issue that prevented publishers from accessing their AdSense and Google Ad Manager accounts. Our engineers have resolved the issue, so you can now log in to your accounts. Please note that ad targeting and serving were not affected during this time.

You may notice a slight delay in your reports for the next few hours as a result of this issue, but no statistics have been lost. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Friday, April 10, 2009 at 9:49:00 AM

Site maintenance on Saturday, April 11

UPDATE (April 10, 1:24pm PDT): This site maintenance period has been canceled.

Our engineers will be performing routine site maintenance this coming Saturday from 10am to 2pm PDT. Although you won't be able to log in to your AdSense or Google Ad Manager accounts between these hours, we'll continue to track your clicks, impressions and earnings as usual. In addition, ad serving and targeting won't be affected.

We've converted the maintenance start time for our international readers:

London - 6pm Saturday
Bucharest - 8pm Saturday
Kolkata - 10:30pm Saturday
Bandung - 12am Sunday
Sydney - 3am Sunday

Thanks for your patience. In the meantime, if you're curious about what goes on during these maintenance periods, check out this post from one of our AdSense engineers.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Thursday, April 09, 2009 at 10:29:00 AM

A clarification on ad serving

Those of you who carefully check your AdSense ads may have noticed that they're now being served primarily from a DoubleClick URL rather than the pageads.googlesyndication.com URL you're used to. We heard some confusion over this topic from a few publishers, and we'd like to clarify a few misconceptions.

This change in the URL where the ads are served from is due to the DoubleClick ad serving cookie that we launched on the Google content network last year. Since this cookie is on the doubleclick.net domain, we've had to update our URLs to point to doubleclick.net, as well as to give you the associated benefits such as frequency capping and improved attribution.

However, this is only an infrastructure change -- there haven't been any changes to the ads themselves. The ads you see are still coming from AdWords advertisers or third-party advertisers, just as they were before, and it's not the case that you're now receiving 'DoubleClick ads' instead of 'Google ads'.

Along the same lines, we'd like to reassure you that this new URL hasn't changed the targeting of ads on sites. As a quick refresher, each ad that appears on your pages can becontextually targeted, placement-targeted, or soon, interest-based. With contextual targeting, ads are matched to your content based on keywords selected by advertisers, while with placement targeting, advertisers select specific ad placements where they'd like their ads to appear. And with our latest addition of interest-based advertising, advertisers will be able to reach users based on their interests or previous interactions with an advertiser's site.

By allowing all types of ads to compete for the ad space on your site, you'll increase the competition for your ad space to help ensure that you're maximizing your earnings potential. However, you can also continue to prevent specific ads from appearing by using yourCompetitive Ad Filter and the Ad Review Center.

We hope this helps alleviate any concerns you may have had about the URL switch.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 9:25:00 AM

Revenue opportunities for video content owners

Last week, we announced that the video units feature will soon be retired. Our announcement has created some confusion, so we thought it would be helpful to outline how Google will still continue to support revenue opportunities for video content owners.

The video units feature allowed publishers to create video unit players, with YouTube partner content and accompanying ads, within their AdSense accounts. They could then embed this special player into their web pages, and revenue generated from the ads would be split between the YouTube partner, the AdSense publisher, and Google. Although we're retiring the video units feature, we'll continue to offer the following monetization solutions to video content creators:

AdSense for video

AdSense for video gives video owners the ability to earn money from videos they create or own. They can run placement targeted instream video ads (pre, mid, post rolls) and graphical overlays or contextually targeted text ads in Flash players, and the ad revenue will be split between the video owner and Google.

Current AdSense for video publishers include Encyclopedia Britannica, Demand Media, and College Humor. If you'd like more information about the program or how to apply, visit ourmicrosite.

YouTube Partner Program

Similarly, the YouTube Partner Program enables popular content creators to share in advertising revenue from their own videos hosted on YouTube. Participants can choose the videos on which they'd like to show overlay ads or accompanying banner ads. These videos earn them money whether they're viewed on YouTube or embedded onto web pages elsewhere online, and the revenue generated from these ads will be split between the YouTube partner and Google.

The YouTube Partner Program has thousands of participants from ten countries around the world, and is accepting applications. To learn more about the program, visit the Partnerships Benefits page.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Friday, April 03, 2009 at 4:38:00 PM

Optimization Webinar tomorrow

We often talk about optimization techniques here on the blog, but we've heard from many of you that you're looking for a more hands-on learning experience. With that in mind, we'd like to invite you to an AdSense Optimization Webinar we're holding tomorrow. During this interactive 1-hour session, members of our optimization team will explain and demonstrate ways to improve your ad and search performance. You'll also have the chance to chat online with them during the event.

The details:

AdSense Optimization Webinar
Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Time: 11am PDT (GMT -07:00)
Register at: https://googleonline.webex.com/googleonline/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=572860900

You'll need to register before the event starts in order to attend, and we're only able to accommodate the first 500 publishers who register. If you're interested in attending the webinar, be sure to sign up using the link provided above.

If you're unable to attend this webinar, please know that we're planning to host more of these in the future. (And don't forget that soon, you'll be able to update your email notification preferences so we can personally let you know about them.)

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 3:23:00 PM

New email notification preferences to keep you informed

If you're reading this, you're probably an active publisher who stays up-to-date with all things AdSense. You're probably also signed up to receive newsletters and surveys from our team. But publishers like you keep telling us that we're not doing enough to reach out to you. That's why we're happy to announce that we'll be rolling out new email notification preferences in your account over the next few days.

What does that mean? Simply put, you'll soon have the option to receive specific messages like event invitations, information about webinars, and personalized account suggestions from members of our team.


In a few days, you'll be prompted with a one-time interstitial page after you sign in, which will ask you to select the types of messages you'd like to receive from us. We encourage you to take the new email preferences out for a spin once they're available in your account. If you change your mind, you're welcome to update your selections at any time. Just sign in to your account and visit the Contact Preferences section of your Account Settings page to update the types of emails you want to receive.

Posted by Jen Phillips - Inside AdSense Team

Monday, March 30, 2009 at 10:57:00 AM

Sunsetting video units feature

As you may know, we frequently review our products and features to ensure their effectiveness. After reviewing our AdSense video units feature, which allows you to show YouTube content and ads on your pages, we've found that it hasn't had the impact we had hoped for. As a result, we've decided to retire this feature at the end of April so we can focus our resources on other opportunities to help publishers earn from their sites.

If you'd still like to display video content from YouTube, you can do so through YouTube.comdirectly. Visit any specific video page and look for the code in the 'Embed' box, or sign in to your YouTube account to create a playlist. In addition, please note that this change won't affect the availability of other video-related ads options -- video ads may appear in your AdSense for content ad units if you've opted into image ads, and AdSense for video is still accepting applications from eligible publishers who produce video content.

Starting today, the option to sign up for video units is no longer available to new publishers. If you're currently displaying video units, we recommend that you start removing the video unit code from your pages as soon as possible so you can optimize your available ad space in advance. Please be assured that any earnings you've generated from video units in the past will still be credited to your AdSense account.

Once video units are retired at the end of April, any remaining Leaderboard or Skyscraper video units on your pages will direct users to YouTube.com, while other video unit sizes will automatically be changed to standard embedded YouTube players. These standard video players will display top YouTube videos, but you won't generate earnings from them once this change occurs. If you have less than three ad units on your page, you may prefer to replace your video unit with a regular ad unit.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to develop our products.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Friday, March 27, 2009 at 11:13:00 AM

Pageview tracking back to normal

If you're displaying multiple ad units on your pages, you may have noticed that your pageviews were higher than normal for part of yesterday and today. Our engineers identified a bug which prevented ad units from detecting other units on the same page. As a result, our system logged a pageview for each ad unit that was loaded on a page, instead of a pageview for each page containing ads. In some cases, this also may have caused specific ads to appear in multiple ad units on the same page.

Please be assured that ad unit impressions were still logged correctly and ads were still displayed on your pages, so you were properly credited for all earnings generated from your ads. We've resolved the issue, and although you won't see the pageview count in your reports retroactively changed, your pageview tracking is now back to normal.

Thanks for your patience and your help in identifying this bug.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 3:33:00 PM

AdSense is a-Twitter

Many members of the AdSense team enjoy using Twitter -- and we've seen that many of our publishers have made it a part of their daily workflow as well. If you're a Twitter user and have something to say about AdSense, chances are you'll "tweet" about it. Twitter has given us daily snapshots of what we're doing right, and what we could be doing better. If there's an issue affecting many publishers, Twitter is one of the very first places we hear about it. (Not familiar with Twitter? Check out Twitter's Getting Started Guide.)

We're thrilled to launch @adsense to communicate with AdSense publishers who use Twitter. Our tweets will be a mix of fresh product news, optimization tips, interesting links, upcoming events, and possibly even pictures of our dogs. Our entire AdSense team contributes, so if you have any suggestions for what you want to see, feel free to send an @reply to us!

Please note that since we want to make this feed as useful as possible to everyone following us, we can't respond via Twitter to questions regarding individual AdSense accounts. Please continue to visit the AdSense Help Center and Help Forum to troubleshoot your specific issues.

Let the tweeting begin!

Posted by Erica dela Cruz - Inside AdSense Team

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 10:22:00 AM

Answers to your interest-based advertising questions

Two weeks ago, we let you know about the upcoming launch of interest-based advertising. We've been reading your blog comments and forum posts, and we'd like to address some of the most common questions we've seen:

How should I update my privacy policies?
Your site's privacy policy will need to include the information mentioned in this Help Center entry. However, because publisher sites and laws vary by country, we're not able to provide exact language for your site. Please make any necessary changes to your privacy policies by April 8th, 2009, as the official launch of interest-based advertising will occur on April 9th. If you're a blogger, you can paste your privacy policy into your sidebar.

I noticed some changes in my earnings and the ads showing up on my site -- is it because of interest-based ads?
No. We haven't yet launched interest-based ads on AdSense publisher sites, so there's been no effect on your revenue or the ads appearing on your pages. Interest-based advertising will be rolled out to a limited set of advertisers beginning on April 9th, and then expanded later this year; as a result, the impact of this launch for most publishers won't be immediate. Over time, as interest-based advertising is rolled-out to additional advertisers, you should begin to see positive effects on your revenue.

Does this mean that my sites won't show ads relevant to my content anymore?
No, that's not the case -- interest-based ads won't replace the previous ad targeting options you're used to. Interest-based ads will compete in the same ad auction ascontextually- and placement-targeted ads, and we'll continue to show only the ad(s) that will generate highest earnings for you. As noted above, interest-based ads will gradually become available to show on publisher pages, and with more available ads competing in the ad auction, you should see increased earnings over time.

Are these interest-based ads pop-ups?
No, Google doesn't show ads as pop-ups.

If I opt out of showing ads based on interest categories, can I change my mind later? Will I still need to update my privacy policy now?
Yes, you can change your preferences around displaying ads based on interest categories at any time. However, even if you choose to opt out of displaying ads based on interest categories now, you'll still need to update your privacy policies by April 8th. This is because your site may still show ads based on a user's previous interactions with an advertiser, such as past visits to that advertiser's site. Please keep in mind that remaining opted in to displaying ads based on interest categories will help increase the number of available ads for your pages in the long run, which can help increase your earnings potential.

For more information on interest-based adverting, please visit our Help Center.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Monday, March 23, 2009 at 2:01:00 PM