New publisher application process

We’re continually evaluating our AdSense application process in order to ensure the safest possible network for our advertisers, as well as the best possible experience for you, our publishers. With that in mind, we’ve now implemented a change to our initial review process that will result in a stronger AdSense network. Improving the quality of the network will drive more interest and demand from advertisers, increasing the earning potential for all of our publishers.



Starting today, we’ll begin adding a new step to the review process and sending notifications at two key points. After a new application is submitted, we’ll begin with preliminary checks on the site and the applicant’s submitted details. If the application passes through this first stage, we’ll notify the applicant by email, grant them account access, and provide them with ad code to place on their submitted site. It’s essential at this stage for the applicant to place the ad code on their site, as the review process can’t be completed until the ad code is implemented.



However, live ads won’t immediately appear once the ad code has been placed on the submitted site. Since the application hasn’t been fully approved yet, temporary “blank ads” will be shown instead. These blank ads will blend in with the background of the page, so users won’t see them and the user experience won’t be impacted. As a result, there’s nothing to click on and thus revenue can’t yet be generated. If the applicant logs into their AdSense account at this stage of the review process, they’ll see a reminder that their account is still under review.



Soon after the ad code has been added to the submitted site, a final approval decision will be made and the applicant will be notified by email. Newly approved publishers will see live ads automatically appear in the existing ad units on their pages. These publishers are then welcome (and encouraged!) to add more ad units to their submitted site and to any other policy-compliant sites they own. We also encourage new publishers to ensure their sites are available to be crawled by the AdSense robot (Mediapartners-Google), and also to use our best-performing ad formats.



If you’d like more information about this new approval process, please visit our Help Center or feel free to post questions about this topic in our Help Forum.



Thanks for being a valuable member of AdSense as we continue to improve the quality of our network.



Posted by Max Cohen, Product Manager

Doing more with the +1 button, more than 4 billion times a day

(Cross posted to the Official Google Blog and the Inside AdWords Blog)



In June we launched the +1 button for websites, making it easier to recommend content across the web. In July, the +1 button crossed 2 billion daily views, and we also made it a lot faster. Today the +1 button appears on more than a million sites, with over 4 billion daily views, and we're extremely excited about this momentum.



It's just the beginning, however, and today we're launching two more features that make +1 buttons more useful for users and publishers alike.



Sharing with your circles on Google+

Clicking the +1 button is a great way to highlight content for others when they search on Google. But sometimes you want to start a conversation right away—at least with certain groups of friends. So beginning today, we're making it easy for Google+ users to share webpages with their circles, directly from the +1 button. Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new "Share on Google+" option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share.

The new +1 button on Rotten Tomatoes

+Snippets

When you share content from the +1 button, you’ll notice that we automatically include a link, an image and a description in the sharebox. We call these "+snippets," and they're a great way to jumpstart conversations with the people you care about.



Of course: publishers can benefit from +snippets as well. With just a few changes to their webpages, publishers can actually customize their +snippets and encourage more sharing of their content on Google+. More details are available on the Google Webmaster blog.







We're rolling out sharing and +snippets globally over the next week, but if you’d like to try the new +1 button now, you can join our Google+ Platform Preview. Once you're part of the Preview, just visit a site with the +1 button (like Rotten Tomatoes) and +1 the page. Thanks for all of your feedback so far, and stay tuned for more features in the weeks and months ahead!



Posted by Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering

Policy Tips - Keeping the network family-safe

If you’re an avid blog reader, you probably remember blog series like AdSense Facts & Fiction and Newbie Fridays. After much demand, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be delivering more frequent policy posts. Every month, we’ll be taking a closer look at our policies to provide clarifications, best practices, and tips.

This week, we’d like to revisit one of our longest standing and most asked about policies: adult content. As every AdSense publisher should know, ads may only be placed on family-safe content. Because the label “family-safe” is a general term that differs among all countries and cultures, we often receive questions asking for clarification on what we consider adult content.

Prohibiting sexually explicit pornographic images is straightforward, but publishers often unknowingly overlook some of the more subtle content that can be intended for a mature audience. Examples can include adult toys or fetish sites, sheer/see-through clothing, and lewd or provocative poses (even if clothed) that have sexually gratifying overtones. This rule applies to links or ads that drive traffic to adult or mature content too.

Something else to keep in mind is that images are not the only elements that are considered adult. Text that is sexual in nature is considered adult content as well. Some examples include articles with sexual health tips (including medical-related advice), erotic stories, and comment spam with adult keywords (most commonly found on sites with user-generated-content).

When in doubt about whether an image or text might be construed as adult content, our rule of thumb is this: if you wouldn’t want a child to see the content or if you would be embarrassed to view the page in front of colleagues, then it’s probably not family-safe and you shouldn’t place AdSense ad code on it. We appreciate your help in making the network a balanced ecosystem where users, publishers, and advertisers can grow and thrive together.

Cecelia Choi, AdSense Policy team

Did you find this policy blog post helpful? You can share your feedback or tell us about a specific policy topic you'd like to learn more about here.

View domain level performance data easily with the sites report

Are you using URL channels to track the performance of specific domains and subdomains where you’re showing ads? If so, we’re happy let you know that this information will now be tracked automatically in the new interface, within the sites report. (If you participated in the beta test for the new AdSense interface, you may have tried an initial version of the sites report. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve improved the report and are now making it available to all publishers.)

With the new sites report, you’ll no longer need to manually create a new URL channel to track each new domain or subdomain where you’ve placed your ads. This will help ensure that you have more detailed data about your ad performance from the get-go, without any additional effort required on your part.

Also, instead of creating URL channels, you can start using more of the 200 channels available in your account to create custom channels. These allow you to track and group your ad units on an even more granular level. (And don’t forget to turn those custom channels into ad placements, so advertisers can find and target them!)

The sites report tracks performance data for your content, mobile content, feeds and domains data. You’ll also be able to use the multi-dimension reporting feature to analyze your site's performance by ad type, targeting type, platform, and more. Please note that your sites report will only contain historical data beginning in late June 2011. In addition, there are a few limitations to this report for publishers with an extensive number of domains -- more information is available in our Help Center.

To get started with the new sites report, sign in to the new AdSense interface and navigate to the Performance reports tab. Choose Sites in the left navigation.

We hope this new report helps you view your data more quickly and easily -- feel free to share your comments and thoughts below.

Posted by Guillaume Ryder - AdSense Engineering

Sulit.com.ph lifts revenue by 50% using Custom Search Ads on the Search result pages.

Sulit in Filipino means “worth it” and refers to the deals available on Sulit.com.ph. The site helps users in Philippines locate, buy, and sell products online. Co-founder RJ recently spoke to us to describe how he optimized AdSense performance and revenue by moving from AdSense for Content to Custom Search Ads on the search result pages of Sulit. As a refresher, Custom Search Ads is a special feature that allows publishers to monetize their search results pages with targeted and customizable search ads similar to those found on Google.com.

Inside AdSense: Can you tell us a little about how and when www.sulit.com.ph got started?
RJ: Sulit.com.ph started as a project for my then-girlfriend and now-wife Arianne and I in 2006. We launched it as an experiment to understand the online market potential for our business and we wanted to determine which category the users were looking for and where we could invest as an online business.

After a few months, the traffic to the website started to grow which made us decide to push through with the classified ads site. The decision to move ahead with Sulit.com.ph proved to be a great call as Sulit has become one of the most visited websites in the Philippines today. Our purpose was to help connect Filipino buyers and sellers online, in a marketplace if you may.

IA: What role does AdSense play in your business?
RJ: By November 2006, the traffic to the website had started to increase. Since this was a bootstrap project, we did not have any business model in place at the beginning. I was using AdSense on some of my smaller websites and understood the value of having AdSense on our site. So we decided to monetize the site by using AdSense. We signed up for an account in November 2006 and got our very first AdSense check in February 2007. It was easy to use and the returns helped us grow our experiment to a full blown corporation. AdSense served as our primary revenue source while we were growing the business.

IA: Why did you decide to try out Custom Search Ads on your pages?
RJ: I received an optimization tip from the AdSense team suggesting I maximize revenue by changing from AdSense for content to AdSense for search on my search result pages. AdSense for content was an effective system as it displayed related ads to the content of a webpage. AdSense for search takes the relevancy to a whole new level and hence its more effective. The code allows us to display ads related to what the user is actually searching for. It benefits us by providing value to our users. When our users see related ads and no clutter on our search result pages, we guarantee return and loyal visitors which in turn helps our business grow.

And since the the ads are relevant we’ve seen more click and this helps us to continue providing this free service through the revenue we generate through AdSense.

IA: What were the results? Would you recommend this strategy to other publishers?
RJ: It surprised me that it is possible to serve advertising that gives value to our users. It allowed us to add more development resources in tweaking and adding more innovative features to Sulit.com.ph which is helping to get more and more users to use the website.

I’d recommend that other publishers who have a search based site consider optimizing revenue by adding Custom Search Ads on the search results. If the ads are appropriately positioned, it will provide a great user experience and also ensure that you maximize your Google AdSense returns. I would also recommend that you test the ad units on your site since you the publisher will know how the user responds, and navigates through your site best.

Since the implementation of Custom Search Ads on our site we’ve seen a 50% increase in our overall revenue through AdSense, which is fantastic!

If you have a search-based site, we encourage you to learn more about Custom Search Ads and apply to use the feature.

Posted by Amrita Kamat, AdSense Partnerships Specialist

The +1 Button: Now Faster

(Cross-posted on the Webmaster Central blog)

One of the 10 things we hold to be true here at Google is that fast is better than slow. We keep speed in mind in all things that we do, and the +1 button is no exception. Since the button’s launch, we have been hard at work improving its load time. Today, we’re proud to announce two updates that will make both the +1 button and the page loading it, faster.

First, we’ve begun to roll out out a set of changes that will make the button render up to 3x faster on your site. No action is required on your part, so just sit back, relax, and watch as the button loads more quickly than before.

In addition to the improvements made to the button, we’re also introducing a new asynchronous snippet, allowing you to make the +1 experience even faster. The async snippet allows your web page to continue loading while your browser downloads the +1 JavaScript. By loading these elements in parallel, we’re ensuring the HTTP request to get the +1 button JavaScript doesn’t lead to an increase in your page load time. For those of you who have already implemented the button, you’ll need to update the code to the new async snippet, and then you should see an overall improvement in your page load time.

To generate the new async snippet, use our +1 Configuration Tool. Below, you’ll find an example of the code, which should be included below the last /g:plusone tag on your page.


If you haven’t already implemented the +1 button on your site, we’re excited for your first experience to be a fast one. This is a great opportunity to allow your users to recommend your site to their friends, potentially bringing in more qualified traffic from Google search. To those that already have the button, we hope that you enjoy the improvements in speed. Our team will continue to work hard to enhance the +1 button experience as we know that “fast is better than slow” is as true today as it’s ever been.

If you have any questions, please join us in the Webmaster forum. To receive updates about the +1 button, please subscribe to the Google Publisher Buttons Announce Group. For advanced tips and tricks, check our Google Code site.

David Byttow, Software Engineer

Targeted link units bring in 25% of MyPlayCity’s online revenue.

MyPlayCity.com offers more than 350 full-version, downloadable games, all for free. Ksenia Kazak, director of marketing and PR, shared her experience with growing MyPlayCity’s revenue and improving AdSense performance just by adding link units to their pages.

Inside AdSense: Tell us a little more about MyPlayCity. When did it launch?

Ksenia Kazak: We created the site in 2006, and today have more than one million visitors daily. We offer casual games, which are easy to play, small, colorful and suitable for all ages. None of our games have time limits, and users can download them and play for as long as they want, for free. It’s great for our users, because gamers usually have to pay for their games.

IA: How do you use AdSense on your site?

KK: We’ve used AdSense from the very beginning – it was a clear choice for us. We’ve used features like AdSense for search, AdSense for feeds, and we recently implemented AdSense for games which has worked really well for us. From time to time we’ve tried using other ad networks, but they haven’t worked as well as AdSense – it is our main source of revenue.

IA: Why did you decide to start showing link units on your site?

KK: We learned about adding link units as we were setting up AdSense on our site. We’re always eager to try new things, so we decided to give link units a go. We learned that we could add up to three link units in addition to the three AdSense for content units we already have on each page, so we decided to give it a shot.

We wanted to ensure the site would stay user-friendly and create a positive user experience. So, we thought carefully about ad placement, as it’s important to us to emphasize our content and build a loyal user base that will keep coming back. Following recommendations from the AdSense team, we implemented a wide 728x15 format with four links on the top and bottom of the pages.

IA: What were the results? Would you recommend this strategy to other publishers?

KK: The link units are very efficient in terms of revenue – they bring in 25% of our total online revenue. The ads are quite targeted and they generate a huge user interest. Compared to our other AdSense for content ads, the link units perform very well. With this additional revenue from link units, we’ve been able to add more games to our collection. We’re able to improve our site and bring in a larger audience that’s increasingly loyal.

In terms of placement, our link units at the top of the page perform well, as users are more likely to see them there, yet they do not distract from the page content. At the same time, the link units also work really well at the bottom of the page, as users tend to scroll down to change the language of the site. It’s another opportunity for users to find the links. The AdSense team recommended using four link units instead of five, since the font is larger and they are more visible to the user.

I’d recommend other publishers adding link to their sites, as they are an excellent solution in limited space. They take up very little room, but the revenue is significant.

If you’d like to add link units to your site like MyPlayCity, sign in to your account today.

1. Once you’re signed in to your AdSense account, click the “My Ads” tab in the new AdSense interface
2. Scroll to the bottom of the ‘size’ drop-down and select your link unit size. We recommend trying one of our top-performing sizes: 728x15, 160x90 or 468x15
   

Once you've updated your pages, link units will appear immediately. If we haven't yet crawled your page, we may initially show your alternate ad or a 'View ads about' search box in the link unit.

Some additional link units tips and best practices from the AdSense team:

• Try wider formats with fewer links – for example, 728x15 (4 links), 160x90 (4 links), or 468x15 (4 links).
• Effective placements include the top of the page (after navigation and before page content) and at the bottom of the page (at the end of an article). Horizontal ad link units usually work better for this (728x15 and 468x15 formats).
• If the horizontal format is not adapted to your site, you can use vertical formats (such as 160x90 or 200x90) to fill small spaces in the sidebar. Or try wrapping text around the ad units inside an article to serve as a content breaker.
  

Posted by Jane Brinkley - AdSense Optimization Team