Understanding Google Adsense

Any article on any site can make money by using Google Adsense.

To understand how, first we need to talk about how Google Adsense works. Adsense chooses ads based on the content of the page upon which the ads are displayed. So if you write a page about mountain bikes, Adsense should show ads related to mountain bikes. If you write a page about mesothelioma, your visitors should see ads for lawyers who will be happy to take your case (mesothelioma is a specific type of cancer caused by asbestos).

And that's the interesting part. The top bid for "mountain bikes" on Overture is $0.28 per click (this is the price advertisers are willing to pay if someone clicks their ad). The top bid for "mesothelioma" on Overture is $18.50, as of this writing. If you have a Google Adwords account you can get an idea of the top bids, but the Overture tool is easier to use. The assumption is that advertisers bid about the same amount for Google ads as they do for Overture ads (this is not always true, but is a good rule of thumb). *At this time the Overture bid tool is off-line, but Overture has said they are working to get it back on-line soon.

If you read any article similar to this one, on any site running Adsense, you'll see Adsense ads for things like "Create your own blog", "Free RSS News Feeds", "Search Engine Optimization" and the like. Let's take a look at some representative ad bids on Overture for some keywords that might generate these ads:

Blog - maximum bid $0.38
RSS - maximum bid $1.00
SEO - maximum bid $1.88

Adsense chooses a bunch of ads based on the content of the page, and then displays the ads with the highest bids. Taking that into account, the "SEO" ads would appear before the "blog" ads.

You should always optimize your site for what you are selling, rather than for raw numbers of visitors. It doesn't matter if you are selling e-books or simply trying to drive clicks for your ads. When people see something on your site that interests them, your revenue will go up naturally.

And it doesn't hurt to check your ads occasionally. Keep an eye on them to make sure they are relevant to your audience.