Google has realized that on websites (especially on blogs) there occurs some information which should not be used for deciding which AdSense contextual ads be displayed on that page. Such information mostly lies in the sidebars and footers. Sometimes, Google’s ad serving algorithm gets confused and take this irrelevant information in account while deciding which ad to show on your blog.
Section Targeting is a mechanism to ensure that the algorithm gets the right content to decide about ad serving. The mechanism is very simple. You just need to put Section Targeting “section start” and “section end” markers in your blog’s code to tell the algorithm about the content that should be considered as context for ad serving.
For this, Google has provided the following HTML tags. These tags are recognized by the Google ad serving algorithm:
<!-- google_ad_section_start --> <!-- google_ad_section_end -->
Read: Out Google AdSense Tips (a must read for AdSense Success aspirants)
You should enclose the content you want to target within these start and end tags. You can do so by placing these markers in your single post code. For example, in case of WordPress, you may consider enclosing the_content() function within these Section Targeting tags:
<!-- google_ad_section_start --> <div class="entry-content"> <?php the_content(); ?></div> <!-- google_ad_section_end -->
If you want certain portions of your web page to be totally ignored by the AdSense ad serving algorithm; you can add weight=ignore to the start tag. For example, if you want comments on your page should be ignored –then WordPress code could look like this:
<!-- google_ad_section_start weight=ignore --> <?php comments_template( '', true ); ?> <!-- google_ad_section_end -->
Yes, it appears to be a good idea to implement section targeting while using Google AdSense contextual ads. It helps ad serving algorithm to select the best ads to be shown on your webpage. This would help increase your AdSense CPC and CPM rates.
I hope this AdSense tip was useful for you. Properly using AdSense ensures that you earn better income from your online business. Do let me know if you have any questions regarding this. Happy blogging!
Misha says
November 12, 2016 at 1:51 amWhy you don’t use targeting tags on this website ?
Lalit Kumar says
November 12, 2016 at 9:55 pmWith passing time, importance of section targeting tags has decreased. Now it is a matter of choice whether one should implement these tags or not.
TKT says
September 11, 2017 at 5:15 pmso it is not required anymore? no value at all?
Lalit Kumar says
September 11, 2017 at 5:32 pmWe don’t exactly know if Google still uses section targeting. But in all likelihood, it doesn’t.
Gaurav Verma says
October 6, 2016 at 10:21 amAdsense section targeting is good for increase Adsense earning. Finally, I found the code for Adsense section targeting
King says
September 16, 2016 at 2:02 pmThanks! You are a saint
Sanjeev says
February 26, 2016 at 11:01 amThanks for the tips, however I do not see this implemented on your own webpages.
Lalit Kumar says
February 26, 2016 at 11:34 amSanjeev, all bloggers have their own strategies. So, everyone implements different tips as per their own requirements.
Youthcave says
October 23, 2015 at 2:04 pmLove this article, but here is a question. I am using theme for my site, does theme have this code or should i put them?
Thank you.
Youthcave says
October 23, 2015 at 2:08 pmAnd does it makes a diference becauce i am using plug in for Google adsense? I didn’t put ad code.
Lalit Kumar says
November 2, 2015 at 5:52 amYou need to manually add this section targeting code in your theme. It would not make any difference if you’re inserting AdSense ads using a plugin.
John Freier says
June 15, 2015 at 9:08 amHey Lalit,
As per AdSense’s latest documentation ( https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9713?hl=en&ref_topic=1628432&visit_id=1-636374324050032905-1142356547&rd=1 ) this is no longer relevant or needed!
Too bad kind of because I thought it was sometimes convenient.
Cheers
John
Lalit Kumar says
June 15, 2015 at 9:42 amHey John,
Yes, it was only a matter of time before Section Targeting was to be made obsolete. Now it’s very easy for Google’s algorithms to understand the overall context of the webpage content. Google does not need help of section tags anymore.
Thanks for the comment! Cheers!
Lokesh Kumar says
April 13, 2015 at 3:59 pmReally very well done..I am totally going to use it.
rahul says
March 6, 2015 at 6:58 amThanks lalit for this great article.. I am using adsense and traffic of my site ranges between 1200-1500 daily but Adsense earnings are very low.. so i was looking for some legit ways to increase em… I am going to implement this and share my results soon.. keep up the good work mate.. cheers
Rob says
November 25, 2014 at 4:03 pmJust the code I was looking for. Thanks Lalit.
Rob
Lalit Kumar says
November 26, 2014 at 8:31 amRob, I am glad that you found it useful.
Rafaqat says
August 1, 2013 at 11:21 amI was wondering why my adsense income is low,especially cpc,but after going through the article i will definitely increase my adsense cpc.
Thanks for awesome trick
Lalit Kumar says
November 26, 2014 at 8:33 amRafaqat, section targeting may prove to be useful in increasing your AdSense income. But there are lots of other factors as well that affect it.
Yos M says
March 31, 2013 at 2:45 amnice tips ..thanks