AdSense First Ad: Highest CTR Ad at Highest CPM Location

Google / 17 Comments

First impression matters and so does the first ad on your blog!

Well, using Google AdSense is pretty easy. Apply, get approval, paste ad code in your website and you’re in the online business! AdSense ads will being to appear on your webpages.

But harvesting the full potential of these ads requires a bit of more work and tweaking. You need to do a few things in order to optimize your ads and maximize revenue you get from them. Today, I will talk about the importance of the first Google ad in your webpage.

Please note that I said “in your webpage” and not “on your webpage”

What I mean is that I am not talking about the first ad that appears on top of the others. I am talking about the first ad code embedded in your HTML code.

Confusing?… Let me explain.

Let’s first understand why the first ad is important. Google’s ad serving algorithm tends to server high quality ads in the ad blocks that it first encounters in your HTML. This is to say that the first ad will get the highest quality ad (with high CPC etc.) and as we go down the HTML code of your page, the quality of ads will decrease.

With your experience and a bit of study of your click-through-rate (CTR) you should be able to determine which of the ads on your page is performing the best. This may OR may not be the first ad on your page. An ad’s performance depends on many factors.

Also Read: Google AdSense Tips and Guide (a must read for AdSense Success aspirants)

It is possible, let’s say, that the third ad is getting the highest CTR.

Our objective is to make this third ad the first one –so that we can get best of both world (highest CTR on a highest CPC)

How to do this?

It’s simple. As we know that the ad serving algorithm scans the page from top to bottom, all we need to do is to place the highest CTR ad right below the <body> tag; so that this becomes the first ad block to be encountered by the algorithm.

But sometimes we face a problem. Migrating an ad block from one place to another may mean that the block will not fit in the new place. Let’s say your third ad is a 728×90 leaderboard ad. If you migrate this code right under <body> tag –your webpage design might get distorted because there the ad may not have the luxury of 728×90 pixel space.

The solution

The solution is to shift the code right under <body> tag but make the ad display where it always has been.

Enclose your ad code with div tags

&lt;div id=&quot;ad1&quot;&gt;
Insert your ad code here
&lt;/div&gt;

Now style this div with position:absolute and give it top and left coordinate in order to position it in the place where it has been living all the time before. For example:

#ad1 {
width: 728px;
height: 90px;
position: absolute;
left: 140px;
top: 350px;
}

One more AdSence tip: When you will make the div absolutely positioned –the content below it will push upward. So, after removing the ad block from its original place –you would need to place an empty div of the same size at that place. This blank div will act as a placeholder and would keep the content below from shifting upward.

Did you find this AdSense tip useful? Please let me know if it worked for you. Also, it would be great if you could share any other AdSense tip with us. Needless to mention, your questions are always welcome.

Thank you for using TechWelkin.

17 thoughts on “AdSense First Ad: Highest CTR Ad at Highest CPM Location”

  1. ranga.nr

    Hi Lalit! i had doubt regarding this code from google. I use themes which have defined ad placements like below title and it is has high ctr ad..With what you mention above i understand that the code

    Insert your ad code here

    if for defining the first ad for google ad bots and the 2nd code below is to define where the first ad locates in the theme.
    So if there is not shifting of places by adding first code then we do not need to add the next 2nd code?
    Awaiting your reply
    thnx
    Thanx..

    Reply
    1. Lalit Kumar

      Hello! Well, if your theme has built-in ad positions, it is likely that the theme-designers have taken care of the above issue. You may open a post on your blog and then see source code. If the highest CTR ad is appearing before all other ads *in source code*, then you are all good. The solution given in this article is required when, for whatever reasons, highest CTR ad does not come first. Such a situation also indicates a bad theme / layout.

      Reply
  2. ambreen11

    Optimising AdSense on your site can boost ad performance and in turn increase revenue. AdSense optimization is a slow process and you will need to do a lot of testing which may require experimenting with different layouts and ad types.Thanks

    Reply
  3. edo

    Hi Lalit,
    The matter is that my best performing ad spot is located in the single posts. And when I add the code under the body section, it appears in the home page too. How can I fix this?

    Reply
    1. Lalit Kumar

      Edo, I have given the code above. It’s all about placing your ad using CSS property “position:absolute” … you would need to set top and left properties according to your website’s layout.

      Reply
      1. edo

        Yes, Lalit, I have done it all. Only when I remove the ad block from its original place, my “new” ad goes in between my context. So I want to place that empty div as a placeholder, as you mentioned above. Only I don’t know how to do it. Can you tell me the code for an empty div?

        Reply
          2. edo

            Hello again Lalit,
            So I did it that way and the ad is showing correctly, yet it is unclickable. It looks like an ordinary image. What can be the reason? How should I fix this? Thanks a lot in advance.

          4. Lalit Kumar

            Add the following CSS in #ad1 div:

            z-index:1000; left:185px; top:420px;

            Add the following CSS in blank div:

            margin: 0 10px 10px 0; float:left;

          5. edo

            Hi,

            Seems like it worked. I added only thez-index:1000; left:185px; top:420px; code in the #ad1 div: and changed the 183px to 300, and the 420px to 480, and it worked. The ad appeared in its right place and it’s clickable now.

            But I didn’t add the second code (margin: 0 10px 10px 0; float:left;) anywhere. Is it obligatory? Because the ad spot works without that too.

            Thanks a lot for your help.

          7. edo

            Can you tell me what can be the reason that the ad1 ad spot now appears on the home page too? Please if you aren’t occupied, write me on my personal e-mail, you can see it. Thanks in advance a lot.

          8. Lalit Kumar

            I can not really help you in this because answer depends on the structure of the theme you are using. You should not insert the ad code in BODY. Look for a file that creates single post (name of this file depends on the theme -different themes use different names)… You should insert the ad code in single post file.

          9. edo

            So far I hadn’t checked this. So this ad spot appears on the home page too, in between my posts. And while in the posts page everything looks ok in google chrome, when I open the site with other browsers, everything is again altered. :(

            Sorry for bothering you so much. I just don’t know much in codes that’s why need someone’s help…

            If you have time, can I ask you to talk to you in private? You have my e-mail already.

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