An Introduction To AdSense

AdSense is an advertisement program that is run by Google. As a Website owner you can enrol in this program to enable text, image, and more recently, video advertisements to your websites. These advertisements are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis. Google is also currently beta-testing a cost-per-action based service.

Google uses its Internet search technology to provide these advertisements based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted advertisement system may enrol through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on websites because the advertisements are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the advertisements is often relevant and targeted to the website.

Currently, AdSense uses JavaScript code to incorporate the advertisements into a participating website. If the advertisements are included on a website that has not yet been crawled by the Mediabot, AdSense will temporarily display advertisements for charitable causes, also known as public service announcements (PSAs). (The Mediabot is different from the Googlebot, which maintains Google's search index.)

Many websites use AdSense to monetize their content. AdSense has been particularly important for delivering advertising revenue to small websites that do not have the resources for developing advertising sales programs and salespeople. To fill a website with advertisements that are relevant to the topics discussed, webmasters implement a brief script on the websites' pages. Websites that are content-rich have been very successful with this advertising program, as noted in a number of publisher case studies on the AdSense website.

Some webmasters invest significant effort into maximizing their own AdSense income by providing more content-rich pages. They use a wide range of traffic-generating techniques, including but not limited to online advertising. They build valuable content on their websites that attracts AdSense advertisements, which pay out the most when they are clicked. They also use copy on their websites that encourages visitors to click on advertisements.

Google prohibits webmasters from using phrases like "Click on my AdSense ads" to increase click rates.