33andrain Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 (edited) I see a smattering of Adsense related threads in the community, but no one resource which community owners and other interested parties can reference when it comes to the optimization of Invision community specific Adsense monetization. Figure it is only fair to share some of the details of my specific community. Mods, I am unintentionally about to plug my forum (which I'm sure is against posting policy), but I am doing so only because numerous literature I have consulted identifies forum subject matter as of material relevance both in the optimization of Adsense monetization. I run the 33andrain Community, a forum for weather professionals and hobbyists to discuss important weather related topics. Since December 2016, we have over 1.5 million page views, so we've been able to grow fairly significantly since launching. Specific stats RE: ads: We started running Adsense ads in November 2017. Today, our ads are a mixture of manually placed ad units and Adsense auto ad governed page level ad units. IPS Support has been an invaluable resource as I implemented my ads strategy. Thank you! Ads are served using IPS's powerful built-in tools (Advertisements set with custom placement keys, and Blocks added using the Block Manager. Auto Ads are done the same way, with the custom location being added directly under the <head> tags of the globalTemplate HTML if each of my themes. If you have any questions about how I do this, please ask and I'll be happy to explain in more detail On my own (later supported by what I found here) I ascertained that optimal ad placement -- meaning the location where I received the highest # of impressions, clicks and CTR -- is just before and after the last post of each thread. I accomplish this by using @newbie LAC's incredible plugin -- (NB40) Ads After X Posts -- probably the most single most valuable plug-in available in the Marketplace given the research I did confirming optimal ad placement. Note I also have ads in the global header and sidebars to maximize above-the-fold impressions, but clicks for those are notably less than the ones wrapping posts I offer an Ad Free monthly or seasonal membership to members using IPS's Store application. Purchase of the Ad Free plan automatically puts users into a specific Group which does not see any of the ad units. Where I struggle, and where I am hoping the community can knowledge share on best practices, is in maximizing those click throughs and the overall CTR. Mine is low...very low compared to average. Only .3-.4%. Apparently, should be 2-3%! So, I am not even coming close to maximizing monetization opportunity, despite all the research and relative success I have had. This is where I open up to discussion. Does anyone have any tips? Are there specific URLs you ad to your Adsense block lists, which have particularly low CTR? I have seen numerous lists online, but who knows how these are sourced (e.g., Ad publishers would have very different priorities and motivations than site operators) or if these lists even work? Are there any other optimizations you have implemented, either/or IPS and Google, which have been successful for you? Would love to get a discussion going. Edited November 19, 2018 by 33andrain Sheffielder and sobrenome 2
AlexWebsites Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 Good topic, can I ask you...Are you using adsense auto ads exclusively instead of using their asynchronous ad tags for different placements? How is auto ads working for you, revenue better or worse? I tried using it back in February but took it down in favor of individual ads. 33andrain and sobrenome 2
Sonya* Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 (edited) 33 minutes ago, 33andrain said: Auto Ads are done the same way, with the custom location being added directly under the <head> tags of the globalTemplate HTML if each of my themes. If you have any questions about how I do this, please ask and I'll be happy to explain in more detail Yes, please 33 minutes ago, 33andrain said: This is where I open up to discussion. Does anyone have any tips? Are there specific URLs you ad to your Adsense block lists, which have particularly low CTR? I have seen numerous lists online, but who knows how these are sourced (e.g., Ad publishers would have very different priorities and motivations than site operators) or if these lists even work? Are there any other optimizations you have implemented, either/or IPS and Google, which have been successful for you? Would love to get a discussion going. I have a large community with over 1000 concurrent users online to the busy hours and run AdSense for years. From my experience CTR is low on boards. That's it. You cannot change it as your community is visited many times a day and there are a lot of impressions made by one user during one visit. You would not expect him to click on every third page on the ads. On contrary the pure content sites have very few impressions per user and thus CTR is higher. Your power users become "blind" and do not see ads at all. They produce many impressions and nearly no clicks. It is also dependent on the subject of your community, the number of different advertisers who concur here. Are there only few of them, the ads become irrelevant to your content and hence have fewer clicks. The only idea to improve your CTR is moving power users and staff to a group that views the site ad free. Edited November 19, 2018 by Sonya* 33andrain and sobrenome 1 1
33andrain Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 15 minutes ago, AlexWebsites said: Good topic, can I ask you...Are you using adsense auto ads exclusively instead of using their asynchronous ad tags for different placements? How is auto ads working for you, revenue better or worse? I tried using it back in February but took it down in favor of individual ads. Hi - Think I mentioned in the OP, but maybe it was confusing. I use a mixture of manually placed (asynchronous?) tags AND auto ads. The particular Auto Ads I like are the mobile anchors, which stick to the top/bottom of pages. They are highly annoying and obtrusive 👹. I also have Vignettes enabled but I've never seen them in action. And lastly, I have either the In Feed or In Article ads enabled. One of these causes the issue identified in your linked thread, where the ads overlay the actual text in the posts. The other nicely and conveniently places ads within the content of longer posts. The other, I disabled via Google's settings to stop the overlay issue from occurring. Does this help? 29 minutes ago, Sonya* said: Yes, please Hi Sonya - Thank you for sharing your experience RE: CTR. This is helpful and makes sense. May I ask how you are using AdSense? Via Auto Ads? Would you like me to just explain exactly, in steps, how I am manually placing ads using custom keys? AlexWebsites and sobrenome 1 1
AlexWebsites Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 1 minute ago, 33andrain said: Hi - Think I mentioned in the OP, but maybe it was confusing. I use a mixture of manually placed (asynchronous?) tags AND auto ads. The particular Auto Ads I like are the mobile anchors, which stick to the top/bottom of pages. They are highly annoying and obtrusive 👹. I also have Vignettes enabled but I've never seen them in action. And lastly, I have either the In Feed or In Article ads enabled. One of these causes the issue identified in your linked thread, where the ads overlay the actual text in the posts. The other nicely and conveniently places ads within the content of longer posts. The other, I disabled via Google's settings to stop the overlay issue from occurring. Does this help? yes it does, I though you maybe switched entirely to auto ads. I'm doing the same as you but turned off in article ads. I am testing just running auto ads with everything on again, just don't like where google places ads. Sometimes I get them within my main menu on desktop. However, I am curious if it gives users a better experience with less ads and more revenue. Especially now that google seems to be rating user experience more.
33andrain Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 12 minutes ago, AlexWebsites said: yes it does, I though you maybe switched entirely to auto ads. I'm doing the same as you but turned off in article ads. I am testing just running auto ads with everything on again, just don't like where google places ads. Sometimes I get them within my main menu on desktop. However, I am curious if it gives users a better experience with less ads and more revenue. Especially now that google seems to be rating user experience more. Right. If I have to, I will turn off In Article and In Feed ads. Those aren't as important to me. So many clicks are accidental, which is why I like the anchor ads on mobile. Stinks to have to admit it, but the more intrusive the better, especially when an Ad Free experience is offered as an option. Another tip - As I said above, accidental clicks are a big part of CTR, especially on message boards where repeat users are more likely to have ad blindness as noted by @Sonya* above. I have noticed that the page loading is slower and bouncy whenever Tweets are linked and auto-formatted within posts. The more tweets which have to load on a page, the better the chance you can get someone to accidentally click an ad. Again, I feel dirty admitting this is a practice, but if you read up on it...it's all part of the ugly business of monetization. sobrenome 1
Sonya* Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 21 minutes ago, 33andrain said: May I ask how you are using AdSense? Via Auto Ads? Would you like me to just explain exactly, in steps, how I am manually placing ads using custom keys? I have used DFP to place ads on my community before. I have defined some ads placements in DFP and used AdSense as fallback when no premium advertisers buy out the placement. The pros of DFP is precise targeting, that is not possible in native IPS, e. g. geo targeting down to the city, restrict unique views, select site areas and so on. Now after upgrading I will go with native IPS advertisement as premium banner is getting more and more unpopular. Instead other types of promotion and advertising becomes interesting for our customers. 33andrain 1
33andrain Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Sonya* said: I have used DFP to place ads on my community before. I have defined some ads placements in DFP and used AdSense as fallback when no premium advertisers buy out the placement. The pros of DFP is precise targeting, that is not possible in native IPS, e. g. geo targeting down to the city, restrict unique views, select site areas and so on. Now after upgrading I will go with native IPS advertisement as premium banner is getting more and more unpopular. Instead other types of promotion and advertising becomes interesting for our customers. Gotcha. To use IPS to run AdSense, I followed the below steps. Even if it does not help you, this guide will hopefully help others who are looking to monetize using AdSense (or any other advertisement platform, since the steps will likely be the same). Google AdSense Setup an AdSense account Either enable Auto Ads or create your own ad units via AdSense console Copy the code provided. Note, each ad unit will have its own unique code. This is important for reporting later on; to understand which ad units perform better/worse than others IPS > AdminCP > Advertisements In AdminCP, navigate to System > Advertisements "+Create New" (top right) a new unit to correspond with the ad units created in the AdSense console Copy the respective code provided from the AdSense console to your new IPS ad unit in the IPS console IPS gives you options for page placement. I always select "Define Your Own Locations" because it gives you maximum control over placement Give your ad unit a unique "Custom Location Key". Each ad unit needs a custom location key name IPS > AdminCP > Pages In AdminCP, navigate to Pages > Blocks Create New Block > Custom Block > Manual HTML In the Details tab, give your new block a unique name and then move to Content tab Add code <center><div>{advertisement="Custom Location Key Name"}</div></center> replacing Custom Location Key Name with the one you chose earlier Save In original or new window, open the Block Manager and add your new block wherever you want the ad to appear on your page(s) Hope this helps, but please provide feedback and I will update as requested. I can definitely add more (way more 😉 ) details if anyone thinks it would be useful. Edited November 19, 2018 by 33andrain Sonya*, sobrenome and Joy Rex 3
Sonya* Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 I will give this app a try to get any position for ad block you like. 33andrain and sobrenome 2
33andrain Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 . Yes, a plugin might make this all an easier process. BTW, love newbie LAC's plugins, though I don't have that particular one installed. I cannot stress enough the value of having his Ad After X Posts plug-in. Allows you to place ads anywhere you choose on the pages with posts. Makes a massive difference in ad revenue relative to whatever you make before that. With 1000+ concurrent users....dayum...that would be nice. I'm at 100-200 concurrent depending on the season.
Sonya* Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 Forum is not the most popular application on my community. I have a custom app that beats it and we also use blogs and gallery a lot. I need a solution to place it literally everywhere
33andrain Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 3 minutes ago, Sonya* said: Forum is not the most popular application on my community. I have a custom app that beats it and we also use blogs and gallery a lot. I need a solution to place it literally everywhere Nice. My steps above will allow you to place ads anywhere, but it would definitely take a bit more work. The Custom Location Keys are the key. Once you create those, you can even add to the HTML templates yourself. I do this for the Auto Ads since the code has to be placed in the <head></head> tags.
LemonGrenade Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 @33andrain What one was causing the ad's to appear over posts, the in-feed or in-article, or both? 33andrain 1
33andrain Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 22 minutes ago, LozMod said: @33andrain What one was causing the ad's to appear over posts, the in-feed or in-article, or both? Not sure. Will do some additional investigation.
33andrain Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 (edited) 6 hours ago, LozMod said: @33andrain What one was causing the ad's to appear over posts, the in-feed or in-article, or both? Appears to be the In-Article Ads causing the overlay issue. I have everything else turned on for auto ads. If my experiment shows any other result, will let you know. Edited November 19, 2018 by 33andrain
LemonGrenade Posted June 7, 2020 Posted June 7, 2020 I have the board set to archive posts over so many months. Adsense no longer displays on these topics once archived? Although it is a seperate database, I don't know why it should be affected. Has anyone had the same issue?
Sheffielder Posted June 8, 2020 Posted June 8, 2020 Right. First of all I'm following this thread as it's definitely of interest to me I'm really intrigued by the argument being put forward for only showing ads to guests in order to get the cost per click revenue up vs the loss of showing the ads to members all day every day? Is that really something that's proven to be the most effective way to go? On 11/19/2018 at 4:41 PM, 33andrain said: . Yes, a plugin might make this all an easier process. BTW, love newbie LAC's plugins, though I don't have that particular one installed. I cannot stress enough the value of having his Ad After X Posts plug-in. Allows you to place ads anywhere you choose on the pages with posts. Makes a massive difference in ad revenue relative to whatever you make before that. With 1000+ concurrent users....dayum...that would be nice. I'm at 100-200 concurrent depending on the season. I took a look around your forum the other day and that's one aggressive forum you have! Ads everywhere and cutting off guests after so many views etc - does that really work or is it really stumping your growth?
asigno Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 I run Ezoic, which are a publishing partner for Google premium ads. I make considerably more money with them than using Adsense directly. HOWEVER it slows your site, this may not be a tradeoff you want to make. I too don't show ads to subscribed members, so their payment removes ads and increases page load speed. Ezoic have a lot of tools for caching and increasing page speed, image optimization, critical css etc. but the key one as in caching isn't suitable for forums. Eudemon and sobrenome 2
Jordan Miller Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 3 hours ago, asigno said: Ezoic have a lot of tools for caching and increasing page speed, image optimization, critical css etc. but the key one as in caching isn't suitable for forums. I have Ezoic, too, and I am trying to figure out the best ways to optimize for speed. Check this out. Would love your input! sobrenome 1
sobrenome Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 15 hours ago, asigno said: Ezoic have a lot of tools for caching and increasing page speed, image optimization, critical css etc. but the key one as in caching isn't suitable for forums. What about exotic critical css tool? Do you use it? Is it good?
Eudemon Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 looking at my inbox i have lot of marketing emails from Ezoic searching about them sees mixed reviews, hows your experience
Jordan Miller Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 5 hours ago, Eudemon said: looking at my inbox i have lot of marketing emails from Ezoic searching about them sees mixed reviews, hows your experience TBH I really like them. They're always super responsive to my questions, they offer online webinars for publishers, great reporting tools etc. I can't speak to whether I make more with them or not because the ad trends in the market right now are down and I switched to them in January. Overall I like em.
rnorth6920 Posted July 1, 2020 Posted July 1, 2020 I have 7 emails from the same guy at Ezoic. I've never bothered to respond but boy are they persistant!
opentype Posted July 1, 2020 Posted July 1, 2020 30 minutes ago, rnorth6920 said: I have 7 emails from the same guy at Ezoic. I've never bothered to respond but boy are they persistant! Which of course is a fully automated strategy. It’s not like the guy is really personally reaching out. Unless you ask them to shut up, you stay in the automated sales funnel, which can have many steps.
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