AdSense

How does AdSense work?

Google Adsense provides you with a number of ad formats - image or text based. Implementing AdSense is very easy. You specify your preferences and JavaScript is then generated which you copy and paste into your page source code where you would like the ad to display. You can use the same JavaScript code on any of your websites.

Each time the page is viewed, the AdSense bot queries Google. If the page isn’t listed in Google or has changed, then the bot will scan the page to determine what ads to display. The Adsense bot can be easily identified in your server logs - it’s called Mediapartners-Google/2.1

The ads are drawn from the Google AdWords program. Google AdWords is a self serve program allowing advertisers to create their own ads and select keywords and phrases to bid on - it’s a PPC (Pay Per Click) setup. Advertisers can specify if they want to appear in the Google SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages) and/or on participating publisher sites, such as Taming the Beast.net.

Basically, if the page you are implementing AdSense code on is about web marketing (with that term appearing throughout) and an advertiser has specified “web marketing” as one of the terms they wish to bid on, then that ad may appear on your site.

Actually, it’s a little more complex then that - it also depends on the popularity of the page, where the code is placed and a number of other of factors as to whether that ad is shown. If the page is popular, that increases the chances of getting higher bid ads generated on that page. Like Google’s general ranking algorithm, the Adsense one is very intricate.

Even though there are many processes that go on behind the scenes, the delivery of AdSense ads is very quick - and in my opinion, very accurate; although it can take a little while for Google to get the “gist” of the page. If you look on the right hand side of this page, you’ll see AdSense advertising. I haven’t specified those ads, Google has generated them. As you can see, a high degree of customization can be achieved.