Why AdSense Doesn’t Make “Cents” for Bloggers

07. Jun, 2010 View Comments

AdSense for Bloggers Yes, yes…bad pun for a title <insert rimshot here>, but of the countless blogs and E-Books that’s I’ve been reading over the past year, AdSense has taken a turn from being the King of Blog Monetization solutions, to…well, King of Readership Killers.

When Shoemoney showed us when he made it big with Google’s AdSense, the blogosphere was turned upside down and the heavy hitter of blog monetization quickly became the way to make money online. Advertisers soon flooded the online world with ads for just about anything they wanted to sell, and eager bloggers looking to make a buck or two for a cup of coffee started throwing ads up on their blogs.

As the blogosphere continuously grew, it almost seemed weird to not see that familiar “Ads by Google” link floating around any blog or website that was served up. New bloggers jumped on the bandwagon and new interests and markets quickly saturated the Internet.

Bloggers, relying on the almighty Google algorithms used to determine targeted ads, pasted more and more ads to their blogs. However, blogs started covering a broader range of topics and due in part to allowing advertisers bid for impressions, we started to see ads pop up that had zero relevancy to the content we were consuming.

Ask, and You Shall Receive…Much More Than Bargained For
As more than 50,000+ blogs are launched everyday, more ads go up in the hopes of new bloggers looking to bring in a few bucks for their efforts. I fell for the same trap when launching some of my blogs and sure enough, each one ran into the same problem. Without any added effort in setting up new ad blocks, most ads served by Google had NOTHING to do with the actual subject matter of my blogs. Let’s go over some of the strangely irrelevant ads that I’ve seen pop up on my own blogs as an example:

TheBipolarSpouse.com

Here, I blog about my perspective of managing a marriage touched by Bipolar Disorder. The subject is, obviously, tightly related to Bipolar Disorder and Mental Health. Since there is a lot of talk about marriage and relationships, what do you think Google AdSense started out serving up ads for on this particular blog? (Keep in mind, it is geared toward mental health, relationship and coping skills)

Sleep enhancement aids and products
Web hosting and domain registration
Divorce lawyers
Crime and legal information
Dating sites

As you can see, many of the ads that were served up are not exactly content related and in some cases, the ads that were popping up did more harm than good. Case in point: I’m working to help those that may be freshly introduced to living with one afflicted with Bipolar Disorder and how to positively cope and strengthen their relationship, yet Google wanted to display ads on divorce attorneys and dating sites.

Kingpin-Bowling.com

Ten pin bowling has long been a favorite sport and pastime of mine, so when I recently joined up on a bowling league after several years, it only made sense to start up a new blog on my endeavors. Granted, the blog is still very much in its infancy, however, it’s another potential business entity that I’m experimenting with. Bowling is a popular sport, in such that almost anybody can tie on the shoes, as ridiculous as they may look and tear up the lanes for a good time. You would think that targeting a niche such as this would generate a decent pool of relevant ad impressions.

Online video games
General coupon generation sites
Web hosting and domain registration
Weight loss products
Injury law offices

Now I can see a bit of a connection between bowling and video games, as there are indeed bowling video games out there; but the ads that are being served up are related to Medieval Role Playings and an occasional flash game repository. Again, the web hosting and domain registration ads are popping up and then I am also receiving injury law offices so if my visitors are interested in receiving generic coupons and losing weight while scoping out injury lawyers, I’m set. Note: This is a new blog and with low content, newer blogs will take longer to generate enough consistent content for AdSense to determine proper ad serving.

I fully support the idea that content is king and as I’ve seen once or twice a month, there are massive advertising dollars pushed that will almost override any AdSense optimization efforts…does the Nexus One release ring a bell? It does seem that in order to help Google along with serving up appropriate ads, one would need to obtain a certification in proper SEO, however, many new bloggers have yet to be introduced to this concept, nor do some hobby bloggers invest such time in educating themselves in the basics of SEO.

Although one does not need to take a full month and delve into learning SEO at an very intense level, there are those basics that should be nailed down in posting structure that may help enhance the relative connection between AdSense and blog subject matter:

Descriptive titles; include key topic and include key word(s)
Format content that relays the topic in a readable matter, but also peppers in key words
Use proper HTML tags and meta data to enhance your content
If using images, drop the defaults and hone the file name and alt tags accordingly
AdSense offers, “section targeting” that may help if willing to implement into your content

Conclusion
Most blogs that cover a tight and narrow niche that includes repetitive usage of key words in most articles and static pages may have minimal challenges with AdSense and how those ads are served up. Others, if covering a broader range of topics, may see ads on their blog that ar either not related to their message whatsoever, or in some cases, having minimal control of some ads showing on their blog can damage reputation and intentions.

Google AdSense has its place in the blogosphere, much like affiliate programs and loud sales and squeeze pages. Many veterans within the blogging industry argue that AdSense, although can provide some decent income based on traffic and bid rates, leeches business owners out of potential direct sales and offerings via their blogs. If you were to follow the ads that are served up on your blog, (which I don’t recommend that you do as it may result in your account being deactivated via TOS violations), many of the ads will pull your reader or potential customer to your competitor(s).

What Say You?
Are you using Google AdSense on your blog, and if so, what kind of results are you seeing? Have you encountered challenges in receiving relevant ads on your site or have you managed to persuade the Google Gods to keep your ads in line with your overall subject matter?