Best Ad Placement Tips for Websites: AdSense Revenue Optimization Guide

Every blogger or webmaster who blogs seriously and wants to earn some serious money always turns to Google AdSense as the first income source. But earning from Google AdSense is a tricky job. First of all, getting approved is a pain in the you-know-what.

And after that maintaining your site so as to stay compliant with Google AdSense policies is also a difficult job. If you have done so properly then several issues such as low CPC, fewer clicks, etc., etc. will keep on plaguing you. So, today at Inspire2rise.com we are in a helpful mood and will share the best ad placement tips for you. Follow them and be sure to get a serious boost in your AdSense earnings.

The sheer number of ads and their diverse formats can be overwhelming. Publishers often struggle with deciding which ad unit goes where and how to optimize ad placement effectively.

But don’t worry—this article will clarify the basics of digital ad placement, illustrate its mechanics with examples, and guide you on how to place ads for enhanced CTR.

What Is Ad Placement?

Before diving into the details, let’s cover some fundamentals.

Ad placement refers to the grouping of ad units where advertisers can place their ads. This can mean a website, specific pages, or even a single ad unit on a page.

Ad Placement Example

An ad unit is a container where the ad is placed, including an ad tag—a piece of code that calls an ad server to request ads. This unit also includes characteristics like the ad’s size and format, similar to a whiteboard that showcases your ad creatives.

The ad slot refers to the ad unit’s physical location on the web page, represented by an HTML5 <div> element that acts as a frame for the ad unit.

All the ad space available for sale is called ad inventory, which is the number of ad units per page multiplied by the total number of pages. This inventory can be sold directly to advertisers or through intermediaries like ad networks or ad exchanges.

With these basics in mind, it’s clear why ad placement is crucial. Placing an ad in a visible, relevant area of a page is key to maximizing revenue.

Types of Digital Ads

To understand what to post and where to post it (ad placement optimization), it’s essential to explore the different types of ads found on the web. Depending on the platform and how the ad appears on the page, ad formats can be divided into several categories.

Desktop Ad Placements

Desktop ad placements are spaces on a website intended for banner ads. While you can place videos or native ads in these slots, we’ll focus on banners to simplify the discussion.

Desktop Banner Format

Desktop banners have been a staple of online advertising for the past 30 years. Despite criticism about “banner blindness,” the global viewability rate of banners remained at 71.5% in early 2022. Banner ad placements form the backbone of many business strategies, which continue to evolve.

Effective Banner Ad Sizes

Larger ad sizes generally perform better than smaller ones. However, relying solely on size isn’t enough. A variety of ad positioning is crucial for long-term success.

Google offers more inventory for medium and small ad spaces, making larger creatives harder to implement. Despite their overall better performance, medium and smaller banners remain popular among publishers.

The key takeaway is that while size matters, variety in ad sizes and placements is more important. The more ad sizes you use, the better your campaign performance and audience reach.

Google’s all-time favorite ad sizes include:

• Leaderboard (728×90): Ideal for placement above the main content, with high CPM and visibility.
• Medium Rectangle (300×250): Popular for its versatility and high CPM, it fits well within page content.
• Large Rectangle (336×280): Suited for high-resolution screens, offering good performance within AdSense.
• Wide Skyscraper (160×600): A side-page placement that provides ample space for creative content.

Additional ad sizes, though less popular, include billboards, super leaderboards, half-pages, and regional-specific sizes.

Static vs. Animated Ads

Animated ads typically come in a ZIP archive placed in an HTML5 ad tag. These ads generally deliver higher revenue and engagement compared to static banners. However, static ads can be served in larger volumes and are easier to manage.

Video Ad Placements

Video advertising continues to grow, accounting for 30% of total display ad spend in 2022. High engagement and diverse formats make video ads a favorite among publishers and advertisers alike.

Video ads are typically served using a VAST tag, which calls an ad server to deliver videos. These ads fall into two main categories: in-stream and outstream.

• In-stream video ads play within the main video player, pausing the content (e.g., YouTube pre-rolls).
• Outstream video ads are placed outside the main video player, providing a less intrusive experience.

Mobile Placements

Mobile advertising has surged, matching desktop spending at $327.1 billion. As mobile web development becomes a priority, two ad formats stand out: in-app and mobile web banner ads.

Top-performing mobile ad sizes include:

• Mobile Leaderboard (320×50): Small but effective, with plenty of inventory.
• Mobile Medium Rectangle (300×250): Large and attention-grabbing.
• Large Mobile Banner (320×100): Ideal for text-based pages and bottom-page overlays.
• Square Mobile Banner (250×250): Versatile and well-suited for mobile screens.

Native Placements

Native advertising blends seamlessly with its surroundings, offering a user-friendly experience. Native ads attract 53% more user impressions and deliver up to 5-10x higher CTRs.

• In-feed Native Ads: Integrated within the content feed, often labeled as “Sponsored” or “Paid Post.”
• Content Recommendation Ads: Found at the bottom of the page, suggesting related content.
• Promoted Listings: Paid search results within e-commerce sites.

Non-Standard Placements

Non-standard ads, such as interscrollers, pop-unders, and interstitials, offer a creative way to combat “banner blindness.” While more expensive, these placements can yield higher engagement.

Which Ad Placement Strategy is Best for Your Business?

Ad placement optimization varies depending on the type of website:

• News Blogs: Banners, outstream videos, interscrollers, and native ads work well for text-heavy content.
• Video Streaming: In-stream video ads, floaters, and skins are ideal for video platforms.
• E-Commerce: Promoted listings and animated banners are effective for online stores.
• Mobile Apps: Mobile banners, native ads, and video ads fit well in various app categories.
• Mobile Games: Rewarded video ads and mobile banners are the top choices for gaming apps.

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Ad Placement tips: The number of Ads.

If you are a complete newbie then only you need to know about the number of permissible ads on a single webpage. Let me repeat it for you. It’s three ad units ( text + images ads ) + 2 link units permissible on any single webpage. If you are a premium AdSense publisher then the rules may differ.

But that would require a really long time and serious earnings, so better keep it aside! 😛

Always use your ads interspersed with the content of your page. Seeing too many ads at once is a hindrance to a user-friendly experience.

Limit the number of ads visible at one complete page scroll to one. This means that upon one complete scroll, the user gives only one ad to view.

This will increase the likelihood of getting an increased click-through rate.

A greater number doesn’t necessarily ensure that you will earn more. Sometimes less is more. Try experimenting with the number of units.

Just make sure you don’t make your site look cluttered. White spaces are an important part too!

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Ad Placement tips: The ad sizes.

As AdSense too recommends so will we. Ads that look bigger perform better. It’s simple, if it’s big it will catch the reader’s attention. But it should be you to make sure that it is done in a proper manner without looking obtrusive.

This is what has been reported to be the best working by most of our fellow bloggers.

• An ad block – preferably of size 300×250 or 336×280 at the beginning of the content.
• An ad block in the sidebar. Recommended size = 120×600. ( though 300×250 also works nicely in some cases.)
• Link units at the end of your content as related blocks.
• A leaderboard ad preferably 728×90 adjacent to your logo.

One of the major problems that you can face with 100 percent fixed ad spaces and ad sizes is that your visitors might get used to your ad placement and then immediately start ignoring your ads once they are familiar with the layout of your website. This can be mitigated by using Auto Ads from Adsense which we will discuss later on in this post.

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Ad Placement tips: What not to do?

• Always, always avoid pop-ups. If you use Info-Links or some other similar ad network then make sure that you aren’t serving pop-ups to your visitors. Because nothing, believe me, nothing is more annoying to your visitors than pop-up ads. Well, some visitors may be more annoyed by Justin Bieber’s songs. But well I hope you got our point.
• Avoid camouflaging your ads with images etc. Such an ad placement could lead to an immediate ban from Google AdSense.
• Never place ads on pages with little or zero content.
• And we would suggest you study AdSense ad policies once again in depth.

 
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Advertising Placement tips: New experiments.

AdSense has just added the option to add an asynchronous Java script for AdSense ads. This will significantly improve the page loading times. And such a move is better for the speed of your site on the whole.

But when we tried it it caused our caching plugin to give some errors. So try at your own risk! But it will work on most setups with ease.

Note: In 2023 all AdSense code is asynchronous and is actually the best approach towards heavy AdSense Ad Javascript.

This is because if Javascript is set to defer it will execute once the page has fully parsed but async ad code runs as soon as the Javascript is loaded which means that ads load and render fast with async.

You can also try a responsive layout for AdSense code, though it’s a bit difficult to implement.

You can learn to do so by following this guide by Labnol.org.

Note: In 2023 there are actual responsive ad units available in the AdSense Dashboard. These units scale really well according to the size of the Window and we too use the top header ad unit as a responsive one so that our revenue potential can be maximized.

Google AdSense Ad Placement tips: Auto Ads and their implications

The best approach towards Ads from Google in 2023 would be to use Google’s Auto Ads code once on your website in the header. I would further recommend that whatever optimization method you use in your website never ever try and hinder the Google Adsense JS.

Such an approach would lead to visibly lower impressions and clicks.

If you are using WordPress then installing the official Site Kit Plugin for WordPress from Google is one of the better ways to insert Google Ads in the best places on your WordPress site.

Note: Once you do install the Auto ads code on your website, either manually or by Site Kit plugin then you need to ensure that you exclude Auto ads in places where they might break your layout.

To do so follow these steps:

• Go to Google AdSense Dashboard.
• Click on “Ads” on the left pane.
• In the section “By Site” click on Pencil Icon (Edit) next to the site name you wish to edit the ad placement for.
• “Ad Settings Preview” will now show up.
• You can choose from Overlay formats, In-page formats, Excluded areas, and Excluded pages to further fine-tune where your ads show up.
• Then you can choose whether to show a custom GDPR message in Privacy settings.
• Or you can create a CPRA opt-out message and manage your CPRA settings

Ad Placements Guide for Marketing Professionals

Successful marketing campaigns involve numerous components, each requiring careful consideration for optimal performance. One crucial aspect is ad placement—determining the best locations to publish your ads to attract the most attention from interested prospects.

At first glance, ad placement might not seem like a major factor, but in reality, it’s a vital element of any well-crafted campaign. Mastering the intricacies of effective ad placement can significantly enhance the success of your marketing efforts.

Interested in Connecting with a Marketing Expert?

How Does Ad Placement Impact Campaign Success?

Experienced marketers understand that ad placement is as critical as the ad content itself, if not more so. Why? Because even the most compelling ad won’t achieve the desired impact unless it’s presented to the right audience.

Research and practical experience reveal that ad placement can be the deciding factor between a successful campaign and a lackluster one.

For instance, consider ad position: studies show that premium search engine ads (those placed at or near the top of search results) can reach up to 90% of searchers, while non-premium ads reach only 28%. Moreover, users spend more time engaging with premium ads compared to their non-premium counterparts (0.9 seconds versus 0.16 seconds).

These statistics highlight the significance of ad placement even on a single page. The contrast becomes even more pronounced when comparing ads placed on different websites. In essence, the most effective ad placements are on sites that are popular with your target audience, credible, and cost-efficient.

Effective Ad Placement Strategies

To maximize the impact of your ads, the first and foremost step is to thoroughly understand your audience. Where do they spend their time? Which platforms and websites do they frequent? What are their interests and browsing habits?

One key question to consider is whether your target consumers are more likely to encounter your ad on a desktop or a mobile device. With mobile web traffic steadily increasing (accounting for over 57% of total web traffic) and more than 50% of digital ad spending now directed toward mobile platforms, many advertisers strategically place their ads on search results pages, social media platforms, and mobile games to capture the highest possible volume of mobile traffic.

Once you’ve determined the best platforms for your ads, you’ll need to tailor them to each platform in your advertising mix. For example, if you’re advertising on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, you’ll need to decide on the most effective format for your ad (post, story, etc.). The ultimate goal is to make your ads as attractive and relevant to your target audience as possible.

Leveraging Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is a powerful tool for optimizing ad placement. This automated process allows you to quickly and easily set parameters for ad placement and bidding, effectively “putting your marketing on autopilot” to save time and resources, while still allowing for adjustments as needed.

Best Practices for Programmatic Advertising

To optimize your programmatic advertising strategy, keep the following best practices in mind:

1. Define Your Goals: Focus your programmatic ad spend on platforms and sites that offer the highest return on investment (ROI).
2. Maintain the Human Touch: While programmatic advertising relies on algorithms and automation, occasional human oversight is crucial. For example, an algorithm might suggest bidding on a particular site, but you know that site isn’t popular with your target audience.
3. Monitor and Update Regularly: Programmatic advertising isn’t a “set it and forget it” strategy. Continuously ensure that your ads are placed on high-quality, reliable sites to achieve the best results.

Always keep on experimenting with ad unit sizes and ad placement. What may work for us or someone else may not work for you. Fine tweaking can lead you to maximize your earning potential. So, share with us what led to an increase in your revenues.

After all, we all should benefit from each other’s experiences! Bring in the comments regarding the best ad placement tips according to you!

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Aditya Nath Jha

Aditya Nath Jha is an Engineer from New Delhi, India. His areas of interest include Gadgets, WordPress, speed optimization & latest technology. When he is not busy blogging he loves to write poetry, compose his own songs and has a taste for music! Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, Instagram. And watch his videos on YouTube.