Basic Adsense Webinar Notes

Well, I just finished attending my first basic Adsense webinar from Google. Most of the things that were discussed was about Google Adsense Policies and improving the user experience on the site. It took about less than 30 minutes and the presenter was a little bit nervous, quite probably more nervous than me.

Danny on Google+

I actually took a lot of screenshots of the webinar itself but I just saw that the information there was confidential and proprietary.

So I'll just post my notes along with the Q and A portion as promised. Most of these are directly quoted as fast as I could type and I just corrected some for grammatical errors.



Adsense Webinar Notes:

1. Focus on user experience and creating content, be concise, know what is important to your audience, provide up to date information, provide the customer (the reader) with context
1. Ask yourself why they are on your site. 
2. What do they expect to get out from you?
2. Focus on the context. Your site should not just be about a money making purpose site. Be confident in creating your own content and don't copy other's content. 
1. Make sure that your site has family safe content. 
2. Don't break the law. 

The Philosophy

• Focus on the user and all else will follow
• It's best to do one thing really, really well
• Fast is better than slow
• Democracy on the web works
• You don't need to be on your desk to get an answer
• You can make money without doing evil
• There's always more information out there
• The need for information crosses all borders
• You can be serious without a suit
• Great just isn't good enough

Content:

• What is it you're publishing?
• What do you want to tell people?
• Be concise, what are you really trying to say?
• What's most important?
• Are there standards you need to be aware of?

Customer

• Who is the site for?
• What are the user's goals?
• Why are they on your site?
• What do the users need?
• What do they want to do on your site?
• What do they expect?

Context

• What are your goals?
• Are there other sites like yours?
• What are other sites doing?
• What makes your site unique?
• Where are people viewing your site?

User Experience

• Reduce Pop-Up/Pop-Under
• Pay attention to user experience
• Optimize ads and widgets on your site
• Remember the bandwidth capacity of some users
• Use the code as is!

Mobile User Experience

• Allow for mobile specific content
• Consider different user experience on different form factor
• Check out AdMob and Adsense for mobile Content
• Watch out for different policies and best practices for these products

You Can Make Money Without Being Evil

• What would you feel if...
• You were forced to do something
• You were lead to the wrong direction
• Your action don't give you the desired outcome
• Your actions/data being used for somebody's interest without you knowing
• To sum it up, you are being lied to!
• People will associate ads with bad sites

Creativity prevails!

Everybody needs information

Be wary of comments that link to non-family safe contents

Be unique and useful

Q & A Portion:

• What if I have content that is a collection of different content from other sites?
• As long as you can give unique view or interpretation, it's ok. The value added that you give to your users will matter the most. Don't copy content from other sites. 
• Can you change the adsense code to suit the blog design or site?
• You can do so but only in the Adsense account interface - You can use the editor to change the color of the fonts, background, etc. Don't modify the code itself, because it is a violation of the Adsense program policy.
• I'm running a web forum. Sometimes users post inappropriate content in the forum, will that violate the program policies?
• If you're confident that you have done nothing wrong and have exercised your control to the maximum extent possible, you may appeal about your violation in the Adsense Help Center. They will review your account and you should ensure that your site is free from such content.
• Can i put a Google Adsense Code in a gambling site? (Illegal content)
• No
• Some people click bomb ads, what do we do?
• Always appeal in the help center. Give a decent reason. Be honest. 
• What is Google doing about sites specifically built for Adsense with no other purpose and no special content?
• Google is continuously improving their search algorithm, Google Panda and is constantly improving the user experience.
• What is the average percentage of CTR?
• Different sites have different behavior therefore they have different average CTR. This is confidential information. As long as you're not tricking people into clicking your ads youll be ok. 
• How can we protect our Adsense account if someone clicks on the ads purposely? 
• You can always appeal to the Help Center about invalid clicks
• What is considered as bad traffic source?
• Traffic that is inflated. For example, you provided a wrong description of your site or your site is an irrelevant site. For example, you have a site about cars, but you described it as a gossip site. Traffic that is not organic. When people are tricked to going to your site.
• Can we put our Adsense codes in a friend's site? 
• Yes, but there is a certain amount of risk. You will not be able to control what content he will be posting, and that content may violate the Google Adsense policies. 
• Does Google allow auto generated content? 
• It is not allowed. 
• How can we report other people's site which violate policy?
• Report them via the help center.
• You may also click on the "Ads by Google" link on the ads themselves or click on Ad Choices. The Adsense network is monitored daily 24/7.