There are several methods I’ve employed here on this site to try to get the most out of Google AdSense. In the past we’ve discussed blending ads vs. making them stand out. I’ve also experimented with ad placement.

Recently, I noticed several advertisements showing up on my site that really had nothing to do with my site. If you’re trying to maximize your AdSense income, getting rid of these advertisements is a must. The first thing you should do is tell AdSense where to get their keywords. If this isn’t done, they can use information from your sidebar, header, footer, and other places which will only hurt your site.

To do this, place the following start code at the beginning and the end code at the end of where you want Google to look for keywords:

<!– google_ad_section_start –> <!– google_ad_section_end –>

Next, go to your sidebar, header, footer, and wherever else you want Google to avoid and enter the following at the beginning of the content:

<!– google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) –>

and this at the end of the content:

 <!– google_ad_section_end –>

This tells Google AdSense to ignore anything between these tags.

This stuff has been talked about a lot and will do a lot to help get valid advertisements, but there is more you can do. The next step is to monitor your blog for advertisements still showing up that aren’t relevant to your content. Next, write down the URL of the advertisement listed below the advertisement (DO NOT CLICK IT).

Now, once you’ve gotten your list of URL’s together, go to your Google AdSense account and do the following:

  1. Click on AdSense Setup
  2. Click Competitive Ad Filter
  3. Enter the URL of any advertisements you don’t want to show up on your website. To add multiple URL’s, type the URL and hit enter, then type the next, etc.

For example, if you don’t want to see the “Are you Gay” advertisements because your site doesn’t touch that subject, filter out “thegayquiz.com/gay” and that advertisement won’t appear on your site any longer.  Repeat this until you’ve added any URL’s you’d like to censor out.

Once you’ve submitted it, any URL’s you’ve entered should disappear from your site completely and permanently. I check through a few pages every week on this site at random and try to find any ads that I deem irrelevant to my sites content then filter them out. This will help you receive more relevant advertising on your site and hopefully  improve your Click Through Rate (CTR).  Also, many of these generic ads that you will want to filter don’t pay much when clicked (some are a penny per click), so your clicks should pay better if you get rid of them.  

If you decide to start filtering this content, feel free to share your successes below!Â