Industry guru Dave Taylor answers free tech support questions about a wide variety of business and technical topics, including blogging, Google AdSense, MySpace, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, Mp3 players, management, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Microsoft Windows.

How do I use Google AdSense Channels?

I just signed up for Google AdSense after hearing about how much money some people are making on their websites, and now I read that I should be using "channels" to allow detailed traffic analysis. What are channels and how do I add them to my AdSense code?


Dave's Answer:

Wherever you've been getting your information, it's spot on! If you're using Google AdSense with more than one ad layout or on more than one area on your site or even more than one site, you must be using channels to really understand how your site traffic flows and what's really generating the revenue for you.

On this site, I have four different channels of AdSense data, each named after the specific ad layout I'm using: askdavetaylor-bottom (the adblock after the full Q&A), askdavetaylor-top-rect (the adblock between the Q and A), askdavetaylor-linkunits (the small title-only adblock in the right navigation bar) and askdavetaylor-leaderboard (the large, wide ad block after the opening graphic but before the main content of the home page and elsewhere on the site).

To work with channels, you need to log in to your AdSense account and click on the "AdSense for Content" tab. Then click on the subtab "Channels" and you'll see two major sections, URL Channels and Custom Channels. I use Custom Channels so that's what we'll explore here.

Scroll down on this page just a bit and you'll see the Manage Custom Channels area:

Google AdSense: Manage your Custom Channels

You can see that I already have quite a few channels, but the important thing to notice here is that you can add new channels as easily as typing in the name and clicking the "Create new channel" button. Create a couple for yourself, and you can use spaces, punctuation, whatever you want to make them truly mnemonic.

Now you'll need to change your ad layout to have the system include your new channel in your actual AdSense code block. Unfortunately, Google uses numeric shortcuts for the channel IDs so you can't just type it in by hand. On the other hand, you can simply select your new channel on the ad layout page and note the new line in the AdSense block. Here's what I see when I choose the "askdavetaylor-leaderboard" channel:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-7950118917489847";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
google_ad_format = "728x90_as";
google_ad_type = "text";
google_ad_channel ="7151328846";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>

Notice the new field there? google_ad_channel = "7151328846" Armed with that line of information, you can then quickly go into your weblog templates, SSI included files, or individual Web pages to tweak your existing AdSense blocks to include the channel where appropriate. Or, of course, you can simply copy and paste the entire block, replacing your old ad with the new ad code.

That's all you need to do!

Now, to reap the benefit, when you look at your traffic reports, make sure you click on the "top channels" link. You'll go from this view:

Google AdSense: AdSense for Content overview report

to this far more informative view:

Google AdSense: AdSense for Content by Channel report

See how that can really help you understand how your adverts are working?

Another really smart use of channels is when you're testing two different styles of ad layout or color scheme. Name two channels "a" and "b" and then you can do some real science-wiz-style A/B testing and refine your results!

Hope that helps you get more out of Google AdSense!

If you haven't yet signed up for the AdSense program, by the way, please check out:

  •   Get Started Making Money with Google AdSense


Before anyone gets too excited, I do have explicit written permission from the AdSense team to share actual numbers, actual reports and similar. My publication of this and related data is not a violation of the AdSense Terms of Service, for which I'm quite appreciative. :-)


Help others find this article at Del.icio.us, Digg, Netscape, Reddit, and Simpy.

Subscribe!

Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader.

Comments

What makes me interested with your article is your marvelous incomes :)

Posted by: Enzo Chiu at August 28, 2006 11:43 PM

We have a lot of content that is password protected. Is it possible to run AdSense for Search for our site?
Will the pages that are password protected reflect in the site search? And then maybe prompt the user to log in when he clicks on the link?
Could you clarify my doubt on this issue?

Ciao
Gautam

Posted by: Gautam at August 30, 2006 7:23 AM

Gautam, you cannot use AdSense on pages that are secured by a password according to their terms of service. But you wouldn't want to anyway: if AdSense can't see the page, it can't target the ads and you'd just get generic ads that aren't a good match anyway.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at August 30, 2006 7:29 AM

Update: Google is testing out AdSense for password-protected pages! Please check it out here:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/google_adsense_on_password_protected_areas.html

Posted by: Dave Taylor at November 4, 2006 10:58 PM

I have signed up for adsense. I am not sure how I go about starting.

Posted by: Hariharan Subbiah at December 5, 2006 2:56 AM

i started using adsense and it is showing 0 cpm after 18 impressions and 2 clicks. how can i start earning how cpm will be decided?

Posted by: suresh at February 13, 2007 5:34 AM

please read it carefully,i have 430 impression and 11 clicks and 2.56% ecpm but i have got 1.28 dollars. Why?

Posted by: sidharth at March 23, 2007 10:30 AM

Okay, I'm not usually this much of a quitter, but AdSense makes no sense to me at all. I don't understand what a channel is, why I have to create one and why I can't just get random links from content tags such as "books, blogging, writing, etc." It seems like way too much effort when it could be very simple.

Posted by: Delores at February 21, 2008 11:14 AM

Dave,

Fantastic site! Thank you for taking the time to share your considerable knowledge. The AdSense numbers you post are enviable - hopefully with your help I'll be able to duplicate your success.

Question: In the adsense reports, is it possible to find out exactly which pages (content) perform the best for ads. Currently I am guessing by trying to synch Google Analytics and Adsense data. Is there a way to objectively discover which content pages have the highest click throughs and earnings?

Posted by: Ted at April 13, 2008 10:18 AM

Thanks for your note, Ted. I have been asking the AdSense team for per-page reporting for quite a while, but it's "possibly coming" and I have no further clue than that. I would love to see full stats on a per-page basis, but even with Google Analytics, we're still on our own to figure this sort of thing out for ourselves.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at April 14, 2008 1:01 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!









Remember personal info?


Please note that I will never send you any unsolicited commercial email. Ever.

While I'm at it, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site.









Uniblue: Free Virus Scan

Search
Find just the answers you seek from among our 1700+ free tech support articles by using our Lijit search engine.


Help!





Subscribe to
Ask Dave Taylor!

Add to Google Reader
Add to My Yahoo!
Subscribe in NewsGator Online

RDF   XML

Free Updates!
Sign up and get free weekly updates and special offers on books, seminars, workshops and more.


Recent Entries
Join the List!
Join my author info mailing list, where you'll learn about my upcoming books, speaking gigs, and more!


Book Links
© 2002 - 2008 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site.

[whiteboard marker tray]