Major loophole closed in AdSense

Since AdSense launched, it has been a well known secret that a page with index.html?keyword would automatically display ads specifically for that keyword, regardless of whether mediabot had seen the page before or not.

For example, a page all about auto mechanics with www.domain.com/index.html?weight+loss would show weight loss ads, even if there was not a single word even remotely related to weight loss on the page those ads were "targeted" to.

There was a similar loophole when viewing local html with the AdSense code (testing pages on your computer before uploading them to the web). You could view your page, and the ads would automatically target to keywords in your directory or file names, again, regardless of what the on-page content was.

This loophole was often seen on directory sites & search engines (even though AdSense on search results is against the terms) because it would provide perfectly targeted ads every time, and show targeted ads every time - but it was also used to provide high-money keywords on pages that had absolutely nothing to do with that keyword, and particularly on auto-generated webpages.

Now, www.domain.com/index.html?weight+loss shows PSA ads, until the mediabot comes along, then it will start showing targeted ads - not targeted to the keyword, but targeted for the actual on-page content. AdSense viewed locally will now only show PSA ads.

I think this loophole fix has been a long time coming, and the writing was on the wall a few days ago that they were testing some sort of fix to this. It was great for seeing what ads a particular keyword or keyword combination would show in AdSense. But it was most often used to provide high money keywords, regardless of the page's subject, or to provide those keywords on auto-generated pages, where the only way to leave would be through the back button or an AdSense click, since no content on the page was usable.

And this also partially explains why there have been more PSAs reported lately, possibly from AdSense tweaking, or perhaps all index.html?keyword style of pages (even if the keyword wasn't a true keyword but another variable) were flagged to show PSAs until the mediabot could go back to each one and ensure they were properly targeted ads, and not targeted to the keyword instead.

This should be for the good of AdSense, and will help keep the Adwords advertisers happy, which AdSense should be doing, since it is those advertisers that fund the program to pay the publishers

List of Adsense Alternatives

THE TOP TEN

1. Clicksor
2. Yahoo Publisher Network
3. All Feeds
4. Fast Click
5. Veoda
6. Bidvertiser
7. Chitika
8. Target Point
9. Revenue Pilot
10. ClickThruTraffic

OTHER ALTERNATIVES:

• Adbrite
• BidClix
• AllFeeds
• Adhearus
• AffiliateSensor
• Bidvertiser
• Kanoodle
• Enhance Interactive
• Quigo

• Intellitxt
• Nixxie
• InfoGrabber
• Yahoo YPN
• Mirago
  
• Miva
  
• SearchFeed
• Fastclick text ads
• AdEngage
• BannerBoxes
• ContextWeb
• CBProSense
• ClicksAdsDirect
• Adgenta
• ExpoActive

Any more?

do you know of a few post them

Increasing Adsense Revenue

Adsense Revenue = Traffic Levels + High Paying Ads + Relevant Ads + Optimally Positioned and Designed Ads

The next element of this Adsense equation to be examined is how to get high paying Adsense Ads running on your site. Obviously in any business one way to get higher profits is to charge more for your product - whilst you have no direct say in how much is charged for ads run on your site - there are ways of targeting types of ads that might bring in a higher return than others.

As we mentioned in our initial explanation of the equation, the PVR Blog is one example of a blog that targets a well paying ad type - ads for PVR technology. Whilst I do not know specifics of earnings I would suspect blogs like Gizmodo who run Adsense ads would also be generating a higher paying ad, due to their focus on technology.

The lesson we can learn from blogs such as these is that they attract specific ads (that presumably are well paying) by keeping their content targeted on the same topics. To over simplify what we’re saying - if you want ads about Camera Phones blog about Camera Phones.

Finding High Paying Ads is not as easy as it sounds (is anything?). Do a search for Google on High Paying Adsense Ads and you won’t find too many sites listing the best keywords for Adsense. The top Adsense users in Adsense discussion forums tend to be pretty secretive about not only what keywords they focus on, but also what sites they run. I don’t blame them either - its good business sense really.

Having said this there are a number of strategies and tools that you might like to employ to help find high paying keywords.

* Buy them - Finding high paying keywords for your blog is possible by yourself for free - but as with everything a few entrepreneurial types are willing to do the leg work for you to save you some time and give you a comprehensive result. One service that you might like to try to find good keywords is Top Paying Keywords.
* Trial and Error - I know this will frustrate some of you who want a nice and easy quick fix but overall it is one of the best pieces of advice I can give. Try writing on a topic - track the results - if it pays off do it again….lots. Adsense allows you to track specific pages or sections of your blog using its ‘channels’ feature - if you’re smart you’ll watch which sections of your blog are generating the highest ads by dividing your overall earnings by the number of clicks and comparing it to other channels. Keep trying new topics until you strike gold and then dig in like crazy!
* Are there Any Ads? - This is a good first question. Despite the many thousands of advertisers using Adsense there are some topics where the answer to this question is no. A simple way to check is to head to Google and do a search for the key words you’re wanting to blog about. The results page will bring up not only a list of other sites writing about that key word (they are you competitors) but on the right hand side there will be a list of ads - these are the same sorts of ads you’ll get on your site if you write on the topic. If there are ads there, it is a good sign. If there are not - maybe its worth finding another topic to write on if you’re hoping to attract ads.
* 7 Search has a list of the 100 of the top paying keywords (in their advertising program - not Adsense) at the moment. Its a bit depressing actually to see a list like this because you’d have to sell your soul somewhat in order to go with many of them. Its an interesting site to check out though.
* Also from 7 Search (and more useful) is their Keyword Suggestion Tool which gives you an idea of what people are paying per click on different tools (again this is not specifically for Adsense but it will give you an idea of what the going rates are). Find What also has a similar service.
* Google Adsense’s biggest competitor are Overture (they run the ads on Yahoo) - they offer a service where you can enter your keywords and they will not only tell you how much advertisers are paying for the words but also how many people are searching for the term. This is a very useful tool.
* Sign up for Adwords - One way of getting a feel for how much people are willing to pay per click is to sign up with Google as an advertiser yourself. It doesn’t cost much to start a mini campaign and do some research this way. You’ll get a feel for what people are bidding on different words very quickly this way.
* Word Tracker is the best tool I’ve seen to help in finding keywords that people are searching for in the major search engines. The excellent thing about Word Tracker is that they also tell you how many other sites out there are targeting the same words! This is very handy as it will stop you targeting ‘Britney Spears’ as a Keyword phrase even though its one of the most searched for keywords on the web because literally hundreds of thousands of other sites have beaten you to the punch. Word Tracker has a free version to trial it and their paying version is even better - well worth the investment.
* I’m told Keyword Sleuth is a similar program to Word Tracker however I am yet to trial it.

Targeting High Paying Adsense Ads is an important aspect of generating an income from Adsense. It is not enough in and of itself however. You can have $10 per click ads (I’ve not found any of these yet) but without generating any traffic your research into the right ads will be useless. Likewise it is one thing to identify which ads you want to target - but it is another thing to actually get these relevant ads showing on your site. It is to this topic which our next post in this series will head - Finding Relevant Adsense Ads.