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Google's AdSense program is a way of extending
its main advertising program, AdWords,
to websites outside its own network of sites. AdSense lets website
owners rent space on their web pages to Google, which then uses
that space to display advertisements. The advertising revenue is then
split with the website owners.
The way it works is fairly simple:
- Advertisers submit ads to Google using the AdWords program.
They create small text ads and give Google a maximum per-click
price for the ads based on which keywords the advertisers
are interested in.
- A website owner interested in making extra money joins
Google's AdSense program. After being accepted, Google supplies
the owner — now called an AdSense publisher — with
some custom JavaScript code to place on the website's pages.
- The first time a page is loaded after the code is placed on
it, Google sends out its crawlers to fetch a copy of the page
for analysis. Sophisticated algorithms (described in the
AdSense patent) determine the general topic of the page and
what keywords are associated with that topic.
- Once the page is analyzed, Google can select ads from
the pool of AdWords-supplied advertisements to display
on the page. The ads are selected based on the keywords
determined from the analysis step. An auction system is
used to select which specific ads to display based
on various metrics, such as maximum bid price and
how successful the ads are at attracting clicks.
- The ads are displayed along with the page content.
The publisher can adjust some of the ad settings, such
as the layout of the ads and the colors used by the ads,
to better blend the ads with the page.
- Whenever a visitor clicks one of the ads,
Google debits the advertiser's AdWords account
a value no more (and usually less) than the
advertiser's maximum bid price for the ad.
The visitor who clicked
the ad is sent to the advertiser's landing
page.
- Google then shares a percentage of
the advertiser's per-click payment with
the AdSense publisher whose site displayed
the advertisement.
Recommendations
If you have a website already and are looking
to monetize it, I highly recommend you join
Google's AdSense program!
Of course, if you're looking for a good book to help
you out with AdSense, you could look at buying my own
Make
Easy Money with Google (a gentle introduction and a fun read for people new to website or
blog development) or else Joel Comm's Google AdSense Secrets
(for experienced webmasters).
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