What is Google AdSense?

What is Google AdSense?

Every new blogger wants to get his website/blog Google AdSense approved as soon as possible. So, in order to make money quickly they set up a blog, post some articles and apply for AdSense, without even thinking whether their website/blog is actually AdSense ready or not. This results in their application getting rejected. But I think, if your primary reason for blogging is making money through AdSense then stop here! There is no problem in doing that but before you begin the first thing to do is to understand what Google AdSense is and how does it works. 

A brief definition of Google AdSense:

“Google AdSense is a program run by Google that allows publishers in Google Network of Content Sites to serve text, image or video advertisements, which are targeted to sites content and audience, and offer ad publishing and works by generating revenue on either a Pay-Per-Click or Pay-Per-Impression System” -Wikipedia

In simple words, Google AdSense is a program by Google that allows Bloggers and Webmasters, which Google calls Publishers, that are currently holding a valid Google AdSense account, to serve advertisements in the form of text, image and video on their blog/website, through which Google targets audience. When these audience views or clicks those ad units both Google AdSense and the publisher (blog/website owner) gets paid. The revenue share ratio between AdSense and Publisher fluctuates but on an average its stays more or less a 30:70 split. Which means out of the revenue generated by the ad units Google AdSense gets 30% while the Publisher gets 70% share.

Overview:

Google uses its mighty Internet search engine technology to serve advertisements on its publisher's online content, based on the blog/website content, viewer's browsing history and the viewer's geographical location. The ad units which Google places on its publisher's online content are provided through advertisers. These advertisers who advertise with Google AdSense are enroll through a dedicated Google AdWords Program. Google's AdWords Program is similar to Google's AdSense Program, the only difference is that through AdSense you earn money while in AdWord you have to pay money. In simple words using AdSense you put money from Advertiser's pocket into your pocket on the other hand through AdWords Advertisers put their money from their pocket into your pocket.

All these years Google AdSense has grown into a giant firm, which is now the best advertising program on planet Earth. This attracts a lot of advertisers and publishers from every corner of this world, all because of its expertise in creating and placing various format of user friendly ads units on its publisher's website/blog. The ad units are no ordinary ad units, these are smart ad units which judges the viewers interest based on its location and browsing history along with the content on which the ad unit is placed to serve as relevant ads as possible. This boosts interaction of the viewers with the placed ad units and thus earnings.

History:

AdSense was first launched back in March 2003, by Google and was originally named content targeting advertising. The term AdSense was first used by an advertising company called Applied Semantics but was adopted by Google when Google acquired Applied Semantics in April 2003 and thus Google AdSense was formed. By 2005 it became the world's best advertising firm. Talking about revenues, in Q1 of 2014 only, Google earned an estimated US $3.4 billion ($13.6 billion annualized), or 22% of total revenue, through Google AdSense.

Ad Types:

 As said earlier AdSense allows its publishers to to place ad units on their online content . These ad units can display a variety on audio visual elements such as text, image and video. These elements are further distributed among three broad categories namely, AdSense for content, AdSense for search and AdSense for Video. Both AdSense for content and AdSense for search can be applied on a blog/website but to use AdSense for video, you have to apply for AdSense via YouTube. A publisher can also earn money through AdSense for video on their website/blog by embedding their own monetized video on their content, but there is a limitation, the player playing the monetized video should support a screen size greater than 560x315 pixel otherwise the video will play but ads won't appear. Detailed description of each AdSense ad category has been stated below.

AdSense for Content:

In this type of advertising the ad unit is placed near an online content, such as posts or articles. These ad units are target for either interest or context. revenues are generated by Cost-Per-Click (CPC) when viewer clicks on an ad unit or Cost-Per-Mile (CPM) for every thousand time viewers view the ad unit. Various ad types and sizes are available which are further customizable to match the publisher's taste of how the ad units appear on their blog/website.

AdSense for Search:

 

AdSense for search allows publisher to display ads relating to search terms on the search result which appear on the publisher's blog/website using a custom search engine dedicated to search only the publisher's site. The publisher can later decide whether to allow the custom search engine to display search results from the entire web or just their site or both. The revenue split in AdSense for search is lower than AdSense for content. The revenue share follows the ratio 51:49 which means you get 51% while AdSense will get rest 49%. Publishers use this tool to squeeze out little extra earnings from AdSense.

AdSense for video:

In this case the video owner earns money by allowing AdSense to display ad units either during, before or after the video. The ad displayed can be image, video or a rich media advertisement. The process of displaying ad units is same as other AdSense formats. Publishers can embed their monetized video on their online content as per the required format set and earn more money by embedding the same video at  multiple places along side YouTube.

For more info on AdSense read : How does Google AdSense Works?
                                                   Understanding Google AdSense.

For more info on Google AdWords read : What is Google AdWords?