ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

A Quick Analysis of AdSense Data

Updated on August 18, 2013
Daffitt profile image

With a BS degree in Technical Management, I hope to provide useful and relevant articles on topics related to various technologies.

Analyzing Google AdSense ad placement.

Source

Introduction:

This is an analysis of a couple of pieces of data provided to me by my friend Donald Sutherland during our discussion on the Learn with Google for Publishers Community forum (Sutherland, 2013). The data provided is a sample, and not intended to be interpreted as actual performance at any particular time or scenario. In this analysis we will take a look at two key concepts of the Google AdSense system; the size and placement of ads, and the platform on which to focus our development.

Maximizing AdSense Revenue:

The way I see it, the most important thing we’re looking for when we analyze AdSense performance statistics is maximizing the amount of revenue our site will generate through AdSense. When considering the size and placement of ads to be placed on the pages of our site, the obvious thing we would default to look at is the add size/placement, and the platform that generates the greatest number of dollars (or whatever your monetary denomination).

Going Deeper:

However, it goes a little deeper than that. Let’s take a look at the ad size and placement analysis first. Given the data shown in Table 1 and Table 2 below, I have constructed a couple of spreadsheets to analyze said data. In reality, we would probably want to sample location and size separately. However, for this exercise, we’ll keep them combined as shown below. The first thing we notice is that the ad sample that seems to generate the greatest amount of money is the 300x250 ad placed in the Mid Left below Post Title position. However, we need to dive a little deeper to get a better idea of our site performance. Ad performance is not based only on the raw amount of money the site generates. It is important to consider two other factors. These are the click through rate (CTR) and the earnings per click (EPC).

Click Through Rate and Earnings per Click:

The CTR tells us what percentage of the ads being displayed is actually being clicked on. This is a factor that we publishers have very little control over. It really measures how effective an ad is at luring the viewer into clicking on it. If this number is very low, you might not want to use ad formats that present these types of ads. On the other hand, the higher CTRs are good ads to focus on.

The (EPC) is a direct measure of how much an advertiser is willing to pay for each click on their ad. In general, the higher the EPC, the better the ad placement or ad size is.

Let’s Look At The Data:

Taking a look at Table 1, we see that the ad position/size that tends to generate the greatest CTR is the Various Locations at 336x280. However, because the location is ambiguous, this is not a very useful measure to go by. Therefore, we’ll look at the EPC and two other measures I didn’t mention earlier; the number of visitors needed to obtain a single click (VPC), and the earnings per visitor (EPV). For the VPC measure, we want the lowest number possible. A low VPC number means that it takes fewer visitors to generate a single click. This is also a good measure of the effectiveness of the ad’s ability to entice the viewer. Finally, the EPV measures how much money each visitor will generate. With this in mind, we can say that when we multiply the VPC by the EPV we end up with the ad position/size that gives us the greatest number of clicks which also generates the greatest amount of money from each visitor’s click. I call this the earnings per visitor’s click (EVC).

Figure 1: Ad Position/Size

Ad Position/Size
Ad Position/Size

In this case, we see that the best performing combination that was tested is by coincidence, the 300x250 ad placed in the Mid Left below Post Title position, which generates 62 cents from only 32 visitors. If we had 100 times the number of visitors (3,200), we would generate $62.00 from the above mentioned ad position/size.

Comparing Platforms on AdSense:

Now let’s take a look at the platform issue. Based on the platform data shown in Table 2, we can also look at two of the same statistics; CTR and EPC. As we see at first glance, the platform that seems to generate the greatest amount of revenue is the Desktop platform at $158.19 in the sample time period. However again, we want to look deeper into the effectiveness of the ads being clicked on (CTR) and the amount of earnings from each click (EPC). According to the data shown, Tablets tend to generate a higher viewer response (CTR) along with greater revenue from each click.

Given this information, we can assess that even though tablets are not generating the greatest number of raw dollars at this time, as they increase in popularity they appear to be poised to outperform the other listed platforms.

Figure 2: Platform Comparison

Platform Comparison
Platform Comparison

Please Answer This Quick Poll

Was this article Helpful?

See results

My Final Analysis:

In my final analysis based on the presented data, I would recommend running the 300x250 ad placed in the Mid Left below Post Title position on a site optimized for the Tablet platform. Keep in mind that these results will definitely vary according to your specific situation and scenario.

Works Cited:

Sutherland, D. (2013, June 30). Learn with Google for Publishers. Retrieved July 1, 2013, from Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/112530889064948025697/posts/JAqYG81j15v?cfem=1


Figures:

Figure 1: Ad Position/Size.

Figure 2: Platform Comparison.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)