My Review of Google AdSense, Pros and Cons
I’ve been running Google AdSense on my site for a few years now. In that time, I’ve managed to earn almost $800. I wouldn’t describe the system as ideal, but I’d say I’m happy with the results so far. Here is my review of AdSense as a whole for those who are considering it for their websites.
Pros of Google AdSense
- Reputation. AdSense is often listed among the best ways to monetize a website. Google is a well-known and trustworthy brand, so there’s no need to be concerned over offensive ads, network outages, or missed payoffs. It’s also because of its reputation that Google has an extensive advertiser network, so they can serve up well-targetted ads for almost any subject.
- Contextual targetting. Other advertising programs like Chitika or Commission Junction require you to hand-pick your ads. The AdSense system customizes ads to your page automatically. This is a real convenience that frees up your time for other website activities.
- Customizability. AdSense can be tailored to almost any website. You can create ads in multiple sizes and tailor the colors to match your site as you see fit.
- Tracking. AdSense provides extensive click tracking for its affiliates. You can also set up custom channels to track ads by individual type or site. For the performance optimizing gurus out there, AdSense sets the bar.
Cons of Google AdSense
- Contextual targetting. You may have noticed that this is listed as a pro as well. It’s also a con because it’s driven by an algorithm and can often fail to produce well-targetted ads. For example, I’ve made several posts over on the World of Warcraft section of Project Paradox concerning spells for the game’s warlock class, to which AdSense has repeatedly served up psychic adviser and new age occultism ads. Any human being who read the article would know that these ads are inappropriate, but AdSense has difficulty telling the difference. It’s possible to curb this to a certain extent by filtering out specific ads, but it gets tedious very quickly.
- High minimum payoff. If you do some shopping around, you’ll notice that the minimum payoff of most advertising programs is $25 or perhaps $50 at the most. AdSense’s minimum payoff is $100. For a small website owner, it can take months to earn that much. Case in point, it took Project Paradox a year and a half to achieve its first payoff.
- Protracted payoff schedule. This is somewhat related to the minimum payoff problem. Whenever you get a payoff, it takes about a month and a half for the check to reach your hand. This isn’t a big problem if you’re earning more than $100 every month, but it’s just an added wait for those who don’t.
- Ad whoring. An old coworker once said that putting AdSense on my site made me look like an “advertising whore.” There really isn’t any avoiding this, since you have to place ads in obvious locations if users are ever going to click on them. This may turn some users off to your site. It’s just the price you have to pay for monetization.
- Unpredictable topic worth. Unless you’re very clever, there’s no simple way of determining how much advertisements for a particular topic will be worth. And while the industry has some general guidelines for high-paying topics, there are lots of variables that Google keeps hidden. When using AdSense, you can expect your returns to be unpredictable on a page-by-page basis.
There are certainly other pros and cons of AdSense, but those are the big ones. Despite a few hitches, I’d highly recommend it for anyone looking to make a few bucks off their website. If you’re interested, you can use the link below to learn more and sign up.