Choose AdSense: Make Money from Your Content

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In the last ten years, AdSense has helped over 2 million partners grow their businesses. Be sure to tune in on Wednesday September 11, at 11:00AM, when we’ll be hosting a special 10th Anniversary Hangout on Air for prospective publishers. If you haven’t yet signed up for Google AdSense or would like to learn more, you should join us. We’ll demonstrate how AdSense helps you earn money from your website, allowing you focus on creating great content. Learn how AdSense:
  • Earns you extra revenue 
  • Shows your users relevant and useful ads
  • Lets you control which ads show up on your site
  • Helps you understand what’s working and what’s not with robust reporting tools
Several publishers will also be joining us to share their AdSense experiences. Hear why they chose AdSense and how it’s helped them grow.

Join this event page to live stream the Hangout on Air on September 11 from 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT.

Posted by Bola Akinsanya - AdSense Strategic Partnerships Team
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The AdSense story: Looking back at 10 years

Earlier this week, Susan Wojcicki kicked off our 10th anniversary celebration in a live Hangout on Air and shared her thoughts on the future of AdSense. As we mark this important milestone, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on just how far we’ve come together.

AdSense started out offering only contextually-targeted text ads in 2003, and has evolved significantly since then. We’ve developed new features and products to help you earn with display, video, mobile web, in-game and custom search ads. With your feedback in mind, we’ve also added new reports, controls, and even a new interface to make it easier to manage your account.

Let’s take a look back at how much we’ve grown together in the last 10 years.



Thanks for all the support and feedback you’ve provided us along the way. In the years to come, we’ll continue to focus on creating an AdSense that can do even more for you. You’ve already seen that AdSense is becoming smarter, helping you improve your ad performance; in the future, we’ll bring you new features like automatic optimization of your ads in AdSense if you choose.

Please do continue to share your suggestions via our AdSense+ page, and we’ll keep innovating (beyond just a hidden anniversary game!) so that you can focus on creating great content.

Posted by Allan Livingston - Group Product Manager, AdSense
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Celebrating 10 years of shared success

Ten years ago we launched AdSense to help publishers earn money by placing relevant ads on their websites. I can still remember the excitement and anticipation as AdSense went live that first day. Our small team huddled together in a cramped conference room, and right away we saw that publishers were as excited about AdSense as we were.

Fast-forward ten years, and AdSense has become a core part of Google’s advertising business. The AdSense community has grown to include over two million publishers, and last year alone, publishers earned over $7 billion from AdSense. AdSense is a community that thrives because of all the content creators we are so fortunate to partner with. So whether you’re a publisher that's been with us for ten years or ten days -- thank you!

Your stories inspire us to do our part to make AdSense great. On this occasion, it’s especially inspiring to hear the stories of partners who have been with us since the very beginning.  Like a retiree in New Zealand who was able to pursue her dream of writing about her garden, a tech support expert in Colorado who can spend more time with his kids, and a a theme park reviewer who sends employees around the world to test and review rides -- all thanks to money earned from AdSense.

As part of our 10th anniversary celebration, we hope you’ll tune into our live Hangout on Air today at 10am PDT (5pm GMT) on the AdSense +page. I look forward to joining several of our partners to share stories from the early days of AdSense, talk about how we’ve all grown since then, and discuss the future for publishers and online advertising. And if you want even more 10th anniversary celebration, just visit our AdSense 10th anniversary page at any time.

Thank you again to the entire AdSense community. We look forward to partnering with you for many more years to come!

Posted by Susan Wojcicki - SVP, Ads and Commerce
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10 for 10 publisher stories: Papilles et Pupilles finds a recipe for success

This week marks the last post of our ‘10 for 10’ success story series, which we’ve been sharing in the weeks leading up to AdSense’s 10th anniversary. Thanks for following along and submitting your own stories. Read on to meet this week’s featured publisher, and be sure to check back next week when we’ll be celebrating AdSense’s official 10th anniversary!

Eight years ago, Bordeaux resident Anne Lataillade launched French culinary blog PapillesetPupilles.fr, a site where she shares classic recipes and also recipes for people with food allergies. As the mother of two children with food allergies, Anne had already been conducting culinary research and creating her own recipes for some time. Papilles et Pupilles has grown significantly, and today generates an average of over one and a half million page views per month.


(To enable captions in a number of languages, click on the ‘Captions’ link in the bottom right corner of the YouTube player once the video starts playing.)

Earlier this year, Anne attended a Learn with Google event in Paris to learn more about optimization. After trying out the 336x280 Large Rectangle format and changing her ad units to allow both text and image ads, Anne saw an increase in her revenue. AdSense now generates 20% of the revenue from the site, which Anne uses to cover the cost of maintenance, hosting, and development.

What’s next? Anne’s goal is to continue building traffic to the site by developing new content. She’s also growing awareness of her content through her Google+ page, where she engages with over 34,000 followers.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team
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Introducing the AdSense 10 Challenge

In celebration of AdSense’s upcoming 10th anniversary, we’re hosting a free 10-week masterclass to help you become an AdSense expert and grow your revenue. This upcoming Learn with Google for Publishers series, the AdSense 10 Challenge, starts on June 25th and we’d love for you to join us!

What is the AdSense 10 Challenge? 
Over the course of 10 weeks, we’ll equip you with the tools and insights you need to make the most out of your online business with AdSense. We’ll cover a range of topics and show you ways to increase your revenue, uncover new information in your reports, and set up experiments to determine the best layouts for your site. You’ll meet members of the AdSense community like optimization specialists and experienced AdSense publishers. In addition, we’ll host office hours each week on Google+ to answer your questions on the topic of the week.

At the end of each week, let us know how you’re doing by filling out a short check-in survey. Check-in all 10 weeks and you could be featured on our Google+ page as a Challenge Finisher and receive a limited edition AdSense 10 t-shirt.

When is the Challenge and what topics will it cover? 
The AdSense 10 Challenge will take place online from June 25th - August 30th. We’ll cover a wide range of topics designed to encourage AdSense success. For more information, check out the schedule below and add it to your Google Calendar.
  • Week 1, 6/25 - 7/1 - Welcome to the AdSense 10 Challenge
  • Week 2, 7/2 - 7/8 - Understanding Your Performance Reports
  • Week 3, 7/9 - 7/15 - Optimization Opportunities 
  • Week 4, 7/16 - 7/22 - Make Better Decisions with Google Analytics - part 1
  • Week 5, 7/23 - 7/29 - Make Better Decisions with Google Analytics - part 2
  • Week 6, 7/30 - 8/5 - User Experience: Understanding Your Users
  • Week 7, 8/6 - 8/12 - User Experience: Engaging Your Users
  • Week 8, 8/13 - 8/19 - User Experience: Testing What Works Best
  • Week 9, 8/20 - 8/26 - Mobile: The Time is Now
  • Week 10, 8/27 - 8/30 - Grow and Engage with Google+
Where do I sign up?
Click here to register

As we get closer to June 25th, we’ll share more information about the Challenge on our Learn with Google for Publishers community on Google+. So be sure to join the community and check back soon for updates.

See you at the Challenge!

Posted by Laurie Shiau - Inside AdSense team
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10 for 10 publisher stories: Northlight Images develops a successful photography business

In each of the 10 weeks leading up to AdSense’s 10th anniversary on June 18th, we’ll be sharing a new publisher success story. Read on to meet this week’s featured publisher, and feel free to submit your own success story to our team. 

Meet Keith Cooper, a commercial photographer based in Leicester, England. He runs Northlight Images, a site that was originally intended to promote his business, but which has grown to include hundreds of photography-related articles and reviews. The site has now become one of the world’s top 40 photography sites, receiving over five million unique visitors a year.



Keith signed up for AdSense in 2005 after exploring a number of options. The income from the program has enabled him to focus on the areas of photography he’s interested in. “AdSense is solid and dependable,” he says, “and it earns me 80 to 90 percent of my advertising revenue.”

To maximize the site’s effectiveness, Keith also uses a variety of other Google products. “Google+ is the one that really does it,” he says. “It brings in people who are interested in the topic and looking for specific information, so they spend more time on the site and ultimately increase my revenue.”

If you’d like to read more of Keith’s story after watching the video above, check out the full case study. There’s only one more post left in our ‘10 for 10’ series -- be sure to join us back here next week for our final story!

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team
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10 for 10 publisher stories: El Androide Libre moves its business forward

In each of the 10 weeks leading up to AdSense’s 10th anniversary on June 18th, we’ll be sharing a new publisher success story. Read on to meet this week’s featured publisher, and feel free to submit your own success story to our team. 

Madrid-based elandroidelibre.com (“the free Android”) is a Spanish-language blog that features news, reviews, games and other apps for Android smartphone users. Launched in 2009, it now employs six people and receives 6.5 million visits each month.

Administrator and editor Paolo Álvarez got started with AdSense right from the start, which has accounted for around 40 percent of the site’s income. “Much of elandroidelibre’s growth is due to AdSense,” Paolo says. “We regard it as an essential tool that’s helping us to set up more blogs, take on more staff, and earn more revenue.” So far, he’s been highly satisfied with the ads appearing on his site, and notes that the 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle and the 728 x 90 Leaderboard formats work particularly well.

Paolo also uses other Google products to manage the site. He relies on Analytics to gain a better understanding of the site’s visitors, and also DoubleClick for Publishers, Google’s free ad serving solution, to manage his online advertising more effectively and segment traffic from different countries.

Hear more from Paolo in the full case study. We’ll see you next week for our next ‘10 for 10’ publisher success story as we continue counting down to AdSense’s 10th anniversary.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team
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10 for 10 publisher stories: Sportonline.de’s winning approach

In each of the 10 weeks leading up to AdSense’s 10th anniversary on June 18th, we’ll be sharing a new publisher success story. Read on to meet this week’s featured publisher, and feel free to submit your own success story to our team. 

While managing a number of technology-related websites, Matthias Sandner and two colleagues decided to create a new site to address one of their shared passions: soccer. They brought this vision to life in 2011 with the launch of German site Sportonline.de, which they now run with a small team of employees. Matthias had been an AdSense publisher since 2007, so implementing AdSense on Sportonline.de was one of the first things he did on the site.


(To enable captions in a number of languages, click on the ‘Captions’ link in the bottom right corner of the YouTube player once the video starts playing.)

AdSense currently generates between 50 and 60 percent of Sportonline.de’s total advertising revenue, and has helped financially support the new site. Matthias has found that the 728 x 90 Leaderboard with both text and image ads enabled performs the best on his site. Since Sportonline.de is still new and growing, the team mainly invests the AdSense earnings into new content and employees. “Not only does AdSense offer a convincing performance,” says Matthias, “but it’s also clear and easy to use.” As a result, the team can focus on developing the website rather than devoting time to selling ads.

Matthias has been happy about the performance of AdSense, and is currently working to continue growing the user base and revenue from the site. He makes uses of other Google products like Analytics, which provides insights to help the team continue improving the site. In addition, Sportonline.de has already developed a large following on Google+, where the team shares content and interacts with over 35,000 fans.

For more on Sportonline.de’s start-up success, read the full story. Join us here again next Tuesday for another inspirational publisher story, and feel free to share your comments on our AdSense +page.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team
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10 for 10 publisher stories: Expat blog expands horizons and its business

In each of the 10 weeks leading up to AdSense’s 10th anniversary on June 18th, we’ll be sharing a new publisher success story. Read on to meet this week’s featured publisher, and feel free to submit your own success story to our team. 

After finding few sites devoted to expats around the world, in 2005 Julien Faliu decided to launch a community platform for that audience. An expat himself, Julien has since grown his site into a company based in Mauritius that now employs 15 members of staff. Expat blog receives 12 million pageviews per month and is now available in four languages.

Julien initially turned to AdSense as a way to cover the costs of running his website, but as his revenue increased, he decided to focus on advertising. Today, Julien is responsible for all of the advertising space on the site. “At the start, AdSense allowed me to get my website set up by covering my costs,” Julien says. “Now, I can truly say that AdSense has enabled me to grow and recruit staff.”

Beyond AdSense, Julien also uses a number of other Google tools to continue developing his business. For instance, Analytics enables him to view his site’s growth, and DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business helps him manage all of the advertising on the site.

What’s next for Expat blog? Julien and his team are currently developing a strategy to monetize their mobile site, and looking towards bringing private investors on board to fund the next stage of growth.

For more details about Julien’s success with Expat blog, be sure to read the full story. We’ll be back again next Tuesday to introduce you to another AdSense publisher.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team
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10 for 10 publisher stories: Canal Sur thrives with digital tools

In each of the 10 weeks leading up to AdSense’s 10th anniversary on June 18th, we’ll be sharing a new publisher success story. Read on to meet this week’s featured publisher, and feel free to submit your own success story to our team.

Seville’s Radio y Televisión de Andalucía (RTVA) broadcasts TV and radio programs online as well as the news via its website, Canal Sur. The site, which employs 18 people and receives about 6.5 million visits a month, joined the AdSense program four years ago. According to Antonio Manfredi, Director of Interactive Media at RTVA, “the economic crisis affected us like the rest of the media throughout Spain, so we decided to look for new ways to improve. We realized that AdSense was the simplest and most profitable option.”

(To enable captions in a number of languages, click on the ‘Captions’ link in the bottom right corner of the YouTube player once the video starts playing.)

Since joining AdSense, total global advertising revenue has increased by 40 percent, and AdSense has played a major part in making the website profitable. Looking ahead, the company is planning to work more closely with YouTube and to improve its TV-on-demand services.

Read the full case study to learn more about Canal Sur’s experience with AdSense. We look forward to seeing you next week for the second half of our ‘10 for 10’ series!

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team
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