Policy refresher: family-safe content

For our next installment of our policy refresher series, we’re talking about a topic we’re frequently asked about...adult content and keeping AdSense family-safe.

We’ve made a commitment to our users, advertisers and publishers to keep the AdSense network family-safe.  A general rule of thumb when it comes to the adult content policy is: if you wouldn’t want to share this content at a family dinner or view it in your boss’s office, you shouldn’t place AdSense code on it.

Let’s take a closer look at our adult content policy:



Still have questions? Don’t forget that we’ll be hosting a number of Hangouts on Air as part of our policy refreshers series.

Check the schedule below to sign up for our Hangout on Air about adult content.

View our Hangouts schedule

Posted by Pamela Malone - AdSense Policy Team
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We’re simplifying earnings reporting for YouTube partners


One of the most exciting things about YouTube is all the partners building businesses around doing what they love. We now have thousands of partners who are making video creation a full-time endeavor. And, we’re listening to feedback and working to improve the process of earning money on YouTube.

So, in an effort to ensure we deliver our partners the most accurate and consistent financial performance data for their videos, we are making some changes in how YouTube interacts with AdSense. Starting April 1, 2013, AdSense will no longer calculate and report AdSense for Content Host earnings for YouTube partners. Instead, AdSense earnings from YouTube videos will only be calculated by YouTube and displayed in YouTube Analytics.

What does this mean for you as a YouTube partner?
First, expect no change in how you are paid. The payments tab in AdSense will show your monthly YouTube payments as one total amount as you will continue to be paid via AdSense. Rather, this change means that if you want to view your YouTube financial performance, you should go to YouTube Analytics where you can continue to find a comprehensive view of all your sources of earnings for your YouTube videos. YouTube Analytics has improved the timeliness of earnings reporting to within 24 hours after the end of the day, Pacific Time. You can still view page views and clicks and also manage ad blocking in the AdSense interface for your YouTube videos. If you use other AdSense products, their calculation and reports will be unchanged in the AdSense reporting interface.

Have you ever wondered what the difference between AdSense earnings and YouTube earnings was? As a bit of background, many YouTube partners have ad earnings from two sources: auction-sold ads (AdSense earnings) and reserve-sold ads (YouTube earnings). YouTube serves the optimal ads when a viewer watches the video. Previously, AdSense calculated and reported the auction-sold AdSense earnings. YouTube calculated reserve-sold and miscellaneous earnings and reported both AdSense and YouTube earnings. Now, having only the YouTube system calculate all your earnings will simplify and streamline your video reporting.

We take accurate financial calculation and reporting very seriously, and believe this change will reduce reporting confusion and prepare all our partners for new ways to grow their earnings.


Andy Stack, YouTube Product Manager
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Introducing 10 for 10 publisher stories: Crafting with Cut Out + Keep


This June 18th is a major milestone: the date marks the 10th anniversary of AdSense’s launch. Over the years, AdSense has evolved from a small contextually-targeted text ad network to a complete publisher solution, serving Display, Mobile, Video, and more for over 2 million publishers -- with powerful new features, reports, and controls to boot. As we’ve grown over the last decade with your support and feedback, we’ve heard inspiring stories about how you and your businesses have done the same.

June 18th falls exactly 10 weeks from today, so we’re kicking off a ‘10 for 10’ success story series here on the blog. Each Tuesday leading up to the anniversary, we’ll introduce you to a publisher who has grown their business with AdSense and other Google tools. Stay tuned for more information on AdSense’s 10th anniversary -- but in the meantime, let’s get started by meeting Cat Morley and Tom Waddington from Cut Out + Keep:



Cat originally launched Cut Out + Keep as a blog where she could share her craft ideas. With the help of her business partner and fiancĂ©, Tom, she transformed the blog into a popular crafting community where over 140,000 registered users now share their own projects. As the site grew, the Edinburgh-based couple turned to AdSense to earn from their site without needing to spend time selling ads. “Both of us are bad at sales,” Tom admits. “We don’t want to sell ads -- we want to focus on building the site, which is our true passion. We regard AdSense as our third employee.”

Thanks to the revenue from AdSense, Tom was able to quit his day job to focus completely on the site. More recently, the couple attended a Learn with Google for Publishers workshop in Edinburgh to learn how to improve the performance of their site. Since making changes recommended to them by an optimization specialist at the workshop, including updating their ad formats and getting started with DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business, Cat and Tom have seen their revenue quadruple.

Hear more about Cat and Tom’s AdSense experience by reading the full story. Do you have a success story to share as well? We’d love to hear from you. Join us here on Inside AdSense next Tuesday to hear another AdSense story and meet another publisher.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team
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Free video ad serving in DFP Small Business, available to all publishers

Cross posted from the DoubleClick Publisher Blog

Publishers everywhere are discovering the revenue and audience growth potential of video content. As a publisher grows a video viewership on their site, selling their own ads becomes an increasingly important revenue stream. Over the past year we’ve added mobile capabilities and tested out video ad serving features to better help publishers sell advertising across all screens and formats. So today we’re excited to announce the availability of video ad serving features plus an unlimited video ad serving trial offer to all DFP Small Business publishers.

So what’s new?

Comprehensive video ad creative management
  • Show pre-roll, post-roll, and mid-roll in-stream ads, as well as overlays and companion creative sets
  • Upload and transcode video ad assets to a variety of formats
Simple workflow with trusted partners
  • To use the video ad management features, publishers need to integrate with video technology platforms to ensure optimal video ad playback and easy implementation
  • Manage your video ads alongside your desktop and mobile display ads in DFP Small Business
Make the most from every stream
Video ad serving is free up to 400K ad impressions a month. Until April 30th, we’re offering a free unlimited trial, so you can serve as many video ads as you want. After this trial offer has ended, impressions over 400K a month will be charged a nominal ad serving fee on a CPM basis.

We’d love to hear your opinions and feedback on these new features on our AdSense Google+ page, where you’ll also be able to discuss your thoughts and share best practices with other publishers.

If you’d like to start with DFP Small Business, sign up here. The new video functionality is automatically turned on for all current DFP Small Business publishers, so if you’re ready to start selling video ads, log in now!

Posted by Andrew Kuo, DFP Small Business video product specialist

Join us on Google+ for DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business week!

We hosted our first DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business Hangout On Air a couple months ago, and we heard you loud and clear - you want more tips and tricks to maximize your AdSense revenue through DFP Small Business. This week we’ll be hosting our first week dedicated to DFP Small Business performance suggestions, so if you’re not already following AdSense on Google+ there’s no better time to add us to your circles.

We'll cover a different topic each day so join in daily for a full introduction to DFP Small Business, or pick and choose the events most interesting to you. Ask any questions in the comments or live and we'll answer them daily at 11am PT (2pm ET) from a Hangout on Air hosted on our AdSense +page. Here's the full lineup:
  • Monday September, 17th: Should I be using DFP Small Business?
  • Tuesday September, 18th: Dynamic Allocation I: Enabling ad units for AdSense
  • Wednesday September, 19th: Dynamic Allocation II: Priority levels
  • Thursday September, 20th: Setting and calculating your CPM Rate
  • Friday September, 21st: Introduction to targeting
If you’re interested in joining our live Hangout On Air, visit our +page a little before 11am PT and look for the link. Looking forward to hanging out soon!

Posted by Jason Sanio - Inside AdSense team

PubTalk: Phillip Martin talks about becoming a full-time artist with Google AdSense

Every now and then we come across stories on how AdSense helps publishers succeed in different ways. It has helped grow small businesses like DocStoc, and also allowed people like Phillip Martin to follow their passion. Listen to Phillip tell his story below.



With AdSense, Phillip became a full-time artist creating clip art for his site and painting murals for charity in high-need communities.

Tell us your AdSense story and you might be featured in a future post. Send a photo of what you’ve been able to do with AdSense along with a quote that begins with “Because of Google AdSense….” to pubstories@google.com. Please also include your publisher ID and your main website URL as well. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

This post is part of the PubTalk series of conversations with publishers.

Posted by: Yamini Gupta, Product Marketing Manager

Watch our latest Hangouts On Air to learn how to get started with DFP Small Business and Mobile

This past month we hosted two Hangouts on Air to help publishers get started with DFP Small Business and to create mobile websites using DudaMobile’s free mobile site builder. If you missed either Hangout, don’t worry -- we've included short recaps below, and you can watch the recordings at any time from our YouTube channel.

Getting started with DFP Small Business

If you’re thinking about using an ad server, just getting started using DFP or would like to learn some best practices you may have missed, then be sure to check out the video from our DFP Hangout.

In the video, DFP specialist Rishan first explains how an ad server works and the benefits it can provide to growing publishers. He then discusses orders, line items and your ad units, and the ideal way to set up each. Before closing, Rishan talks about the different ways to traffic direct ads versus other ad networks and enable dynamic allocation for non-guaranteed inventory.

Learning to build a mobile site

In our mobile Hangout, specialists from Google and our partner DudaMobile, work with Dan from ScienceDaily.com to build a mobile version of his website. You’ll learn about available resources and important questions to ask yourself when starting to ‘go mobile’ with your site and how to create mobile ads to monetize mobile traffic.

We hope you’ll join us for our future Hangouts -- be sure to stay connected with us by adding Google AdSense to your circles on Google+.

Posted by Jason Sanio - Inside AdSense Team

Meet Australian AdSense publishers Tim and Victoria van Brugge

Husband and wife team Tim and Victoria van Brugge run i-do.com.au, an Australian wedding directory. Their original business plan was to sell diamonds online, but in creating the wedding directory to build an audience of potential customers they discovered that media and advertising was an easier business model, and they've never looked back. Recently we sat down with Victoria and Tim to learn about how they use AdSense on their website. Watch this video to learn more.



Posted by Amelia Walkley, Strategic Partner Manager

Watch our video to learn how to integrate AdSense ads with your quality content

Placing additional ad units on your site can have a big impact on your earnings. However, sometimes publishers find it difficult to decide whether an additional ad unit makes sense for their site. We've created a short video below to help you make sure you're following best practices, as outlined on Google’s webmaster guidelines, when placing new ad units on your site.

Ultimately, great content is what will help your site stand out and engage your users. We recommend that you only place ad units on pages that are rich in original content and keep the user experience in mind as you think about where you place your ads.  Take a look at the video below for more information!



Posted by Caroline Halpin, AdSense Optimization Team
 

Understanding eCPM and RPM