A couple tiny on-page changes that instantly TRIPLED my Adsense CTR...

[John Williamson]

Just thought I'd throw out a very helpful tip I discovered about a month ago that literally tripled my Adsense CTR for all my sites. Simply put your Adsense ad blocks at the top and top left of the page (this is where users' eyes 'scan' to first) and use the HTML color code "#000080" for the title portion of the ads. These 2 small changes literally sent my CTR's through the roof, folks - upwards of 20% for some of my sites. Now go make these changes and increase your earnings!

[GeorgR.]

yes...dark blue has best CTR since this is an established hyperlink "click here" color for ages already.

And top left and BIG (336x) is also known to be one of the best. And of course put that all ABOVE FOLD. Another good one is make a vertical link-unit and integrate in your sidebar.

The resulting design is really "classic" but has the best CTR, nothing fancy needed really.

[software248]

Is there a site that has this, im really interested and want a look.

THANKS!

[GeorgR.]

probably like that? Links are a little brighter than #000080, but the important thing is they're darker blue.

[John Williamson]

Originally Posted by software248

Is there a site that has this, im really interested and want a look.

THANKS!

All 3 of my sites in my signature are set up this way. Check 'em out. They are ridiculously simplistic, 'crappy' looking blogs that practically encourage people to click an ad. My philosophy is to make users want to get outta there as quickly as possible. Most will click the back button or exit out, but some (about 20% or so on average) will click an ad that appeals to them. I also forgot to mention that I use the horizontal banner across the top and the large rectangle on the side. The theory that I've read about the darker blue color and its effectiveness is that people 'got used to' the traditional royal blue links and don't click them as much. As soon as I hit 15 posts I'll post some links of the original detailed articles that taught me these neat little tricks. In the meantime, I'm happy to help however, whenever and wherever I can!

[GeorgR.]

i would put your ads IN the content. Check "easy adsenser" plugin, i like it. (If yo are using WP). Put a big 336 or 250 within content, top left. We had such a debate a few weeks ago, people said it would also make sense to simply skip the second block. Just use one and then use maybe one or two link units.

Also, on the side i would make the ads (respective the links) the same color.

[paulgl]

Every webpage is different, and back in 1999, all links were
purple and blue. But since then, people are now used to
seeing links in all colors.

My take is what is the color scheme of your page?
If you have a green theme, do titles in green.
Red site, do titles in red. Grey theme, do titles
in gray. My opinion has always been to make them
standout, not disappear, and look like they are part
of the theme. That's my take and my opinion
alone. It's what works for me. Other people it does
work not woek, but it's really a page by page decision. What
works for one may not work for another. Some of the
best adsense sites I've seen use gray titles.

A person really needs to experiment.

But all colors aside, the best way to get clicks is not
color, but good, targeted traffic(lots of it) and targeted ads.

Paul

[John Williamson]

Paul brings up a great point that is often forgotten. The key is ranking well and getting traffic, as well as the obvious keyword research up front. Then once you're ranking on that first page and don't expect to move up for a while, start tweaking the colors and positions and whatnot.

I also agree with his idea of making the ads stand out. There's no reason to hide them or make them unnoticeable. People still want and need to know that they are clicking a link that will take them elsewhere. My little bit of experimenting has driven me to stick to the simple black-on-white theme in terms of text and background, then the dark blue color for the titles of the ads like I said. Granted, different things work for different people, and sometimes the results are simply inexplicable and are the opposite of what may be expected. Just do plenty of testing and experimenting and figure out what works best for you personally, but I would highly suggest trying my color combination suggestion somewhere in your experiment.

[John Williamson]

Ok, here are the links I promised:

Article on ad position
Article on ad colors

[darthtoon]

Interesting stuff, I'll give it a try and report back - thanks!