Using only one AdSense block vs using the maximum allowed 3 AdSense blocks?

[Bulldozer]

I know that some gurus recommend to use only one AdSense block on your site - it does not clutter your pages with ugly ads and it also shows the best paying ads.

On the other hand, I am a firm believer that more is better and think of using all 3 allowed AdSense blocks on my site, even if I know that they will not show the best paying ads.
Am I going to make a mistake?

[Bulldozer]

Anyone with first-hand experience?

[jtooder]

I use 2 and a link bar on most, I think much of it depends on the industry. Some have a huge drop off in rates where you are better off only using 1 block.

[Bulldozer]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Appreciated.

[36burrows]

Yeah it's all about testing.

Try only using one block for a week or so and measure what happens.

Then, try using 3 for the same amount of time and see the difference.

I have a site which only has 1 block, and it is one of my highest earning sites.

[Bulldozer]

Interesting, very interesting.
Thank you people for your insight.

[arnie19]

nice tip. will try this on my new site. testing testing and testing.

[cagliostro]

You can't do ANY tests on a new site. Adsense tests can be performed to websites with traffic.

Traffic. It is all about traffic. After you have traffic, you can play with ads position, ads nymber etc etc.

[imdomination]

I've done plenty of tests and find two blocks to be the most profitable. Plus, in Google's eyes, it looks like you're not trying to squeeze every penny you possibly can out of your customers.

[imMindset]

Originally Posted by imdomination

I've done plenty of tests and find two blocks to be the most profitable. Plus, in Google's eyes, it looks like you're not trying to squeeze every penny you possibly can out of your customers.

I've also found that 2 blocks have done the best for me after extensive testing. I've tried a lot of different variations, but for my site two 336x280 ad blocks seem to work the best. For some it may be different, although 1 block wasn't too bad either. I'll continue testing other elements though. The testing never stops!

[cagliostro]

Originally Posted by imdomination

Plus, in Google's eyes, it looks like you're not trying to squeeze every penny you possibly can out of your customers.

This is nonsense.

[xylement]

Hmm... in that case I should check back which spot have the best CTR and remove all others and remain only 1 ads and see what happens! =D

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by cagliostro

You can't do ANY tests on a new site. Adsense tests can be performed to websites with traffic.

Traffic. It is all about traffic. After you have traffic, you can play with ads position, ads nymber etc etc.

And I assume you are the only one not violently getting traffic to a new site?
I scramble from day one!

It's all about getting targeted traffic, actually.

You use 3 ad blocks, all image and text. That gives every person using
adwords a chance to bid on your site. Once you start having fewer
blocks, no image, you lessen the bidding pool.

That's okay if your niche gets targeted ads and lot of em. Most are
not like that. You get a bunch of general ads and tail words flying
around.

No reason to not use 3, unless your content is so small that it looks bad.

Put one ad at the top, one in the middle, and the all important one
at the bottom. (Google tells you to put one at the bottom to give the
readers a choice as to where to go next)

Some niches don't generate a never-ending supply of ads. If you use
the competitive ad filer a lot, you may get some blank spaces. Blank
spaces hardly ever happens to people logged into google, as google will
toss an ad targeting them.

You need to test from day one.

Paul