How Do You Know Which Adsense Advertisers Are Targeting Your Site?

[The Expert]

I've ran across threads here and there where people are usually talking about how if you write good content certain advertisers will single your site out and start bidding things up.

How do you know this. Is there somewhere in Adsense where you can see that Advertises X, Y, and Z have "targeted" your site?

[JoshuaG]

You need to create custom channels that can be targeted by advertisers. Then you can see who is advertising on your site.

Another thing you can do to check it out is to simply right click an ad link, copy the link location, paste it someplace and take a look.

[The Expert]

Thanks for the feedback. Of course, it raises another question....

If I create a bunch of channels, might a particular advertiser select one particular channel and then ignore the others resulting in you not getting as much income?

Even worse....if you create a channel which you just used for tracking (like Digital Cameras 300x250) and someone targeted that channel but then you decided that the NEW channel performed better (Digital Cameras 336x280) and so you removed the code from your site for the original Ad Group which was targeted, and the advertiser was not targeting the new channel with its corresponding ad group....could this negatively impact you?

I do this with my site. For each area of the site I optimize for a different keyword (I don't build different sites for different keywords) and use custom channels to track split testing of various ads....but now I'm worried if this is why my CPC has dropped so low (from an average of $1.00 to $0.40 p/click)....because advertisers were targeting channels tied to old ad groups I dismissed in after they performed poorly in split testing.

[paulgl]

When you create a custom channel, you have to make it targetable.
It's been awhile, but I think you need to add a description and
other things to it before it become targetable.

You actually don't need to create these for advertisers to target
your site. It's built in.

Plus, you have to realize that anyone can bid on placement ads.
That means, they might be completely different than you actually
want. But they do pay more.

This is just general info, might not be 100% right. But if you right
click the title of the ad, copy it, paste it somewhere, if you see
an advertising network and not the url of the ad, then that's
an ad that's being targeted by the network.

If you see a url, they MAY be targeting your site. You can also
see a list of keywords sometimes, which gives you a clue as
to what triggered it. If the ad sucks, de-value those words on
your site, or block the ad.

You may also see the url of your site in the url of the ad. This
could mean they are specifically targeting your site, or, it's
for tracking purposes. That's how google knows what kind of
performance individual sites have.

But don't expect advertisers to come banging on the door.
Most adwords love search, not the content network. And
your site must have some track record to make it worthwhile
for an advertiser to target it. Also, as stated above, there
are advertisers who target anything close. Like the camera
example. A travel agency might think camera sites are for
people who travel and use cameras, and put travel ads on
your site. That may or not be a good thing. They do this
because they may not be able to get in search, or the
top tier sites. So they go grasping at straws.

If you leave it up to google, they get as contextual as they
think they can. Leave it up to some bonehead advertisers, and
your ads may stink. So it can work both ways.

Advertisers can target you now regardless. If you want to see
the performance, click on performance reports, then on
targeting type. The line labeled "Placement" is ads that
are being specifically targeted. It may sound funny, but to
be honest, the ones for me that are of this type SUCK as far
as CTR. And it probably goes back to the point that anyone
and everyone can bid and actually get placed.

Just checked and content advertising is 98% of my revenue
this month. Would be interesting to know if other people
have better luck with "Placement."

Paul

[yukon]

I had a guy that runs Adwords email me & ask what I wanted in exchange for a link on my site. I thought about it for a while & told him 25% of all sales that my traffic generates on his sites, he sells his own products. He took the 25% offer immediately, I should have started the offer higher, lol.

This guys affiliate system is so transparent with data it's just crazy.

This also kills the whole theory I see here on WF that traffic seeking free items aren't buyers (they are buyers). My content is free (Adsense site), the 25% affiliate guy is selling 100% of his content.