Guide to blocking urls and categories on adsense

This is not just a guide to blocking urls and categories on adsense.
It gives tips on using the info and how to fine tune ads for your site.

Kind of long.

One thing google tells you to do, is to allow both image and text ads. I also tell people to use all 3 ad blocks on a page, with a 728 on top, and at least one 160 or 336 block. You want as many ads on your page as possible. The more places for ads, the more bidders.

Some of you complain about untargeted ads. It's not a big of a problem as you think. Google puts ads on your page via an algorithm that they have spent many years perfecting. They are the top ad placement company in the world. Give them the benefit of the doubt. I also tell people to not block anything. But, that is not for the faint of heart. People just cringe when they here that. So, getting to the meat of this guide is next.

If you think you have your categories blocked correctly, you can still use this guide to check your stats.
Just skip down the next two paragraphs.

Start out by giving yourself one month as a test. Don't be quick to change things after starting this. You want to test for 30 days, as that's what google will give you as stats in your account.

Begin by unblocking everything. Unblock any urls you have blocked. Unblock any and all main categories you have blocked. You now start with a clean slate. Now comes the hard part. Waiting. After your test period, check your stats.

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Go to page in your account where you can view general categories to block.
Allow & block ads > general categories

You will see a column with % Ad Impressions (last 30 days). Check this column out. Look for any category that gives you 0% impressions. These you do not need to block. You are limited to 50, so why waste them?

Next, note the categories that give you impressions. Click on the name of the category. This will give you sub categories that gave you the impressions and earnings. Any category that gives you impressions but no earnings should be blocked.

Any category that gives you a bigger percentage of impressions that earnings, you should consider blocking. That is, let's say category A gave you 5% impressions, but amount to only 1% of your earnings. That's a good category to think about blocking. But wait until you have gone through them all. You are limited to 50 and want to be sure and block all nonpaying categories that give impressions. This is relative. If 20% impressions are giving 15% revenue, that's probably one to keep. Maybe. Further review is needed.

Some categories have subcategories of subcategories. You may have to dig deep.

Don't block an entire category without going through the stats of each sub, unless entire category is giving you impressions but zero earnings.

Now, you might notice a category that gives you bigger % of earnings. Let's say category B gives you 45% impressions, but 60% of earnings. Check the subcategories to see which ones are not paying. Block those.

Your goal is to block the categories that are not paying, but are showing up.

Now your stats may be like mine. I get impressions from virtually all categories. If you block enough, make sure that you define the blank space that may be shown if no ads are available because you have blocked too many. There's nothing really wrong with blocking many and getting no ads from time to time. I feel it is better to get no ads, then get ads that will not be clicked.

How do you tell if you are not getting ads all the time?
Go to home, custom channels this month, ad units (on left), click the radio button all ad units. This will
show on a daily basis what ads are getting blanks. If the column does not say 100% coverage, then you are getting blank space.

How do you set up an alternate ad to show if you get blank space? Go to the ad block and edit it.
There will be a drop down menu that you can choose to show blank space or another ad. Create an html page that has any ad code in the same dimensions as the ad block, top centered, as the only content.
I use an image in the exact dimensions and link it to a blog. You could put any ad code on it, so long as it loads in the same dimensions as the adsense ad it replaces.

You are limited to 500 urls to block. But you can now block more urls on individual domains. By carefully blocking categories, you can severely limit the number of urls you need to block.

If you have never gone through the categories stats, nor looked to see if you are getting 100% ad coverage, now you will.

Paul