CTR stands for Click-Through Rate. It is the ratio of the clicks to the ad impression which means that if you have 3% CTR, then you got 3 clicks for ever 100 times the ad is displayed on your site (ad impressions). Some bloggers say that having 3% CTR is a good figure for a blog. Having a higher CTR means more and more clicks which give you more earnings.
CTR is affected by many factors. Ad placement, ad format, source of visitors, visitor’s profile and blog design to name a few. Let’s tackle them one by one.
A.) Ad Placement. Our target here is to place the ads so that your visitors will be able to read it and click on it when interested, NOT to place the ads where they will get clicked accidentally.
Above The Fold. An ad placed above the fold gets higher CTR than an ad placed below. The reason is very obvious. People can’t click an ad that they don’t see, right? Putting your ad above the fold gives the ad more eyeballs and more chances of getting clicked.
At The Right Sidebar Beside The Blog Post. While reading a blog post, visitors might get interested on the ads on the sidebar related to the blog post. A lost visitor but a blog income in return.
After The Blog Post. Putting an ad after the blog post is a good idea. After reading the blog post, the visitors have an option to further read the comments or to click an ad related to your blog post.
Near Search Boxes. Putting link units near search boxes will give the visitor an option to type keywords on the search box on what he’s looking for or to click a link on the link unit if he found his keywords listed on it.
B.) Ad Formats. An ad that doesn’t look like an ad gets higher CTR. So blending your ads to your blog will bring you more clicks. Use the same color schemes of the blog in your ads to blend well and don’t use borders. The best performing ad sizes are the skyscraper (160x600) and the big rectangle (336×280), so use them well.
C.) Source Of Visitors. Visitors coming from the search engines are the people who will probably Click Ads. It is because they are searching for something, if they find what they are looking for on the ads, they will click it. Regular visitors don’t click ads, and don’t even think of encouraging them to click it. That’s illegal on Google Adsense. So, to increase your CTR, learn SEO to get visitors from search engines.
D.) Visitors’ Profile. Adsense-ignorant visitors will probably click ads. People who know about Adsense will not click it. Blog post talking about making money online thru Adsense and optimizing CTR like this one will not get clicks. Target Adsense-ignorant readers on your blog posts. Talk about topic totally not related to Adsense and see your CTR increase.
E.) Blog Design. A 2-column simple blog design has a higher CTR than a 3-column blog. Minimize the number of outgoing links. Too much links on the blog page gives too much competition to the ads. Having less links gives a higher CTR for the blog. Remove the unnecessary widgets and buttons that slow down the blog and gives competition to the ads. You don’t need those widgets.
That would be my suggestions to increase your Google Adsense Click-Through Rate (CTR). Drop a comment if you have something to add. ^^
2 comments:
will follow these tips :) a blogger newbie here this post is a perfect timing :)
@thehootingmind: hope it helps you. You can check out some of my other posts. It may help you.
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