Content-Sensitive Ads . . . or Not

Success in the AdSense program depends on relevancy. That basic fact is true
for Webmasters of AdSense sites, for AdWords advertisers who allow their
ads to be distributed in the AdSense network, and for Google itself. Two factors
can inhibit the relevancy of ads on your site:
Chapter 11: Introducing the Google AdSense Program 203
Bringing a page up to spec for AdSense
The AdSense program can motivate you to make
a personal site more professional and to make a
bit of money from operating that site. Both design
and content considerations apply, as described
in Chapter 4. The key is to offer some kind of user
experience that isn’t just about you. Not that you
aren’t a fascinating person. But think about your
target audience. If your site is aimed at friends
and family, it’s probably inappropriate as an
AdSense host. Furthermore, if your audience is
very small and your traffic is low, the AdSense
program won’t make you much money anyway.
Broaden your audience and increase your traffic
by deepening your content and optimizing
your site. If you describe a hobby at your site,
add articles and links and optimize your tags.
Build your pages around keywords and aim for
a higher placement on Google’s search results
pages for those keywords. Building your site’s
PageRank leads to greater AdWords success.
Being accepted in the first place is mostly a
matter of the site’s attitude. Imagine a larger
audience seeking serious information, even
before you actually have that audience.
Google’s paramount interests are that users
have a good experience by seeing the most relevant
ads and that advertisers, in turn, get good
exposure to interested users.
Weblogs (blogs) may be considered for the
AdSense program, but they’re not guaranteed
entry simply because they’re content sites.
Developing a smart, interesting blog on a
focused topic (not just random personal observations)
can yield AdSense revenue. As with
other sites, Google will determine your blog’s
viability for the program.
If you’d like to be in the AdSense program but
are in doubt about whether your pages are eligible,
there’s one answer: Try.
 Weak optimization
 Quickly changing content
You have control over the first problem. Optimize your pages according to
the principles and techniques described in Chapter 4. Mainly, that means
constructing pages around core keywords, and embedding those words in
your text content, headers, and HTML tags in proper proportions.
The second problem arises on pages that change focus frequently. A topically
restless site normally implies poor optimization, but in many cases actually
reflects quick growth (new pages) or dynamic changes that are part of the
site’s purpose (such as a news site). Whatever the case might be, quick content
changes can leave your AdSense ads somewhat behind.
Google is aware of this situation and recrawls all participating AdSense sites
with some degree of frequency. “Some degree of frequency” . . . why am I so
vague? Because Google is a secretive company, and this issue is yet another
point at which Google shuts its trap. I have gone to the ropes with Google on
this point, and here is what I can tell you for certain:
 The AdSense crawling schedule is automated.
 The crawling schedule varies from site to site.
 Participants in the premium AdSense program (see Chapter 15) are
crawled more frequently and reliably.
 If your content shows a history of daily change, chances are good (but
not guaranteed) that your site will be crawled every day.
 Remember that the AdSense index is distinct from Google’s main Web
index, and the crawl schedule of one index has nothing to do with the
other.
The upshot: If you change the focus of your content infrequently, Google
might take a while to catch up and deliver relevant ads again. If you regularly
change editorial focus, Google probably keeps up with your site pretty well,
serving ads nimbly.