Google AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. Google is also currently beta-testing a cost-per-action based service. For other uses, see Software developer (disambiguation). ... This article is about the corporation. ... An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer and provides programmers with an interface used to access those resources. ... A cross-platform (or platform independent) programming language, software application or hardware device works on more than one system platform (e. ... Online advertising is a form of advertising utilizing the Internet and World Wide Web in order to deliver marketing messages and attract customers. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... Ad serving describes the technology and service that places advertisements on web sites. ... This article is about the corporation. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... A computer program is a collection of instructions that describe a task, or set of tasks, to be carried out by a computer. ... Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ... Cost Per Click or CPC (as it is often initialized to) is a phrase often used in online advertising and online marketing circles. ... Cost Per Impression is a phrase often used in online advertising and marketing related to web traffic. ... Cost Per Action or CPA (as it is often initialized to) is a phrase often used in online advertising and online marketing circles. ...

Overview

Google uses its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted ad system may sign up through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the ads are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the ads is often relevant to the website. A Google promotional graphic, highlighting AdWords AdWords is Googles flagship advertising product and main source of revenue. ...

Currently, AdSense uses JavaScript code to incorporate the advertisements into a participating site. If it is included on a site which has not yet been crawled by the Mediabot, it will temporarily display advertisements for charitable causes known as public service announcements (PSAs). (The Mediabot is a separate crawler from the Googlebot that maintains Google's search index.) JavaScript is a scripting language most often used for client-side web development. ... Mediabot is the name given to the web crawler that Google uses to crawl webpages for purposes of analysing the content so Google AdSense can serve contextually relevant advertising to the page. ... A charitable trust is a trust established for charitable purposes. ... A public service announcement or PSA is a non-commercial advertisement—typically on U.S. or Canadian radio or television, broadcast for the public good. ... For the search engine of the same name, see WebCrawler. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Many sites use AdSense to monetize their content. AdSense has been particularly important for delivering advertising revenue to small sites that do not have the resources for developing advertising sales programs and salespeople. To fill a site with ads that are relevant to the topics discussed, webmasters implement a brief script on the sites' pages. Sites that are content rich have been very successful with this advertising program, as noted in a number of publisher case studies on the AdSense site. Monetization is the process of converting or establishing something into legal tender. ...

Some webmasters work hard to maximize their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:

1. They use a wide range of traffic generating techniques including but not limited to online advertising.
2. They build valuable content on their sites which attracts AdSense ads which pay out the most when they get clicked.
3. They use copy on their websites that encourage clicks on ads. Note that Google prohibits people from using phrases like "Click on my AdSense ads" to increase click rates. Phrases accepted are "Sponsored Links" and "Advertisements".

The source of all AdSense income is the AdWords program which in turn has a complex pricing model based on a Vickrey second price auction, in that it commands an advertiser to submit a sealed bid (not observable by competitors). Additionally, for any given click received, advertisers only pay one bid increment above the second-highest bid. Copy refers to written material, in contrast to photographs or other elements of layout, in a large number of contexts, including magazines, advertising, and book publishing. ... A Vickrey auction is a type of sealed-bid auction, where bidders submit written bids without knowing the bid of the other people in the auction. ...

History

The underlying technology behind AdSense was derived originally from WordNet, Simpli (a company started by the founder of Wordnet, George A. Miller) and a number of professors and graduate students from Brown University, including James A. Anderson, Jeff Stibel and Steve Reiss.^[1] A variation of this technology utilizing Wordnet was developed by Oingo, a small search engine company based in Santa Monica founded in 1998.^{[2] [3]} Oingo changed its name to Applied Semantics in 2001,^[4] which was then bought by Google for $102 million in April 2003.^[5] WordNet is a semantic lexicon for the English language. ... Simpli was an early search engine that offered disambiguation to search terms. ... Brown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... James (Jim) A. Anderson is a Professor of Cognitive Science and Brain Science at Brown University. ... Jeffrey Stibel is the President and CEO of Web. ...

AdSense for feeds

In May 2005, Google announced a limited-participation beta version of AdSense for feeds, a version of AdSense that runs on RSS and Atom feeds that have more than 100 active subscribers. According to the Official Google Blog, "advertisers have their ads placed in the most appropriate feed articles; publishers are paid for their original content; readers see relevant advertising — and in the long run, more quality feeds to choose from".^[6] 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Wikimedia Commons has media related to: May 2005 Deaths in May May 26: Eddie Albert May 25: Ismail Merchant May 25: Sunil Dutt May 25: Graham Kennedy May 22: Thurl Ravenscroft May 21: Howard Morris May 21... For RSS feeds from Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Syndication. ... The name Atom applies to a pair of related standards. ...

AdSense for feeds works by inserting images into a feed. When the image is displayed by the reader/browser, Google writes the ad content into the image that it returns. The ad content is chosen based on the content of the feed surrounding the image. When the user clicks the image, he or she is redirected to the advertiser's site in the same way as regular AdSense ads. An example of a Web browser (Mozilla Firefox) A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. ...

AdSense for feeds has remained in its beta state ever since its original announcement. Only selected AdSense users have been allowed to sign up for it, and no more users are being admitted to the program.^[7]

AdSense for search

A companion to the regular AdSense program, AdSense for search lets website owners place Google search boxes on their pages. When a user searches the web or the site with the search box, Google shares any ad revenue it makes from those searches with the site owner. However the publisher is paid only if the ads on the page are clicked: Adsense does not pay publishers for mere searches.

AdSense for Mobile Content

AdSense for mobile content allows publishers to generate earnings from their mobile webpages using targeted Google ads. Just like AdSense for content, with AdSense for mobile content Google matches ads to the content of your site -- in this case, your mobile website.

XHTML Compatibility

As of September 2007, the HTML code for the AdSense search box does not validate as XHTML, and does not follow modern principles of website design:

• non-standard closing tags such as </img> and </input>
• the boolean (minimized) attribute checked rather than checked="checked"
• presentational attributes other than id, class, or style, such as bgcolor and align
• a table structure used for purely presentational (non-tabular) purposes
• the font tag

In addition, the AdSense ad units use the document.write() Javascript code, which does not work in browsers when rendered with the application/xhtml+xml MIME Type. The units also use the <iframe> HTML tag, which is not validated correctly with the Strict or Transitional doctypes.

The terms of the AdSense program forbid their affiliates from modifying the code, thus preventing these participants from having validated XHTML websites.

However a workaround has been found by creating a new normal html site containing only the AdSense ad units and then importing it into the xhtml document with an object tag ^[8]. This workaround appears to be accepted by Google.^[9]

How AdSense works

• In order to put ads on a web page, the webmaster inserts JavaScript code into the page.
• Each time a page with an AdSense tag is visited, the JavaScript creates an iframe and sets its "src" attribute to the page's URL.
• For contextual advertisements, Google's servers use a cache of the page to determine a set of high-value keywords. If keywords have been cached already, ads are served for those keywords based on the AdWords bidding system. More details are described in the AdSense patent.
• For site-targeted ads, the advertiser chooses the page(s) to display ads on and pays based on CPM (cost-per-thousand-impressions, or the price advertisers choose to pay for every thousand ads displayed).^{[10] [11]}
• For referrals, Google adds money to the advertiser's account when visitors either download the referred software or subscribe to the referred service.^[12]
• Search ads are added to the list of results after a user performs a search.
• Since the JavaScript is sent to the web browser when the page is requested, it is possible for other site owners to copy the JavaScript into their own web pages. To protect against this type of fraud, AdSense customers can specify the pages on which ads should be shown. AdSense then ignores clicks from pages other than those specified.

A screenshot of a web page. ... JavaScript is a scripting language most often used for client-side web development. ... JavaScript is a scripting language most often used for client-side web development. ... IFRAME is a tag used in web page designing. ... Contextual advertising is the term applied to advertisements appearing on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile phones, where the advertisements are selected and served by automated systems based on the content displayed by the user. ... For other uses, see cache (disambiguation). ... This article is about the corporation. ... JavaScript is a scripting language most often used for client-side web development. ... An example of a Web browser (Mozilla Firefox) A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. ... JavaScript is a scripting language most often used for client-side web development. ...

Abuse

Some webmasters create sites tailored to lure searchers from Google and other engines onto their AdSense site to make money from clicks. These "zombie" sites often contain nothing but a large amount of interconnected, automated content (e.g.: A directory with content from the Open Directory Project, or scraper sites relying on RSS feeds for content). Possibly the most popular form of such "AdSense farms" are splogs ("spam blogs"), which are centered around known high-paying keywords. Many of these sites use content from other web sites, such as Wikipedia, to attract visitors. These and related approaches are considered to be search engine spam and can be reported to Google. Webmaster or Webmistress is a commonly used term that refers to the person or persons responsible for a specific website. ... The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz (from , its original domain name), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links owned by Netscape that is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Spam blogs, sometimes referred to by the neologism splogs, are weblog sites which the author uses only for promoting affiliated websites. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... This article is about electronic spam. ...

MFA (Made For AdSense) is a site or page with little or no content, but filled with advertisements so users have no choice but to click on ads. Such pages were tolerated in the past, but due to complaints Google now disables such accounts. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

There have also been reports of Trojans engineered to produce fake Google ads that are formatted to look like legitimate ones. The Trojan Horse apparently downloads itself onto an unsuspecting computer through a web page and then replaces the original ads with its own set of malicious ads.^[13] In the context of computing and software, a Trojan horse, or simply trojan, is a piece of software which appears to perform a certain action, but in fact, performs another. ...

Criticism

Due to concerns about click-fraud, Google AdSense has been criticized by some search engine optimization firms as a large source of what Google calls "invalid clicks" in which one company clicks on a rival's search engine ads to drive up its costs.^[14] Some publishers that have been blocked by Google complain that little justification or transparency was provided. Webmasters who publish AdSense can receive a lifelong ban without justification.^{[citation needed]} Google claims they cannot "disclose any specific details" on fraudulent clicks since it may reveal the nature of their proprietary click-fraud monitoring system.^[15] Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in... A typical search results page Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via natural (organic or algorithmic) search results for targeted keywords. ... Click fraud occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating an improper charge per click. ...

To help prevent click-fraud, AdSense publishers can choose from a number of click-tracking programs. These programs will display detailed information about the visitors who click on the AdSense advertisements. Publishers can use this to determine if they have been a victim of click-fraud or not. There are a number of commercial tracking scripts available for purchase.

The payment terms for webmasters have also been criticized.^[16] Google withholds payment until an account reaches US$100,^[17] but many small content providers require a long time – years in many cases – to build up this much AdSense revenue. These pending payments are recorded on Google's balance sheet as "accrued revenue share".^[18] At the close of its 2006 fiscal year, the sum of all these small debts amounted to a little over $370 million, cash that Google is able to invest but which effectively belongs to webmasters. However, Google will pay all earned revenue greater than $10 when the AdSense account is closed. For the tax agency in Ireland of the same name, see Revenue Commissioners. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Google recently came under fire when the official Google AdSense Blog showcased the French video site Imineo.com. This site clearly violates Google's AdSense Program Policies by displaying AdSense alongside explicit adult content.^[19] Typically, sites displaying AdSense have been banned from showing adult content.^{[citation needed]}

In addition, Google has been criticized for claiming that they created, or had a bigger part in creating, AdSense than they really did. Most recently, Gokul Rajaram claiming he was the "godfather" of AdSense caused some controversy.^[20] Another Google employee who took credit for AdSense was Susan Wojcicki.^[21]

See also

• Yahoo! Publisher Network, equivalent Yahoo service
• Adwords
• List of Google products
• Scraper site
• Pay per play, similar advertising network

The Yahoo! Publisher Network is an advertising program by Yahoo! introduced in 2005 to compete with Google Incs AdSense service. ... Yahoo! - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A Google promotional graphic, highlighting AdWords AdWords is Googles flagship advertising product and main source of revenue. ... This page is a summary of services and tools provided by Google Inc. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

References

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ... is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 113th day of the year (114th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 137th day of the year (138th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (362nd in leap years). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... January 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accuses European nations of trying to complete the Holocaust by creating a Jewish camp Israel in the Middle East. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom (and the Kingdom of Great Britain before the United Kingdom existed) since 1788 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... IT Week is a weekly newspaper for the UK computing industry, published by VNU Business Publications. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the corporation. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 127th day of the year (128th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Google AdSense
• Inside AdSense — Google's official weblog on AdSense
• AdSense patent application