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Cross-posted from the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Blog Over a year has passed since the AMP Project first launched with the vision of making mobile web experiences faster and better for everybody. From the very beginning , we’ve maintained that the AMP project would support publishers’ existing business models while creating new monetization opportunities. With regards to advertising, this meant giving publishers the flexibility to use the current technology and systems they’re used to, and evolving user-first mobile web initiatives like AMP for Ads (A4A). With a growing number of publishers embracing the speed of AMP, today we’re addressing some of the ways in which we’re helping you do more with ads on AMP. Serve ads from more than 70+ ad tech providers Keeping with the open source nature of the project, more than 70+ advertising technology providers have already integrated with AMP. And that list is only growing. Existing tags that are delivered via a supported ad server al...

Cross-Posted from the DoubleClick for Publishers blog Last month we released a new study, "The need for mobile speed" , highlighting the impact of mobile latency on publisher revenue. Simply having your site load on a mobile device is no longer enough: Mobile sites have to be fast and relevant. The study analyzed 10,000+ mobile web domains, and from the results we gained several insights about the impact of mobile latency on user experience. Critically, the study also revealed strong correlations between page speed and the following key performance indicators: Revenue Bounce rate Session duration Viewability It’s clear mobile speed matters to the success of publisher sites, but making mobile load times a priority doesn’t always make achieving speed easy. To help you build a faster mobile web experience, we’ve created a mobile web speed toolkit. It outlines a 4-step process to diagnose and fix mobile speed issues: Measure your site’s performance. Assess the different compone...

Over the last month we’ve taken a look at what makes strong content including topics, length, and shareability. But telling a good story is only half of the process. You also have to present it in an easy-to-digest format for today’s distracted audience. According to a Think With Google study, “67% of users will switch [to another site or app] if it takes too many steps to purchase or get desired information.” Different forms of media can greatly improve your content’s appeal, if it’s used strategically. With people giving less and less time to the things they read online, it’s up to you to keep visitors engaged and entertained. The following tips will help give your content a stronger impact. 1. Share your content visually Whether it’s lists, infographics, images, gifs, or video, adding in dynamic elements to your story telling will keep things fresh and memorable. Visuals highlight your key points, and leave a greater impact on both loyal and new visitors alike. In fact, sites with...

Drawing new visitors to your site is only half of the battle. Having a plan for them to follow once they get there is the key to encouraging repeat visits and building a meaningful relationship with your readers. To engage user-focused design for your site, it’s important to consider the following: 1. Keep It Simple Gating desirable content can be a great way to learn more about visitors by prompting them to fill out a form or sign up for your newsletter to access it. However, roughly 67% of users will abandon an effort to obtain information or purchase something online if there are too many steps to take. Make sure your users get what they need in as few steps as possible. Matched content is another way to keep visitors from checking out too soon by increasing your odds of presenting them with content they are directly interested in. 2. Identify User Moments People often look for inspiration and ideas while they complete a task online. Anticipating your visitors’ needs can help you...

Throughout the summer, fans are looking for great content, regardless of whether they’re viewing it from a desktop, tablet or mobile device. Did you know that 1/3 of followers used more than one screen to follow the 2012 Olympic games? [1] With this in mind, think about whether your content is mobile-optimized and easily accessible for your users in the moments that matter. If they receive a link on their smartphone but are unable to view the content because it’s not mobile-optimized, it’s easy for them to feel frustrated with the poor user experience. On the other hand, If the users are delighted with the content and their first visit to your site is a positive one, they’re more likely to share your content and come back again. If you already have a mobile optimized site, don’t forget that you can grow your earnings potential by understanding which mobile ad sizes are most effective for you. Finally don't forget these 4 important tips to maximize your earnings with AdSense: Swap o...

Cross-posted from the Webmaster Central blog It's 2016 and it's hard to believe that browsing the web on a mobile phone can still feel so slow with users abandoning sites that just don't load quickly. To us -- and many in the industry -- it was clear that something needed to change. That was why we started working with the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, an open source initiative to improve the mobile web experience for everyone. Less than six months ago, we started sending people to AMP pages in the “Top stories” section of the Google Search Results page on mobile phones. Since then, we’ve seen incredible global adoption of AMP that has gone beyond the news industry to include e-commerce, entertainment, travel, recipe sites and so on. To date we have more than 150 million AMP docs in our index, with over 4 million new ones being added every week. As a result, today we’re sharing an early preview of our expanded AMP support across the entire search results page --not ...

Mobile is the fastest growing platform and it’s important for us to ensure that our sites are set up for long-term success. Recently, we’ve heard questions and concerns about lower than expected click through rate (CTR) and revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) for mobile inventory and we’d like to share some insights as to what may cause this. To understand what’s happening you need to look at your performance reports . Analyzing your AdSense performance allows you to see how well your ads are performing and which devices your ad units were viewed on. To view this report simply log into your AdSense account, click “Performance reports” and select “Platforms” from the “Report type” dropdown. You may notice that your CTR or RPM is lower on mobile than it is on tablet and desktop. This might be caused by one or more of the following reasons: Your site may be displaying suboptimal ad sizes Your responsive design is using the column drop approach You’re not focusing on optimizing for view...

Users access your content from many different screens like phones, phablets, tablets, desktops, game consoles, TVs, and even wearables. The size and type of screens that people use are continually changing, so it’s important that your site, content, and ads adapt to any screen size. Savvy publishers have responded by building a single “responsive” site instead of creating different sites for different screens. These sites use responsive design principles and a single set of HTML/CSS to control user experiences on multiple screens, streamlining publisher operations. Adapting content to different screens though, isn’t enough. To ensure that users have seamless experiences with ads as well, many publishers are using AdSense ad units that are fully responsive . These units automatically adapt to the size of the screen on which your site is being viewed. And if you find that our responsive ad code doesn't do everything you need, you may modify your ad code to better meet the requirement...

What’s ad viewability and how is it measured? In this post we'll look at those questions and offer four ways to make your ads more viewable and profitable on mobile screens. What’s viewability? Most of us know that ads used to be measured by impressions: if a page loaded, and the ad was anywhere on that page, that counted. There was an obvious problem with this: if the ad was below the fold of the page, and the user didn't scroll down to see it, there wasn’t a chance for that ad to be seen. And ads that can’t be seen, don’t deliver results and can’t drive the impact that Advertisers are looking for. Advertisers today want more transparency and effectiveness, and that's where ad viewability comes in. Now, by Media Rating Council and IAB standards, a display ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of the ad is within the viewable space on the user’s screen for one second or more. That means an ad unit on the first screen ("above the fold") will be counted as ...

We’re paying special attention to improving the mobile ad experience to help empower content creators, news organizations, and publishers. As mobile continues to grow, choosing high-impact mobile ads are key for businesses to generate revenue from a mobile audience. When choosing the right mobile ad units for your business, it’s a best practice to ensure that each and every mobile impression receives the highest value possible, which can be determined by a mix of metrics like viewability, size, placement, and demand. It’s also important to protect the user experience by choosing the right ad formats and placements for your site to engage mobile users so that you don’t interrupt their desired intent. Start by choosing a high-impact mobile format: medium rectangle (300x250), large rectangle (336x280), large mobile banner (320x100), and r ectangular responsive ad units tend to get the best results. Here’s why we recommend these formats: Each format works well on both desktop and mobil...

However important mobile is to your business today, it will become even more critical tomorrow. That's true whether you’re blogging about your favorite sports team, building the site for your community theater, or selling products to potential customers. Your visitors simply must have a great experience when they visit your site on their mobile devices. Research has found that 61% of users will leave a mobile site if they don’t see what they are looking for right away.  Sites that are not mobile-friendly expect users to pinch, slide, and zoom in order to consume content. It’s a frustrating experience when users expect to find the information they’re looking for right away, but are presented with obstacles to obtain that information. This is what causes users to abandon sites.  To create a mobile-friendly site, follow these three rules: Make it fast. Research shows that 74% of people will abandon a mobile site that takes more than 5 seconds to load. Make it easy. Research ...

Using the Internet on mobile phones is now the standard. 60% of Internet users access the Internet through their phones, 94% of American smartphone users search for local information on their phones, and 77% of mobile searches occur at places where desktop computers are available (according to the eMarketer Global Mobile Landscape 2015 report). For publishers, this new reality means that your sites have to be mobile-friendly. It's the only way to offer your existing users a good mobile experience and to hold onto new users who are visiting your site for the first time. That said, a mobile-optimized site alone isn't enough to compete in the new multi-screen world. Optimizing performance for faster page loads and easier navigation will keep users coming back and drive your business forward in a competitive marketplace. Slow-loading sites, broken video players and redirects were among the top frustrations reported by 570 respondents in a recent Google poll when asked about the...

We recently launched a set of #AdSense101 videos to help you master AdSense and grow your business. We started with When Will I Get Paid? , and today we continue with a focus on Monetizing for Multi-Screen. Optimizing your ads for all screens, especially mobile, is a topic we hear about from publishers every day. Watch this short video to learn more about the best-performing mobile ad formats and placements. Stay tuned for other #AdSense101 videos throughout the year. Did you find this video useful, or is there something else you’d like to see? Please let us know in the comments below. And be sure to follow us on Twitter and Google+ for more tips and tricks. Posted by: Barbara Sarti Google AdSense team.

Today, we’re excited to introduce AdSense’s next generation ads. Page-level ads is a family of ad formats that offer a new and innovative way to help you earn money from your mobile content. With Page-level ads, you place the same ad code once on each page that you want to show ads. They’re designed to show automatically at the right time and in the right format -  potentially increasing your earnings without interfering with your users’ mobile experience. The benefits of Page-level ads include: Optimized ads that show when they’re likely to perform well and provide a good user experience. One-time set-up that only requires you to place the Page-level ad code once on each page you’d like the ads shown.  Ability to adjust the settings in your account and to enable new ad formats without having to change the code on your site. Additional ads on your site that don’t count towards your AdSense per page ad limit. Watch the video below for a quick view of Page-level ads: Curren...

Research shows that “ 29% of smartphone users will immediately switch to another site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their needs. ” In a world where people are making split decisions about what to consume, it’s increasingly challenging but critical for publishers to figure out how to effectively engage their audiences on their sites. To help lay the foundation to a winning engagement strategy, we’ve created the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement. This guide help you drive toward your goals for growing your site – from defining your brand voice to tips to make your site’s content easy to consume. Don’t waste another moment developing web pages that leave you with little opportunity to engage with your audience. Download the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement here . In this guide, you’ll learn: How to help your audience become familiar with your brand Best practices to design delightful user journeys How to develop content that resonates with your audience Ways to make your content ea...

In the last post we talked about the rise of micro-moments . But what about macro-moments? According to this great response to micro-moments and our own interpretations, the three most important types of macro-moments are: Affinity Moments , when fans act in unison in support of their favorite team or musician.  Buddy Moments , when friends connect and bond everything they see, hear or read -- whether that's a live concert or a funny cat video on YouTube. Deep Knowledge Moments , when someone wants to learn deeply about a topic (maybe political issues or financial news) so they can share that knowledge later. In essence, micro-moments happen on the go and with intent, while macro-moments are more tribal or community-based. They're deep-dive media experiences that impact individuals in ways micro-moments can’t. Publishers should remember that preferences and loyalty are shaped by both micro and macro moments. The brands that do the best job of addressing our needs in each mome...

For a long time, we've all heard that we're perched on the edge of a new golden age of digital, like divers on a cliff. By now it seems clear that we have well and truly jumped off that edge and are swimming, frolicking (and sometimes drowning) in that futuristic sea of digital, connectivity, cams, drones, the Internet of Things… and especially mobile. Today, we'd like to kick off a three-part blog series that will look at how publishers can do more frolicking and less failing in this digital sea. In particular, we'll look at what we call digital moments that matter, and the best ways for publishers to think about those moments. Part one today is Micro-Moments for Publishers, to be followed by From Micro to Macro and then part 3, Acting On Your Moments. Where to start? In an age where people create and consume their very own newsrooms on a daily basis, expectations for content are growing higher and higher. Just a few examples: People over 35 tend to print out recipes, ...

Our latest infographic puts a spotlight on viewability by sharing a dozen technical best practices for improving viewability based on insights from Active View , Google's MRC-accredited viewable impression measurement technology. Recently on the blog, we focused on 2 tips for enabling viewability measurement . In this post you'll learn tips for improving ad viewability by optimizing your apps and sites for speed and responsiveness. Here is today's recommendation: We hope these recommendations are improving your site or apps ad viewability. Feel free to share your viewability success story in the comments section below. In the next part of our Spotlight on Viewability, we'll share 4 ways to improve ad layouts for better viewability rates. Posted by Anish Kattukaran, Product Marketing Manager

There's a lot that publishers and app developers can do to increase the likelihood that their ads will be measured as viewable. Our latest infographic puts a spotlight on viewability by sharing a dozen technical best practices for improving viewability across four categories based on insights from Active View , Google's MRC-accredited viewable impression measurement technology. These insights and recommendations come from our services teams that have spent thousands of hours working with publishers and developers to improve advertising outcomes. In this post, we focus on tips you can use to improve ad viewability by optimizing your apps and sites for speed and responsiveness. Here is today's recommendation: We hope these recommendations will improve your site or apps ad viewability. Feel free to share your viewability success story in the comments section below.  In the next part of our Spotlight on Viewability, we'll share 3 speedy ways to improve viewability. Posted b...

Speed matters, particularly on mobile devices. People are likely to abandon websites after just three seconds if the content doesn’t load quickly. This is bad for the user trying to access content, and also for the publisher whose business depends on users engaging with content. That’s why, last October, we joined others across the industry to announce the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project, an open source initiative to make the mobile web as fast as possible. Earlier today, Google announced that web pages created using AMP will appear when relevant in the Top Stories section of the search results page, giving users a lightning-fast experience --- early tests have found that AMP pages load an average of four times faster and use 10 times less data than equivalent non-AMP pages. A key goal of the AMP Project is to ensure that publishers’ existing business models are supported. To that end, AMP in Search will have what could be termed as version one of some new features aimed at he...