AdSense is an
advertising program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text and image
advertisements
on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate
revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-ads-displayed basis.
Google utilizes 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.
It currently 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). (Note that the Mediabot is a separate crawler from the Googlebot that maintains Google's search index.)
Many sites use AdSense to monetize their content and some webmasters work hard to maximize their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:
They use a wide range of traffic generating techniques including but not limited to online advertising.They build valuable content on their sites; content which attracts AdSense ads and which pay out the most when they get clicked.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.