Google Referrals: Are They An Improvement On AdSense?

Like a lot of bloggers I have been using Google AdSense on my various blogs virtually since I started. It's worked okay for me so I've left well alone. Plus they pay on time every month direct into my bank account, so no real complaints.

I noticed, however, over the last six weeks that my percentage of clicks has dropped so I have been looking at different ways to correct this.

Until the last few days I haven't used what they call 'Referrals', though they have been around for a while now, but I can see these as being a way forward.

Why? Simply because you can choose the exact ads you want on your blog and match them to your niche. There are 26 different categories so there should be something to cover most subjects, alphabetically it ranges from Animals to Travel.

The ads come in various sizes from text to banners.

Against each ad it's clearly indicated what sort of money you can make. For example if you want to say promote Website Design the conversion values range from $3 to $150.14.

Sometimes they are much less. For the banner example I've used at the head of this blog for blogTV the conversion values range from just $0.01 to £1.35. (Note: I have now changed this banner as I'm trying out Google Search in the same position - experimenting!) It all depends on what you think will attract clicks plus this can be balanced beforehand with the potential revenue. This is something you can't do with basic AdSense ads.

I can see this being a step in the right direction but time and results will tell.

So how many Google Referrals can you publish on your blog? Their Programme Policies state:

"AdSense offers a number of ad formats and advertising products. Publishers are
encouraged to experiment with a variety of placements, provided the following policies are respected:

Up to three ad units may be displayed on each page.

A maximum of two Google AdSense for search boxes may be placed on a page.

Up to three link units may also be placed on each page.

Up to three referral units may be displayed on a page, in addition to the ad units, search boxes and link units specified above."

That's my underlining.

All in all that's quite a few possibilities.

Google Referrals must be worth a try - if you aren't already dabbling. If you are: how have you got on?

Good Luck,
Mike.