Google AdSense facts for kids
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| Developer(s) | |
|---|---|
| Initial release | June 18, 2003 |
| Operating system | Cross-platform (web-based application) |
| Type | Online advertising |
Google AdSense is a special program from Google. It helps people who own websites or blogs make money. They do this by showing advertisements on their sites. These ads can be text, pictures, videos, or interactive media.
Google chooses which ads to show based on what the website is about and who is visiting it. Google manages all these ads. Website owners earn money when visitors click on the ads or sometimes just when they see them. In 2014, Google made a lot of money from AdSense, about $13.6 billion! Many websites, over 38 million in 2021, use AdSense to earn income. It's especially helpful for smaller websites that might not have other ways to make money. AdSense uses HTTP cookies to help show relevant ads.
Contents
How Google AdSense Works
Google uses its technology to pick the best ads for a website. It looks at the website's content and where the user is located. Businesses that want to advertise through Google use a program called Google Ads. AdSense is very popular for putting ads on websites and blogs.
Some ads are called responsive ads. This means they change their size to fit the screen of the device you are using, like a phone or a computer. These ads often fit in well with the website's content.
To show these ads, website owners put a small piece of computer code (called JavaScript) on their web pages. Websites with lots of interesting content often do very well with AdSense. Google used to limit the number of ads on a page, but now you can place more. However, Google says that ads should never take up more space than the actual content on the page.
Website owners try to make the most money from AdSense by following some simple rules:
- They create good content that people want to read and interact with.
- They follow Google's rules for webmasters.
- They avoid putting too many ads on their website.
- They never try to trick people into clicking ads. They can use phrases like "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisements."
- They do not link to websites that have a bad reputation.
Google shares a part of the money it earns from these ads with the website owners. For ads shown on content pages, Google shares 68% of the money. For ads shown with search results, it shares 51%. In 2015, Google updated the AdSense logo.
History of AdSense
Google first launched its AdSense program in March 2003. It was originally called "Content targeting advertising." Google later bought a company called Applied Semantics, which had a similar product also named "AdSense." Google then decided to use the "AdSense" name for its own program.
At first, some advertisers thought AdSense ads were not as good as ads shown in Google Search results. This was because AdSense ads were based on the website's content, not what a user was actively searching for. For example, someone reading about flowers might not want to buy flowers right then. So, in 2004, Google let advertisers choose if they wanted their ads to appear on the AdSense network.
The idea for AdSense came partly from Paul Buchheit, who created Gmail. He thought about putting ads in Google's email service. But it was Susan Wojcicki, with help from Sergey Brin, who built the team that made AdSense a huge success. By 2005, AdSense was bringing in about 15% of Google's total money.
In 2009, Google AdSense added new features, like allowing ads from different networks to be shown. In 2010, AdSense started using your past search history to show even more relevant ads. A feature called "Direct Campaigns" was launched in 2014, letting publishers sell ads directly, but it was stopped in 2015.
Types of AdSense Ads
AdSense offers different ways to show ads:
Content Ads
These ads are shown based on the content of the website or the interests of the user. Website owners earn money when people click on these ads (called cost per click or CPC). Sometimes, they earn money for every thousand times an ad is seen (called cost per thousand impressions or CPM), but CPC is more common.
Content ads come in many sizes. They can be simple text, images, animated images, videos, or rich media ads. You can choose to show only text ads, only multimedia ads, or both.
Search Ads
AdSense for Search lets website owners show ads next to search results on their own site. They get 51% of the money from these ads. These ads appear when a visitor searches for something on the website. Even though the revenue share is a bit lower than content ads, these ads can earn more because people searching are often more likely to click.
Video Ads
If a website has video content, like a video hosting site, AdSense for Video helps them make money. Publishers can choose different ad formats to show with their videos. These include:
- Linear video ads: Ads that play before or after the video.
- Overlay ads: Text or display ads that appear over the video content.
- TrueView: A format where users can skip the ad after a few seconds.
Publishers can also show companion ads, which are display ads that appear next to the video player. This type of AdSense is for websites that host videos, not for videos on YouTube.
Link Units
Link units are special ad units that show a list of topics related to the website's content. When a user clicks on one of these topics, they are taken to a new page that shows ads related to that topic. Website owners earn money when people click on the ads on the linked page, not when they click on the initial topic itself. These ads are very targeted because the user actively chose a topic they were interested in.
Past AdSense Types
Google has also had other types of AdSense programs that are no longer active:
Mobile Content Ads
This program allowed website owners to earn money from ads on their mobile websites. Google would match ads to the content of the mobile site. This program was combined with the main AdSense for Content in 2012, as the difference between desktop and mobile content became less important.
Domain Ads
AdSense for Domains let people put ads on domain names that were not yet developed into full websites. This was a way for domain owners to make money from names they owned but weren't actively using. This program was stopped in 2012.
Feed Ads
AdSense for Feeds was for websites that used RSS or Atom feeds. It would insert ads directly into the feed articles. When someone viewed the feed, Google would show ads based on the feed's content. This program was discontinued in 2012.
How AdSense Works Behind the Scenes
- A website owner puts a special AdSense JavaScript code onto their webpage.
- When someone visits that page, the JavaScript code talks to Google's computers.
- For ads that match the page's content, Google's computers quickly read the page. They figure out the main keywords (important words) on the page. Then, they show ads related to those keywords.
- For ads that target specific websites, the advertiser has already chosen which pages their ads should appear on. They pay based on how many times their ad is shown.
- For search ads, the ads appear in the list of results after a visitor searches on the website.
- Because the code is sent to your web browser, it's possible for others to copy it. To prevent cheating, AdSense publishers can tell Google exactly which pages their ads should appear on. This helps stop fake clicks.
See also
- Ad blocking
- Google Ads
- List of Google products
- Pay per play
- DoubleClick
- Native advertising
Images for kids
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AdSense logo from 2015 to 2018
