Left or right makes a big difference for AD Placements and CTR

Today I want to talk about the positioning of ADs inside of the content.

For a longer time now I have integrated my ADs inside the content on the right side.

A few days back however I changed the position of my last AD Unit on a page at the bottom of the content to the left.

The difference in CTR is significant.

I don’t want to change my first content AD position to the left because it interrupts the reading flow of my visitors.

The first part of the content should provide the answer for the visitor and after that he should notice the AD.

However in locations lower down the page changing the AD position from right to left is really worth considering.

Are your AD locations on the best performing spot?

Related posts:

  1. Did you take the display order of your AdSense ADs into account?
  2. Image vs Text ADs – Brainstorming
  3. This is the Season for Placement Targeting Optimize Your Ad Units
  4. Avoiding accidental clicks Pt. 1: Keeping the right distance
  5. Thanks to admin for all the nice adsense placements
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9 Responses to Left or right makes a big difference for AD Placements and CTR

  1. JamesColin says:
    Hello, one solution if you want to increase CTR on your first content ad position is to use a little css trick that will push your ad a little bit down the text, so that the text will first start on the left and then only a few lines after will wraps to the right of the ad block.

    Use my page as an example, although on this particular exemple I started with an ad on the right then an ad on the left, you can just use the css trick for one ad, on the left.
    (Resource no longer exists)
    Reply
  2. admin says:
    Thank you for the link.

    I implemented it and it looks way better :)
    Reply
  3. JamesColin says:
    I see you've used it, but you still let the ad on the right in the first post. (I see you did it correctly on the last post) I was suggesting you do the same, but with the ad on the left, so that people can start to read the post normally on the left and then the text wraps on the right of the ad, so it will be natural and will not create a problem in user friendliness, just like on the last post.

    This was simply because as you said, left or right does make a significant difference in CTR.
    Reply
  4. admin says:
    I know what you mean but still for the first post in my opinion the content is more important than the AD. For me it feels like slapping the ADs into my visitors face.

    I like it better this way.

    However this is not written in stone, I may change by opinion on that some day ;)

    Thanks for your suggestion.
    Reply
  5. JamesColin says:
    Yes this is only for visitors, not for members right?

    It's been a long time since I ever felt guilty for slapping the ads in my visitors faces, I forgot how it felt back then to feel guilty about that :-)
    Reply
  6. admin says:
    90% of my users are first time visitors.

    That is why I try to make a good impression.

    I want them to register and ask questions.

    The forum is AD free for members because they provide the content that drives in new visitors.

    It is a delicate balance between earnings and keeping visitors happy :)
    Reply
  7. unicorn says:
    Do you see any changes in CTR after the implementation that the rectangle is displayed after a few lines of content?
    Reply
    • admin says:
      Do you see any changes in CTR after the implementation that the rectangle is displayed after a few lines of content?

      Yes in fact I do.

      CTR went up more than 300% (still below 2% though) and eCPM went up 350%.

      I compared a time frame of 12 days for this comparison.

      It is not very representative but that suggestion was gold :p Thanks again JamesColin.

      What this shows is that you never should stop optimizing your ADs.

      And even a small change can mean a lot more money!

      That is what AdsenseExperts is all about :D

      By the way....

      I updated my vBulletin AdSense Integrations for the first post and last post to include this "trick".

      You can find them here:
      AdSense inside the first post - AdsenseExperts Exclusive
      AdSense inside the last post - AdsenseExperts Exclusive
      Reply
  8. Dogs and things says:
    Very neat little trick there James, thanks for sharing it.

    I implemented it yesterday on my site for pushing a left floating block a couple of lines down into the paragraphs. It's to early to tell if this makes a difference but for the moment results look promising.

    It seems quite logical to me that this should improve CTR, as the block becomes more of a part of the article, it doesn´t seem to be standing out as much. This would imply that the reader's eyes are just that bit more drawn towards the ads.

    And in that second he's glancing at the ads one of those might just draw his attention and cause a click.

    Btw. My favourite side for showing ads is the left, or straight in the middle, right under the title.

    *Edit* In my forum I have been showing ads to guests only, last week I changed this to guests and registered users, but only to registered users with less than 50 posts.

    Above the ads I place a small message announcing that "those ads will disappear if you are logged in as a registered user and have over 50 posts".
    Reply

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