Ranking Factors In Google October 2012

[Scritty]

While I cannot verify anything said in the OP, this is a nice contribution. I would warn against using any single pattern as your "blueprint" as the landscape is ever-changing though.

Which is pretty much exactly what I say right at the top.
Also there is no "blueprint" here, just observations based on the analysis of hundreds of thousands of websites over a 3 month period.

Make of it what you will.

Scritty

 

[affarmy]

Thanks for the share Scritty. My wish list for the holidays is a large scale study on the effect of various link types with variables to test G filters.... according to the study backlink volume had the greatest affect <ShockinG> so it bears mention that more study should be spent with regards to BL's and how to avoid tripping penalties.
Velocity, anchors, OBL #'s, link types, link targets, link age, link page pr and domain pr, link traffic, on and on..there are a ton of variables that could be studied and shed more light on pitfalls etc.

 

[dbk03]

Adsense blocks in first 720 pixels
Here's one that came right out of the leftfield. I had no idea this was even being measured. An adsense block that begins in the first 720 vertical pixels of any given URL seems to have a dramatic effect on that page's ability to rank for its chosen keywords.It has an unfavourable impact far greater than the exact match domain rebalancing. By factor of two or three.
I can only speculate that given that many exact match domains are made for adsense sites and therefore have the commercial block prominent in the top half of the page that the reduction in ranking that some sites have reported and attributed to the EMD recalc may actually have been mis-diagnosed and in fact it is the placement of the advertising block that has caused the issue.
As somebody who doesn't use this form of advertising any more it's not my area of expertise but given that it's the biggest relative change in performance metric over last three months it's very surprising that it hasn't been picked up. Given that adsense is Google's own network, it seems they are looking to keep their value (no surprise) and stay as white hat in terms of SEO as possible. At least in this regard.
Is This An Over Commercialization Penalty? Or Maybe A Specific MFA Site Slap?
I'm going to say no more about it and perhaps leave this for others who are far better equipped and understand Google advertising to look at this.

I totally agree with this. I didn't know that the first 720p were being measured but I have heard that an adsense block placed above the fold will seriously decrease your rankings.

However, today, I have received the following email from adsense:

Hello,Did you know that approximately 60% of your AdSense ad impressions on XXXXXXX.com (my website) are appearing below the fold? Ads in this location are less visible and suffer from lower CTRs than ads above the fold.
Our analysis estimates that the RPM for your above the fold ad impressions on XXXXXXX.com is $4.04 , while the RPM for your impressions below the fold is $0.37 - a $3.67 difference. Based on these numbers, we believe that by moving more of your units above the fold, you'll be able to potentially earn more.
For example, try moving the 300x250 ad unit on XXXXXXXX.com/XXXXXX-XXXXX/ above the fold to increase your RPMs.

Now, am I missing something or they are completely nuts? My first instinct was to reply that e-mail with something like "You f*****g idiots, if I'll do that, I will be dropping on page 10 in a couple of minutes (from page 1)". The I realized that this is just an automated mail

What's your opinion here, guys?

 

[ksy213]

thanks for writing up this advice. Pretty useful

 

[Scritty]

Now, am I missing something or they are completely nuts? My first instinct was to reply that e-mail with something like "You f*****g idiots, if I'll do that, I will be dropping on page 10 in a couple of minutes (from page 1)". The I realized that this is just an automated mail

What's your opinion here, guys?

No - you're not nuts.
They want you to advertise (they make money) but they will also penalize you for it.
To normal people this would seem to be a contradictory set of affairs - but to Google these days that's the way it is.
The 720 is a sliding scale, and as I mentioed below 720 is WAY too low. Likewise in the first 200 seems to be terrible, so pitching between 200 and 300 and having a size and shape of ad that best allows you to put content around/above/to the side of it would be best.

Scritty

 

[moonlighsunligh]

No - you're not nuts.

The 720 is a sliding scale, and as I mentioed below 720 is WAY too low. Likewise in the first 200 seems to be terrible, so pitching between 200 and 300 and having a size and shape of ad that best allows you to put content around/above/to the side of it would be best.

Scritty

Pictures near adsense - bellow the fold is still a pretty good option. But it is important to stay within rules, by not placing ads next to images. I found this out by using heat map.

Would relative positioning work it this case?

 

[dbk03]

No - you're not nuts.
They want you to advertise (they make money) but they will also penalize you for it.

Yes you're right. I keep forgetting that Google is a corporation and their main key performance indicator is revenue.

 

[madoctopus]

It is more important regarding ads, to have a paragraph of text above the first ad. Also, if you have a big banner ad in the header remove it because Google doesn't like it and it doesn't perform well either. Personally on AdSense-only sites/MFA I have like this:

+----------------------------------------+
| header with logo and search form       |
+----------------------------------------+
| main navigation bar                    |
+-----------------------+----------------+
| Post Title            | Sidebar        |
| Paragraph             | with           |
| --------------------- | site link menu |
| BigRectAD | BigRectAd |----------------+
| --------------------- | LinkBlockAd    |
| Rest of content       |                |
+-----------------------+----------------+

So I have a post title, followed by one paragraph, followed by two ads (largest rectangle ads) side by side, followed by rest of content. In the sidebar I have a link list as categories or whatever and below it an AdSense link unit styled the same way as the links for my site but with text that is 2px larger so it attracts the eye.

One little secret I have is in the first paragraph (which by the way is written to lure them in and increase their interest, I will say something which will make them expect a listing - of products, of resources, of whatever. Many will mistaken the links in the textads for the listing. The real listing will be actually 2 paragraphs below. Sometimes I have to tone this down a lot because it gets me some huge CTR in certain niches and on certain pages. I even had a page with 60% CTR and luckily I spotted it in time to kill it and get it to 7%.

 

[moonlighsunligh]

What is your average ECPM/CTR when you do this way, if that isn't a secret?

I keep my CTR bellow 10% just to be safe, so my ECPM in most niches is lower than $20.

 

[madoctopus]

What is your average ECPM/CTR when you do this way, if that isn't a secret?

I keep my CTR bellow 10% just to be safe, so my ECPM in most niches is lower than $20.

It varries a lot. Some keywords are as high as $10/click, other as low as $0.2/click. CTR is 1-4% on most sites but I have distinct pages that can go as high as 8-9%. I try to keep it below 10% so I dont have problems. Usually high CTR is achieved by tricking the visitor into thinking he clicks on a regular link not on an ad. I have noticed that if I force image ads instead of text ads the CTR drops a lot because the trick doesn't work anymore and it is obvious to them that's an ad.

 

[moonlighsunligh]

I think 1-4% is quite low. Do you use heat maps such as crazzyeg? They usually help improving adsense CTR, at least for me.

 

[madoctopus]

I think 1-4% is quite low. Do you use heat maps such as crazzyeg? They usually help improving adsense CTR, at least for me.

That's how I want it. Almost all my AdSense sites are 100% blackhat. Don't want those folks at G sniff over my sites manually lol. I recon if you have a very high CTR they might get nosy. Also, I don't obey the TOS of AdSense 100% on all sites.

 

[moonlighsunligh]

That is another interesting thing. However, if earnings are too high, I guess they will be reviewing your site anyway. So what do you think, what is the earning amount, beyond which Adsense reviews sites?

I got one site on one of my accounts reviewed because it had been earning over $100 per day, but luckily that was a white hat site.

 

[Tripazo]

It's very hard to predict because the PAge Rank update has been put off for over a month now

 

[silvermario]

I totally agree with this. I didn't know that the first 720p were being measured but I have heard that an adsense block placed above the fold will seriously decrease your rankings.

However, today, I have received the following email from adsense:



Now, am I missing something or they are completely nuts? My first instinct was to reply that e-mail with something like "You f*****g idiots, if I'll do that, I will be dropping on page 10 in a couple of minutes (from page 1)". The I realized that this is just an automated mail

What's your opinion here, guys?

It's because the Adsense Team and the Webspam Team are independent from each other departments of Google and they don't work together, at least so I've heard.

 

[Scritty]

It would appear from the outside that they are tugging at each other a bit.

Marketing want more money coming in. That's all sales and marketing EVER want in any company
Anti spam..... well that's trying (so they say) to deliver better results, however it is noticable that in high commercialized terms, Google is returning a page one full of Google and little else. adesenem logo, tools, more adsense, youtube then maybe one or two independent results at the bottom of the page...if you are lucky
Adsense team - They might be the meat in the sandwich here. Caught between marketing's ethos of "who cares where and why they click..as long as they click" and MC's "QQ I'm just trying to make the world a better place" bullcrap

Scritty

 

[ivanpenev]

Off topic
I have heard an interesting statement in the past and it just came up in my mind know. Somebody said that sites which have Google Adsense on them or sites that are being advertised in Google Adwords are ranked better in the serps, does somebody share that opinion ?

 

[Windmill]

Tbh, I am absolutely certain the Adwords thing is a complete myth. But for big sites, I'll continue to use Adwords for the following reasons:

1. The traffic DOES and can convert.
2. If Google does secretly favour Adwords sites... I want to be there, just in case.

Adwords is not exactly relevant nor a good option for Adsense sites though, lol.

 

[ivanpenev]

Yeah, I am not saying it is not a myth, most probably it is, just wanted to hear opinions. Adwords is pretty good, yes, and it offers a good targeting. Couple a days ago I saw a thread here on bhw adwords vs bing ads, two campaign with the same amount of money, keywords etc. and actually the traffic from bing converted better, I think it was 3 sales vs 1, but I can't find the thread now.

 

[googlemonster]

Good point, I am not sure, they have one side the fucking spam team saying one thing and the adsense team saying another. Complete retarded communications from them.

I totally agree with this. I didn't know that the first 720p were being measured but I have heard that an adsense block placed above the fold will seriously decrease your rankings.

However, today, I have received the following email from adsense:



Now, am I missing something or they are completely nuts? My first instinct was to reply that e-mail with something like "You f*****g idiots, if I'll do that, I will be dropping on page 10 in a couple of minutes (from page 1)". The I realized that this is just an automated mail

What's your opinion here, guys?