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Today we’re happy to share some product updates to complement and strengthen your strategy, with new features for our responsive ad units and a multi-screen optimization score now available.

The new full width ads on mobile devices

Our experiments show that full-width responsive ads perform better on mobile devices in portrait mode. Previously Responsive ads fitted to standard sizes. The new launch will now  automatically expand ads to the full-width of the user's screen when their device is orientated vertically.
Screen Shot 2017-08-16 at 3.02.57 PM.png
If you are already using responsive ads, your ad unit has been upgraded automatically for mobile users. Otherwise, we recommend that you switch to responsive ad units today.

Best practices to help improve your mobile performance

We are also happy to share with you other best practices to help improve your mobile performance. Check out this video get tips on how to create an excellent mobile experience for your users and potentially increase your mobile revenue. Let’s get started!

More information on Responsive ad units can be found in our Help Center.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these new features.


Posted by: The AdSense Team

Step 1: See how much more you could earn

Before you put time and effort into improving your mobile speed, you want to see what it’s worth to you. This useful tool will help you make a personal calculation of how much more you could earn with a faster mobile experience. However, this tool does not calculate user experience or user loyalty, both of which are impacted by either a fast, or slow, mobile experience. 

Step 2: Look at how you measure up

Using tools to measure different aspects of your site will help you identify areas for improvement more easily than if you were to just estimate. Here are a few of our favorites:
  • Page Speed Insights analyzes your site performance, scoring its speed and user experience and identifies issues to fix. The best practice is a score of 85 or above.1
  • Webpagetest provides a Speed Index that indicates the average time at which visible parts of the page are displayed. Aim for a Speed Index of 3,000 or less and load time of 3 seconds or less — ideally 1-3 seconds.2
  • Chrome DevTools is a versatile real-time tool for evaluating your website’s performance right in the browser. You can simulate network and CPU speeds, examine network loading details and see how your site’s code is impacting your page.
  • Mobile-Friendly Test is designed specifically for mobile sites. This tool analyzes exactly how mobile-friendly the site is, and focuses on elements beyond speed as well. 

Step 3: Have a clear out - reduce the size of your pages.
Reduce the size of your pages.
  • Target 50 or fewer requests and 1,000 or fewer bytes to optimize load time. 
  • Compress and select efficient images, and prioritize download of visible content.
Assess the ads and trackers running on your page.
  • Use a tool to measure the bandwidth and latency impact of pixels and other elements on your pages (e.g., Ghostery). Evaluate if trackers are needed and used, and if they provide enough benefit.
  • Review latency of your ad partners, especially those delivering video ads, and remove low performing monetization partners.
Step 4: Prioritize the order your page loads in

It sounds obvious, but prioritizing loading of the elements that are visible above the fold will enhance your user experience, even of your net page loading speed doesn’t change.
  • Prioritize loading elements that are visible above the fold first: Minimize the amount of pieces that show above the fold of visible content. Load styling, javascript logic and images that are only accessed after direct interaction later. 
  • Enable HTTPS and HTTP/2: Support modern HTTPS to provide site integrity, encryption, authentication, and better user experience. More than 1-in-3 of top 100 sites run on modern HTTPS, and a quarter of them use HTTPS by default
  • Limit server requests where possible: Each mobile page makes an average of 214 server requests,3 some of which happen simultaneously and some that can only happen one after the other. Review each request on your site to understand the benefit it provides.  
Step 5: Measure, test, repeat

As the shift to mobile continues to grow, so will users expectations of lighting speed experiences across the web. This means that improving your mobile speed isn’t a one off job, you need to have a process in place to regularly evaluate and improve it. Follow the steps outlined above at regular intervals and record the results of the adjustments you make to refer back to when deciding on new optimization techniques in the future.
  • Continually assess your ad-related calls to remove low performing monetization partners.
  • Pick third-party ad-tech partners with lower latency.
  • Remove or reduce any bulky content.
  • Consolidate data and analytics tags.
  • Investigate open-source tools such as Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and Progressive Web Apps (PWA). 
Implementing the strategies outlined in this article could have a serious positive impact on your business. Check out these inspirational stories from Sinclair News and What to Expect to see how significant shifts in mobile speed were achieved with a few technical tweaks.

Next steps
From your interest in Page Speed, you’re clearly committed to doing all you can to improve the performance of your site and grow your publishing business. With this in mind, you may benefit from a chat with one of our experts. They can offer a personalized consultation to help you make the right technology choices to support your business growth. Book a time.


Post content

1. Google Developers
2. Google and kissmetrics

How can you increase the viewable impressions delivered by your site? 
1. Put ad units just above the fold.
Interestingly, ads placed just above the fold of a web page produce higher viewability metrics than those at the top of the page. Try horizontal ad unit sizes, e.g. 320x100 for optimal increase in viewability metrics. It’s important to note that it's against the AdSense ad placement policies to place a 300x250 ad unit above the fold on mobile pages, so be sure to place those larger ad sizes below the fold. 
Bonus tip: Switch 320x50 for 320x100 ad units.
Replacing your 320x50 ad units with 320x100 on your mobile device can improve viewability and potentially increase earnings. Revenue per thousand impressions (RPMs) tends to increase when you move to the larger mobile banner ad. This is because using the 320x100 ad unit allows both the 320x50 ad and the 320x100 to compete for the same ad space, doubling the fill-rate competition. It’s best practice to put the ad just above the fold as mentioned above, which could further boost your revenues.
2. Use mobile-friendly ad formats.
Mobile is becoming an ever more important part of online ad sales. Here are three mobile friendly ad formats to try:
  • Use large high impact ad units such as the medium rectangle (300x250), large rectangle (336x280) and large mobile banner (320x100) to get the best results. The first two work well on desktop and mobile (below the fold), with the third being designed specifically for mobile. 
  • AdSense also offers two kinds of page-level mobile ad formats, anchor ads and vignettes. Both are designed to increase mobile viewability. 
Once you’ve implemented the tips above, you can find even more advanced best practice viewability tips in this infographic.


By now we think you’re sold on speed. So what’s next?

2. Scroll

The magic scroll. It’s an infinite, endless, perfectly loaded stream of content. There’s no need to click, to wait for a page to load, to navigate to that tiny ‘next’ with your giant thumb. It’s all right here, content, just waiting for you to consume it.

There are, of course, a few caveats before developing an infinite scroll. Like almost everything online, this isn’t a one size fits all solution. 

Infinite scroll is great for ...
  • UGC publishers with constantly evolving content - think Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest.
  • Sites with lengthy articles or tutorials. No one wants to click ‘more’ or ‘page 2’ anymore. It’s just too dang hard. 
  • Publishers using a slideshow with pagination. Consider a lazy loaded infinite scroll instead. Users love it. 
  • Publishers considering mobile first (aren’t we all?!).
Watch out for … 
  • Crawler errors & SEO impact and check out this article for creating a search friendly infinite scroll. 

3. Style 

Style should never be an afterthought. You and your users want to interact with something that looks good and feels good. 

There are two primary components to style: content style & ad style. 

First: Content Style 

Great websites are able to maintain a consistent style  across pages and platforms. Consistency gives users a sense of familiarity when interacting with your content. 
  • Choose a color scheme and stick to it 
  • Choose a layout and stick to it 
  • Choose a theme and stick to it 
We can’t stress this enough - stick to it. 

As the industry continues to migrate towards a mobile first perspective, consistency across device types and platforms becomes increasingly important. Responsive web design enables your site to adapt to various device sizes without changing the overall look and feel or compromising user experience. 

If you're up for the challenge, check out more on responsive design. 

Second: Ad Style 

In the internet of yesteryear it was nearly impossible to monetize without stripping a site of what made it beautiful. The good news? It’s 2016 and now you have the ability to make a profit and maintain your site’s style. 


When implementing ads think about what makes sense for you and your users.
Here's a sample of a native ad design.
Most importantly use ads to complement the content of your site. Since content is king, it’s important to ensure that you give your users what they're looking for in a format that’s easy to find and navigate, this includes the ads on your site.

Place ads at natural breaks or where the user’s attention may have waned. Not only will this improve user experience but it also may encourage a higher CTR and increased audience engagement.

4. Simple

Keep it simple, folks. 

This rule underlines most everything that is targeted towards consumers, but it is even more important for a mobile first audience. 

When it comes to consuming digital content, we’re a generation of hungry hippos. We want headlines, snippets, concise and clear information. We want minimalist design with streamlined content and easy navigation.

Tips on keeping it simple
  • Make it touch friendly. What’s easier than that?
  • Bullet points make your content easily consumable 
  • Be brief in sign-ups. If your site requires users to sign-up or sign-in, keep input requirements to a minimum or consider adding a Google sign-in option to speed up the process 

So there you have it; the four S’ of user experience: speed, scroll, style, simple. If you’re new to AdSense, be sure to sign up today and start turning your #PassionIntoProfit.


Posted by: Sarah Hornsey, from the AdSense team


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Critically, the study also revealed strong correlations between page speed and the following key performance indicators:
  1. Revenue
  2. Bounce rate
  3. Session duration
  4. Viewability


It’s clear mobile speed matters to the success of publisher sites, but making mobile load times a priority doesn’t always make achieving speed easy. To help you build a faster mobile web experience, we’ve created a mobile web speed toolkit. It outlines a 4-step process to diagnose and fix mobile speed issues:
  1. Measure your site’s performance.
  2. Assess the different components impacting speed.
  3. Prioritize the order your site loads.
  4. Test, remeasure and repeat to improve your site speed.
The mobile web speed toolkit offers tactical recommendations to begin achieving mobile speed. 


The relationship between page speed and publisher revenue is clearer than ever before. Small improvements to your mobile site may yield big gains for your mobile revenue, so get your copy of the mobile web speed toolkit and start making changes today. 

#SpeedMatters

Posted by: Jay Castro
AdSense team
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Whether it’s lists, infographics, images, gifs, or video, adding in dynamic elements to your story telling will keep things fresh and memorable. Visuals highlight your key points, and leave a greater impact on both loyal and new visitors alike. In fact, sites with video have been proven to encourage an extra 2 minutes of time on page compared to sites that don’t.

2. Break things up

Images can be a great way to break up long text. Unbroken, continuous text is time-consuming to read and can make visitors “check out” prematurely; no matter how interesting the topic is. By breaking up a longer content piece with related imagery, you can increase the chances of you audience staying to read more, and hopefully, fulfill a desired action on your site.

3. Make it Social

Seeing how “liked” or “shared” an article is naturally prompts visitors to share their opinion on it, too. Social proof is a powerful influencer when it comes to users engaging with your content. Ways to gain social proof include providing like actions, sharing actions, and even custom actions such as testimonials and reviews.

  

To learn more about familiarizing your audience with your brand, check out the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement.


Posted by Jay Castro
Audience Development Specialist
@jayciro
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2. Identify User Moments

People often look for inspiration and ideas while they complete a task online. Anticipating your visitors’ needs can help you set up your site to better serve them so you can capture and capitalize on these important moments. Whether they are purchasing something or just browsing, presenting this information in the right format can greatly increase the amount of time they spend on your site. 




For example, if you’re an eCommerce site selling chocolates, having recommendations alongside each product such as gift boxes, complementing candy, and drink pairings can get your site visitor thinking about the holidays or gifts for their loved ones.

3. Create engaging Calls to Action 

Bold “sign up” buttons and friendly prompts or reminders move visitors to take action. From bold colors and text to exaggerated size and other visual clues, there are a number of ways to make these important actions stand out on your site and even fun for users to engage with. In fact, our own AdSense team tested different campaign graphics on our marketing campaigns and saw higher implementation and engagement rates.
 

To learn more about familiarizing your audience with your brand, check out the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement.


Posted by Jay Castro
From the AdSense Team

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Throughout the summer, fans are looking for great content, regardless of whether they’re viewing it from a desktop, tablet or mobile device. Did you know that 1/3 of followers used more than one screen to follow the 2012 Olympic games?[1]

With this in mind, think about whether your content is mobile-optimized and easily accessible for your users in the moments that matter. If they receive a link on their smartphone but are unable to view the content because it’s not mobile-optimized, it’s easy for them to feel frustrated with the poor user experience. On the other hand, If the users are delighted with the content and their first visit to your site is a positive one, they’re more likely to share your content and come back again.

If you already have a mobile optimized site, don’t forget that you can grow your earnings potential by understanding which mobile ad sizes are most effective for you. Finally don't forget these 4 important tips to maximize your earnings with AdSense:

  1. Swap out the 320x50 ad units for 320x100 for a potential RPM increase.
  2. Place a 320x100 ad unit just above the fold or peek the 300x250 -- that is, place a small portion of the ad unit just above the fold (ATF).
  3. Use the 300x250 ad unit below the fold (BTF) mixed in with your content.
  4. Prevent accidental clicks on enhanced features in text ads by moving ad units 150 pixels away from your content.


Is your site mobile ready for the summer? 

Download the #AdSenseGuide to Mobile Web Success to learn more. Are you new to AdSense? If so, sign up now and turn your passion into profit.


Posted by Barbara Sarti, AdSense Account Associate

[1] Google internal data

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It's 2016 and it's hard to believe that browsing the web on a mobile phone can still feel so slow with users abandoning sites that just don't load quickly. To us -- and many in the industry -- it was clear that something needed to change. That was why we started working with the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, an open source initiative to improve the mobile web experience for everyone.

Less than six months ago, we started sending people to AMP pages in the “Top stories” section of the Google Search Results page on mobile phones. Since then, we’ve seen incredible global adoption of AMP that has gone beyond the news industry to include e-commerce, entertainment, travel, recipe sites and so on. To date we have more than 150 million AMP docs in our index, with over 4 million new ones being added every week. As a result, today we’re sharing an early preview of our expanded AMP support across the entire search results page --not just the “Top stories” section.

To clarify, this is not a ranking change for sites. As a result of the growth of AMP beyond publishers, we wanted to make it easier for people to access this faster experience. The preview shows an experience where web results that that have AMP versions are labeled with The AMP Logo. When you tap on these results, you will be directed to the corresponding AMP page within the AMP viewer. 

AmpBlueLinksDemo_v3_garciarobert (1).gif
AMP in Search Preview

Try it out for yourself on your mobile device by navigating to g.co/ampdemo. Once you’re in the demo, search for something like “french toast recipe” or music lyrics by your favorite artist to experience how AMP can provide a speedier reading experience on the mobile web. The “Who” page on AMPProject.org has a flavor of some of the sites already creating AMP content.

We’re starting with a preview to get feedback from users, developers and sites so that we can create a better Search experience when we make this feature more broadly available later this year. In addition, we want to give everyone who might be interested in “AMPing up” their content enough time to learn how to implement AMP and to see how their content appears in the demo. And beyond developing AMP pages, we invite everyone to get involved and contribute to the AMP Project.

We can’t wait to hear from you as we work together to speed up the web. And as always, if you have any questions, please visit our webmaster forums.

Posted by Nick Zukoski, Software Engineer

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If you’re not using AdSense to monetize your online content, be sure to sign up so you can start turning your passion into profit. 


1) Use high-impact mobile ad formats to ensure you have optimal ad sizes throughout your site. 

The 320x50 ad unit was the original mobile ad banner, but now there are a range of mobile ad sizes and formats to choose from. If you’re using 320x50 ads you should consider replacing them with 320x100 (just above the fold), 300x250 (below the fold), or a responsive ad unit. These ad sizes tend to generate higher RPMs than 320x50 ad units.

  • The 320x100 ad unit performs best on mobile screens and can be placed in numerous positions throughout your site. Research from Google shows the most viewable ad position is right above the fold. The 320x100 also increases the fill-rate competition because it allows the 320x50 format to compete for the same space.

  • The 300x250 ad unit is a popular ad size used by advertisers across the globe, resulting in a large ad supply, increased competition, and a potential increase in earnings. Research on viewability has shown that a 300x250 ad unit placed just below the fold has generated approximately a 50% viewability rate for other publishers. This ad unit could potentially help you maximize the impact of your ad space. 
  • Responsive ad units automatically adapt to your page layout and the space available for the ad unit across desktop, tablets, and smartphones. AdSense identifies the appropriate ad size and then determines the best size for the screen. 
2) Pay close attention to your ad placements, especially if you’re using a responsive design column drop layout.

Responsive websites are a great multi-screen strategy, but they present a challenge for high-impact desktop ad units that can be easily avoided. Responsive websites commonly use a column drop approach to design. This is where the entire right-hand column on a desktop screen drops down to the bottom of the page when the website is viewed on a mobile screen.


This means that a strong performing ad unit on the right-hand column of your desktop site could become an underperforming unit below the fold on mobile devices.


If this is how your site is designed, you should consider alternative ad placements, for example: moving your right-column ad units above the fold on mobile devices.

3) Focus on counting viewable impressions with Active View in your AdSense account.

Checking the Active View percent of your ads will give you a good indication of your mobile vs. tablet and desktop ad viewability. A display ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of the ad is within the viewable space on the user’s screen for one second or more.

If you find that your Active View percent is much lower on mobile than it is on desktop, this could mean that your ads are not visible to your users and alternative ad placements may need to be tested.

There you have it, three tips to increase your mobile RPM.

Monitor your AdSense performance across devices to understand and identify potential underperforming units. If you’re using a responsive web design, make sure your ads are viewable on all devices. Finally, use Active View to track the viewability of your ads.

We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow us on Google+ and Twitter, we offer tips, tricks, and downloads to help you make the most of your AdSense account. 

Until next time,

Posted by Paul Healy, from the AdSense team

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Savvy publishers have responded by building a single “responsive” site instead of creating different sites for different screens. These sites use responsive design principles and a single set of HTML/CSS to control user experiences on multiple screens, streamlining publisher operations.

Adapting content to different screens though, isn’t enough. To ensure that users have seamless experiences with ads as well, many publishers are using AdSense ad units that are fully responsive.
These units automatically adapt to the size of the screen on which your site is being viewed. And if you find that our responsive ad code doesn't do everything you need, you may modify your ad code to better meet the requirements of your site. Among other things, you can:

  • Customize the size of ads based on the width of the screen
  • Specify the exact dimensions or proportions of the ad
  • Hide units for a particular screen width

If you’re specifying the ad unit sizes for particular screen widths, we recommend the following:
  • For screen widths up to 500px, use a 320x100 ad unit
  • For screen widths between 500px and 799px, use a 468x60 ad unit
  • For screen widths of 800px and wider, use a 728x90 ad unit
For more information, see our Help Center article that explains how to customize your ad code to respond to different scenarios. It also includes guidelines for those who are new to CSS media queries.

At AdSense, we’re committed to helping you make every interaction a user has with your brand, including the ads, a delightful one. Check out the Help Center for more details on these new ad units. Also, be sure to follow us on Google+ and Twitter we’d love to hear how you customize your code. Until next time.


Posted by Lea Wehbe, from the AdSense team


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What’s viewability?

Most of us know that ads used to be measured by impressions: if a page loaded, and the ad was anywhere on that page, that counted. There was an obvious problem with this: if the ad was below the fold of the page, and the user didn't scroll down to see it, there wasn’t a chance for that ad to be seen. And ads that can’t be seen, don’t deliver results and can’t drive the impact that Advertisers are looking for.

Advertisers today want more transparency and effectiveness, and that's where ad viewability comes in. Now, by Media Rating Council and IAB standards, a display ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of the ad is within the viewable space on the user’s screen for one second or more.

That means an ad unit on the first screen ("above the fold") will be counted as viewable if a user opens the screen for one second, but an ad below the first screen will not be counted unless the viewer scrolls down. Check out this interactive demo to see how viewability works first hand.

Why does viewability matter?

Advertisers naturally tend to bid more for viewable impressions because they have a higher chance of being seen and as a result more likely to engage an advertiser's target audience. 

Smart advertisers are paying closer attention to the ads that they are paying for and are looking to ensure that the ads they buy have a chance to be seen by users. One way to track viewability is to check the Active View index in AdSense; it shows the percentage of ads that are viewable out of the total number of ads counted on the page. If one out of two ads are viewable, the rating is 50%.  

Viewability helps both advertisers and publishers. It lets advertisers identify their high- and low-value inventory and adjust budgets and targets to maximize reach and ROI. As they learn which inventory has the highest viewability, advertisers can better set their advertising strategies.

For publishers like you, focusing on viewability will increase the long-term value of your inventory. If an ad unit is rarely viewed, you may learn that viewers don't scroll to that area, quickly scroll past it, or that the ad size or format may need adjustment. You can discover the most (and least) valuable spots on your pages and optimize your ad units accordingly, rather than just scattering as many ads as possible.

How do I create more viewable impressions on mobile?

While numbers vary, a viewability index of around 50% is fairly typical. In general, the higher the index, the more people are seeing your ads ― although few sites reach 100%. On smaller mobile screens, publishers should consider which ad sizes earn them the most in different placements on their pages.

Here are four ways publishers can optimize their mobile viewability:

  1. Replace 320x50 ad units with 320x100. Revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) tend to increase when you move to the large mobile banner ad. By using the 320x100 ad unit, you allow the 320x50 ad to compete as well, doubling the fill-rate competition. The best practice is to put the ad just above the fold.
  2. Use 300x250 ads for a potential increase in fill rates and RPMs. 300x250 is built to fit most mobile screens. It also tends to have a high fill rate (and higher RPMs) since many advertisers prefer this size. Research has shown that a 300x250 ad unit placed just below the fold could generate an approximate 50% viewability rate, helping you to maximize the impact of your ad space.
  3. Cut accidental clicks by moving ads at least 150 pixels away from content. As you improve viewability, you can also improve the user experience and decrease spam rates by leaving room between ads and the context. 150 pixels of space is a good starting point; test and adjust to see what works best with your content.
  4. Use page-level ads designed for mobile devices. To keep pace with the trend to mobile, Google AdSense has launched two kinds of page-level ads: anchor ads and vignettes. Both are designed to increase mobile viewability. Anchor ads, as their name implies, stick to the bottom of the page as the user scrolls. They are smooth and easily dismissed, and they are typically reserved for high RPM ads. 

Vignettes are full-screen ads that appear as users move between pages on a website. These pre-loaded ads display immediately as the user leaves a page, so there's no waiting, and users can dismiss them at any time. Vignettes are reserved for the highest-paying ad impressions.

Summary

Viewability is a publisher's friend. It can help you understand the real performance of every ad to improve your strategy for ad formats and placement. It can also help you increase your revenues in a smarter way. 

Viewability is still relatively new in digital advertising. More and more advertisers are taking the index into account as they allocate future budgets. If you're a publisher, it's a good idea to get ahead of the curve on viewability data and start making adjustments now. Take a look at this infographic for more best practices on how to improve the viewability of your site.



Posted by Silu Luo, from the AdSense Team

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Start by choosing a high-impact mobile format: medium rectangle (300x250), large rectangle (336x280), large mobile banner (320x100), and rectangular responsive ad units tend to get the best results. Here’s why we recommend these formats:


  • Each format works well on both desktop and mobile (with the exception of the large mobile banner). This gives advertisers the opportunity to appear on a variety of screens which increases demand, upward auction pressure, and potentially even earnings. The large mobile banner will also allow 320x50 display ads to appear within this format, which increases competition. If the 320x50 ad unit wins the auction, it will always be vertically aligned to the top.
  • These formats are bigger and more engaging than smaller mobile units, so they'll grab user's’ attention. Here's an example of what the medium rectangle looks like placed above the fold, yet below the main content.

For additional changes for incremental revenue gains, you may want to consider trying link units. Link units are designed to be responsive, so they work with both mobile and desktop. You can add up to three link units in addition to the default limit of 3 ad units per page.

However critical mobile is to your business today, it will be more critical tomorrow. Energize your mobile strategy today by using high-impact mobile ads, they’re a great way for businesses to generate more revenue and engage your users. 


Be sure to follow us on Google+ and Twitter we’d love to hear what’s working for your mobile business. Until next time.


Posted by:

Denis Rodrigues,
AdSense Account Strategist






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Research has found that 61% of users will leave a mobile site if they don’t see what they are looking for right away. 

Sites that are not mobile-friendly expect users to pinch, slide, and zoom in order to consume content. It’s a frustrating experience when users expect to find the information they’re looking for right away, but are presented with obstacles to obtain that information. This is what causes users to abandon sites. 

To create a mobile-friendly site, follow these three rules:

  1. Make it fast. Research shows that 74% of people will abandon a mobile site that takes more than 5 seconds to load.
  2. Make it easy. Research shows that 61% of users will leave a mobile site if they don’t find what they're looking for straight away.
  3. Be consistent across screens. Make it easy for users to find what they need no matter what device they're using.

It's also important to think about your ads when you're designing or fine-tuning your mobile-friendly site. Focus on creating a flow between your content and your ads for the ultimate user experience and maximum viewability. Consult your analytics data and set events to track and understand where your users are most receptive to ads.

Here are some mobile-friendly ad best practice tips:

  1. Swap out the 320x50 ad units for 320x100 for a potential RPM increase.
  2. Place a 320x100 ad unit just above the fold.
  3. Use the 300x250 ad unit below the fold (BTF) mixed in with your content.
  4. Prevent accidental clicks on enhanced features in text ads by moving ad units 150 pixels away from your content.
  5. Consider using responsive ad units, which optimize ad sizes to screen sizes and work seamlessly with your responsive site.  
  6. Test your site. Pick the metrics that matter most to you – then experiment with them.

The ad experience on your site should be designed with your mobile users in mind, just like the site itself. 

There are many ways to improve your users’ mobile experience on your site. Download the AdSense Guide to Mobile Web Success today, and find out more on how to make mobile a major asset to your business.



Posted by: 
Chiara Ferraris
Publisher Monetization Specialist
@chiara_ferraris
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For publishers, this new reality means that your sites have to be mobile-friendly. It's the only way to offer your existing users a good mobile experience and to hold onto new users who are visiting your site for the first time. That said, a mobile-optimized site alone isn't enough to compete in the new multi-screen world. Optimizing performance for faster page loads and easier navigation will keep users coming back and drive your business forward in a competitive marketplace.


Slow-loading sites, broken video players and redirects were among the top frustrations reported by 570 respondents in a recent Google poll when asked about their experience browsing the Web on mobile devices. 

Given the instant nature of mobile, the competition to capture the attention of users has intensified. On average, 74% of people will abandon a mobile site if it takes longer than five seconds to load, yet the average mobile page on the web still takes 6 to 10 seconds to load, according to Kinsta. Every one-second delay in page load decreases customer satisfaction by 16% and page views by 11%, according to Aberdeen Group Research. 

If you want to improve your mobile site's performance, consider the following recommendations:

  1. Render blocking resources - There’s too much external JS/CSS that needs to be loaded before the user can see anything. Load only what's absolutely needed to serve the user's query. Async everything where possible.
  2. Browser caching - Keep resources that your page depends on on your device for as long as possible.
  3. Optimize images - Don't send large images meant for desktop to your phone. Also use image compression tech in your CMS, which can mean up to 90% data savings.
  4. Minify JavaScript - Trim the fat. You should consider keeping your more complex page logic secret or simplify the logic if you only need simple functions like to power a drop-down, an image gallery and/or some share buttons. 

The ideal load time for a mobile site is one second. To avoid frustrating users with slow pages, optimize your critical rendering path to unblock rendering, and enable progressive rendering to do its work in the background. 

A fast site leads to easier discovery, better user retention and more and longer site visits. We hope that these recommendations will move you closer to your page speed goal and give all of your users a smooth and enjoyable experience. 

Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Google+ to engage in our conversation around the #MobileWeb and help our users #SeetheFullPicture on mobile phones.  




Posted by: Jason Le
Google AdSense Team, South East Asia Lead


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