If you're a participant in the AdSense Help Forum or if you read AdSense blog posts on Google Groups, you've probably noticed that Google Groups has a completely new look. But it's not just the colors and the layout that have changed; there are also a number of exciting new features you can take advantage of.Read More

If you're a participant in the AdSense Help Forum or if you read AdSense blog posts on Google Groups, you've probably noticed that Google Groups has a completely new look. But it's not just the colors and the layout that have changed; there are also a number of exciting new features you can take advantage of.

First, we've added more customization options for Group owners. As the owner of a Group, you now have the ability to change the look and feel of your pages by specifying a color scheme and logo. You can also collaborate with your members by creating web pages together -- members can then view and edit the pages.

In addition, Group members can interact with each other in new ways. You can now upload and share files such as photos and word documents with other members. Want to let other members know more about you? Create a profile complete with a bio, a picture, and a quote.

The new version of Google Groups is available in more than a dozen languages -- visit today to join or create your own Group.

Posted by Griff Hazen - Software Engineer

A short while ago, we introduced you to the Spanish Help Forum. We've been working to bring more publishers together in these sorts of online communities, so we're happy to let you know that there are now two more Help Forums ...Read More

A short while ago, we introduced you to the Spanish Help Forum. We've been working to bring more publishers together in these sorts of online communities, so we're happy to let you know that there are now two more Help Forums: AdSense Yardım Forumu for Turkish-speaking publishers, and Forum Pomocy AdSense for those of you who speak Polish. Join today to post your questions and share AdSense advice.

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

As you may know, custom channels are a great way to track the performance of individual ad units on your pages. Starting this week, with just a few extra steps you can make your site more attractive to advertisers by allowing them to target these channels as ...Read More

As you may know, custom channels are a great way to track the performance of individual ad units on your pages. Starting this week, with just a few extra steps you can make your site more attractive to advertisers by allowing them to target these channels as ad placements. Creating ad placements for more visible and desirable ad locations on your site increases their value to advertisers using site targeting and encourages those advertisers to bid more.

Thanks to the feedback of publishers who helped us test out this feature early on, here are some answers to a few commonly asked questions that you may also have about ad placements:

How are ad placements different from custom channels?
Think of ad placements as 'enhanced' custom channels. To create an ad placement, you create and implement a custom channel just as you normally would. The only change is the additional step of providing attributes and an accurate description for your ad placement. On the 'Channels' page in your account, click the appropriate 'edit settings' link on the right. As you can see below, there will be a box labeled 'Targeting' on the next page which, once checked, will show this channel to advertisers as an ad placement. From there, you'll just need to provide some details on where the ad unit appears on your site:



Advertisers will see the 'External name' and 'Description' along with the domain on which that placement appears, so a meaningful name and detailed description clarifying where the ads will show can make your placement more appealing. Be sure to highlight your most valuable and best-performing ad units as placements. For example, try a description like 'Ads will appear in a 300x250 rectangle embedded within articles on the Travel section' or 'Ads will appear only in the leaderboard ad unit directly above any page on the site.'

If nobody bids on my placement, does that mean I won't get any money?
Ads that are targeted through ad placements compete in the same auction against all other ads that are eligible to appear in that space, so you'll still be able to generate earnings. For example, suppose you created a 'Homepage, Top center' placement. When we see an impression from this placement, we round up advertisers who match the content of your homepage, as well as those targeting your site and this placement and include them in an auction. We'll then display the ad which our system has determined will earn you the most money, regardless of how it was targeted.

What kind of placements should I create?
Remember that advertisers will rely on your ad placement descriptions in order to decide whether to target their ads to your site. That said, here are a few tips to get started:

1. If you have multiple ad units on a page, let advertisers target the high visibility ones separately
   
2. If you have a wide range of topics on your site and you think certain topics will appeal to different types of advertisers, then break them out accordingly
   
3. Break out high visibility pages such as your homepage and any above-the-fold spots
   

For more on ad placements, please visit our Help Center.

Posted by Sasank Mudunuri - AdSense Product Manager

We often receive questions about the policies related to AdSense referrals. In this post we answer some of your most common concerns. Live (OK -- pre-recorded) from the Googleplex, here's Laura Chen ...Read More

We often receive questions about the policies related to AdSense referrals. In this post we answer some of your most common concerns. Live (OK -- pre-recorded) from the Googleplex, here's Laura Chen:



Laura addresses these burning questions:

1. Why am I receiving less than the full amount for each conversion in my reports? Is something wrong?

2. After I've referred a person to AdSense, can I see how much they've earned so far?

3. Can I ask users to click my referral buttons?

See full transcript

As Laura notes, you can find more information about referrals in the AdSense Help Center. Don't forget, with our recent program policy update, you can now display more referral units on your pages.

UPDATED with link to transcript

Posted by Dobromir Montauk - AdSense Publisher Support

There are many things in life that go hand in hand -- peanut butter & jelly, wine & cheese, milk & cookies -- and for publishers, AdSense & great content sites. We hope that the next perfect pairing will be "great video content & your audience."Read More

There are many things in life that go hand in hand -- peanut butter & jelly, wine & cheese, milk & cookies -- and for publishers, AdSense & great content sites. We hope that the next perfect pairing will be "great video content & your audience."

Over the next few weeks we'll be testing AdSense video distribution and sponsorship with a small group of publishers. You may remember us doing a similar trial last year with MTV Networks, where we distributed ad-supported MTV video content to publishers who displayed the content on their sites. This time, we'll be working with a larger set of content providers, grouping together video content from providers such as Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment together with quality ads and offering them as playlists which publishers can select from and display on their AdSense sites. Participating publishers range from small to large, and cut across many different types of content.

While we're unable to invite additional publishers into this test, we still want to share some of the exciting things we're working on in AdSense. We know our publishers are passionate about developing quality content and providing the best experience possible for their users. With this test, we hope to offer you new forms of engaging, relevant content to meet these goals.

Posted by Christian Oestlien - Product Manager

Call it getting a jump on spring cleaning: we've launched a new version of the AdSense Online Program Policies today. We've tried to make the format more readable, so those of you who start the day with a cup of coffee and a copy of the Program Policies may notice that much of the wording is new. Nearly all of the policies themselves have stayed the same, but we encourage everyone to take a look at the ...Read More

Call it getting a jump on spring cleaning: we've launched a new version of the AdSense Online Program Policies today. We've tried to make the format more readable, so those of you who start the day with a cup of coffee and a copy of the Program Policies may notice that much of the wording is new. Nearly all of the policies themselves have stayed the same, but we encourage everyone to take a look at the new version, if only to re-familiarize yourself with the details.

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

Giulietta Masina. La Traviata. Pizza. Lots of great things come from Italy; our newest international AdSense blog, Inside AdSense - Il blog ufficiale di AdSense in Italiano, is only the latest. For those of you lucky enough to live in this ...Read More

Giulietta Masina. La Traviata. Pizza. Lots of great things come from Italy; our newest international AdSense blog, Inside AdSense - Il blog ufficiale di AdSense in Italiano, is only the latest. For those of you lucky enough to live in this stivale-shaped paradise, or who simply choose to leggere in italiano, you can now read all of the latest AdSense tips and announcements in your own language.

Members of the Italian AdSense support team will regularly update the new blog with feature releases, optimization tips, and localized case studies just for the Italian market. You can also look forward to posts from other members of the AdSense team including engineers, product specialists, and product marketing managers. We hope this will help you gain a better understanding of AdSense.

Don't miss a post -- subscribe today to receive the latest news directly in your email inbox!

Posted by Serena Martino - AdSense Publisher Support

Did you know that there are currently more than 16,000 publishers participating in our six AdSense Help Forums? Not only that, but we're hoping to see this number rise even more with the addition of the newest one ...Read More

Did you know that there are currently more than 16,000 publishers participating in our six AdSense Help Forums? Not only that, but we're hoping to see this number rise even more with the addition of the newest one: Foro de ayuda de AdSense, for our Spanish-speaking publishers.

Need help with implementing your ads or optimizing your ad placement? Maybe another publisher halfway around the globe has an answer for you. There's also a Google representative called 'AdSensePro' who will occasionally contribute posts. Whether you're new to AdSense or a seasoned veteran, you're welcome to ask for advice and share your experiences in the Help Forums. They're also available in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, and Portuguese.

¡Visite hoy mismo el foro en español para contactarse con otros editores y compartir acerca de AdSense de Google!

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

It's that time again -- our engineers will be performing routine AdSense maintenance this Saturday at 10 am PST. You won't be able to log in to your account for approximately 4 hours, but we'll still serve ads to your pages and record your earnings as usual. For our international publishers, we've converted the start of this maintenance to your local time ...Read More

It's that time again -- our engineers will be performing routine AdSense maintenance this Saturday at 10 am PST. You won't be able to log in to your account for approximately 4 hours, but we'll still serve ads to your pages and record your earnings as usual. For our international publishers, we've converted the start of this maintenance to your local time:

Toronto - 1 pm Saturday
London - 6 pm Saturday
Bangalore - 11:30 pm Saturday
Singapore - 2 am Sunday
Auckland - 7 am Sunday

We'd also like to let you know that our U.S. offices will be closed on Monday, January 15th in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. As a result, it may take us slightly longer to respond to your emails. If you have questions in the meantime, please feel free to visit the AdSense Help Center or the AdSense Help Forum.

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

In the next few days you may notice a change to our Picasa referrals program. With the recent international launch of Google Pack referrals, we'll soon be consolidating Picasa and Pack referrals into a single program. Don't worry, you will still be able to direct users to Picasa as a part of Pack, which also includes useful software like Google Earth, Desktop and Toolbar.Read More

In the next few days you may notice a change to our Picasa referrals program. With the recent international launch of Google Pack referrals, we'll soon be consolidating Picasa and Pack referrals into a single program. Don't worry, you will still be able to direct users to Picasa as a part of Pack, which also includes useful software like Google Earth, Desktop and Toolbar.

To make for an easy transition, we'll upload new Pack referral options that feature Picasa. To transition to these new referrals, you should generate a new referral unit, choosing Google Pack as the product, and select one of the new Pack units that features Picasa.

As an added benefit, if users decide that they only want to install Picasa from their Pack download, you'll still earn the referral fee for Pack -- double the value you were previously earning for Picasa alone.



If you're currently displaying a Picasa referral unit on your site, you won't notice any changes to the unit or to the way that you have been generating earnings. For now, all Picasa referral units that are currently up will remain supported. However, we strongly encourage you to switch to the new Pack referral units at your earliest convenience.

Posted by Dan Friedman - AdSense Product Marketing

If you've been looking for ways to improve your referral earnings, we're excited to introduce you to a few new resources. First is our updated referrals optimization tips page, where you can find our top suggestions for selecting referral products and how to best promote them on your site. We've added new, detailed tips as well as example implementations to help you get the most from your referrals.Read More

If you've been looking for ways to improve your referral earnings, we're excited to introduce you to a few new resources. First is our updated referrals optimization tips page, where you can find our top suggestions for selecting referral products and how to best promote them on your site. We've added new, detailed tips as well as example implementations to help you get the most from your referrals.

Next is our very first referrals-themed case study. Learn how Randy Brown, site owner of GrownUpGeek.com, has used referrals to double his earnings while endorsing a product that he really supports.



Do you have a referrals success story that you'd like to share? Send us a note and maybe you'll be featured soon.

Posted by Dan Friedman - AdSense Product Marketing

As webmasters (and web users), you know that images can liven up text-heavy pages and help engage readers. Maybe you keep a personal blog and you'd like to share a holiday photo album. Or maybe you manage a knitting tutorial site, and you'd like to post photos with step-by-step captions. Well ...Read More

As webmasters (and web users), you know that images can liven up text-heavy pages and help engage readers. Maybe you keep a personal blog and you'd like to share a holiday photo album. Or maybe you manage a knitting tutorial site, and you'd like to post photos with step-by-step captions. Well, Picasa Web Albums can help you do all of these things. Just upload photos to your own Picasa Web Albums page, then embed a link to that album on your site. Because your photos will be stored on a Google server, you can let us worry about hosting your files while you concentrate on creating a great looking gallery that will enrich your site.

After signing up and creating a web album, simply click the Embed in Blog/MySpace link in that album. Just like with AdSense, you'll then need to copy and paste the provided HTML into your site's source code. Republish your site, and the cover photo of that album will appear on your site, already linked to your web album. When embedding your photos, please keep the AdSense image guidelines from last month in mind.



Your Picasa Web Albums account is free and comes with 250 MB of storage space -- enough room to store about 1000 photos (at 1600 pixels each). It's also possible to upgrade and order additional space (up to 250GB) as your photo storage needs grow. And unlike some other photo sharing sites, Picasa Web Albums retains the quality of your images so you and your site's visitors can download those same high resolution photos off the web and to their computers.

Finally, you can now also upload video into any web album -- a nice touch to really make your content come alive. And while you can't currently customize the look of your Picasa Web Albums page to match your site, we hope you'll find that its clean, uncluttered look complements your site's design.

Need help using Picasa Web Albums? Visit Picasa Support.

Posted by Beth Campbell - Picasa Product Marketing

From all of us on the AdSense team, we'd like to wish you a Happy New Year!



Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support Read More

From all of us on the AdSense team, we'd like to wish you a Happy New Year!



Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support