Get More Out Of Google Adsense - Insert Ads In Your Posts
June 6th, 2007 by CourtI spent the majority of the last two months experimenting relentlessly with my Adsense placement. According the the Google Adsense Online Standard Terms and Conditions, I can’t publish the exact click-through rates of each of my experiments, but I will tell you that the best placement without question was the 300×250 medium rectangle, inserted directly into each post. The click-through rate on that placement was about 50% higher than it was with any other placement.
You will notice that I still have a vertical Adsense banner in my sidebar, except on my home page, where it usually doesn’t show up due to the fact that only three Google ads will show up at any given time. If I have Adsense on three different posts, Google won’t display the one on the sidebar. It shows up on most of my other pages, including my individual post pages. The sidebar ad unit is still getting clicked somewhat, but the 300×250 medium rectangle gets clicked about three times as much.
How To Insert The 300×250 Ad Unit Into Your Posts
This was a trick that took me a while to refine. I originally added some code into my WordPress loop that did the trick - it only worked temporarily because as soon as I started writing sponsored posts, I couldn’t use that method anymore. Most of the sponsored post companies don’t want Adsense units within their sponsored posts. I had to find a way to insert Adsense into my content posts, without inserting it into my sponsored posts. I removed the code that inserted the ad units and found a different way.
Installing The Adsense Plugin
The easiest way I found to handle the problem was by installing the Adsense plugin for WordPress. The plugin gives me a simple button in my WordPress admin that allows me to insert the 300×250 ad unit into each post:
I click the button, and the plugin inserts the Google ad. When I write sponsored posts, I simply don’t click the Adsense button.
Installing the Adsense plugin isn’t super complicated. Here’s what you need to know to install it:
- How to download and extract files
- Editing a file using Notepad
- How to setup Google ads
- FTP/ File uploading
I’ll walk you through the steps, but it’s obviously going to help if you already know how to do that stuff. 
Step-By-Step Installation Instructions
- Download the Adsense plugin.
- Extract the plugin. Right click your mouse on the file you downloaded and select ‘Extract All’, ‘Extract Here’ or whatever version of extract your computer has. Continue with the extraction.
- Open the extracted file with notepad. You can do this by right-clicking your mouse on the file and selecting ‘Open With’. You will then choose notepad and it will open up.
- In Notepad, look for the following piece of code:
<b>Your Google Adsense code should be here, but you forgot
to edit the plugins/adsense.php file and replace the code
there with your own.</b>
<script type=”text/javascript”><!–
google_ad_client = “client-code-goes-here”;
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
google_ad_format = “468×60_as”;
google_ad_channel =”";
//–></script>
<script type=”text/javascript”
src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”>
</script> - Delete that entire section of code, you’re going to replace it with the code for your 300×250 rectangle.
- Replace the code you just deleted with this new one:
<div style=”float: right; margin: 10px;”>delete this and paste your 300×250 Google ad code here</div>
Adding that code will make a special box that will make your Google ad float to the right side of your post. If you want to make it float to the left, replace float: right with float: left. Note: make sure you delete what I told you, replacing it with your 300×250 Adsense code - you’re going to have to log into your Adsense account to get it! - Save the file and upload it to your wp-content/plugins directory.
- Log in to your WordPress admin and go to ‘Plugins’.
- Activate the Adsense plugin.
You’ve done it!
Using The Plugin To Insert Adsense Into Your Posts
When I first installed the plugin, I thought that I had done it incorrectly, because the Adsense button wasn’t there at first. I quickly figured out that the button only appears after the post has been saved. In order to make the button appear, you’ll first have to click your ‘Save and Continue Editing’ button on your ‘Write Post’ screen.
You should then be able to see the button by clicking into your code view:
You should then see the Adsense button in there:
Wherever your cursor is when you click the button is where your ad will appear. I usually insert my Adsense right up at the top, so I place my cursor at the beginning of the post:
After clicking the Adsense button, it should look like this:
In the spot where the <!–adsense–> shows, the plugin will insert your Adsense. Remember that I created a special box that makes my Adsense float to the right.
This should help everyone to get more clicks from their Adsense. Make sure you let me know if you run into problems anywhere. Be specific if you need to ask a question! If you only tell me that it didn’t work I probably won’t be able to help you out. I’m going to need to know at what point you ran into the problem and what the ’symptoms’ are!
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June 6th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Why wouldn’t they just let you place Google ads in the sponsored posts? Does it really affect the performance of the sponsored post that much?
June 6th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
It probably doesn’t affect it a ton, but if I was an advertiser I would want to get the absolute maximum effect. Even if an ad unit took away 5% of the benefit, advertisers wouldn’t pay as much.
I think it’s a good thing that they won’t allow it.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
thanks for sharing that
whats the digg plugin?
June 6th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
It’s kind of the same idea! It allows you to insert a Digg button into your post with one easy click.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
sounds good, what plugin is that?
i tried your adsense plugin, but i dont want ads on the main page, so i have to find something else.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
It’s called Digg Button. You can find all of my plugins on my WordPress Plugins page:
http://courtneytuttle.com/wordpress-plugins/
June 6th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
thanks! ill be visiting that
sorry i usually just read everyone on reader so when it comes to site navigation i dont know
June 6th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Thanks, Courtney.
Your posts are so helpful and clearcut, just when I needed to know how to insert Adsense in my new site!
God bless you,
Paula
June 6th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
You’re welcome Paula! I’m glad that it helped! It works really well, I love it.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
just a concern court, i can’t see any google ads on your site? care to tell us why is that?
June 6th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
I’ve been using that adsense plugin since about 2 months now, and it’s great! I also use it to display banners and other stuff in my posts, I really like that option where you can decide to show or not the ad unit on your front page and on wordpress pages, works like a charm (since I use the “read more” thing quite a lot in my posts.
I noticed that on big traffic days (stumbleupon, netscape and reddit traffic, and other sources) that adsense block at the top of the post (I use the smaller ads unit) it can pull in massive amounts!
But, strangely enough I get quite a bunch of click on my adsense link units at the bottom of some posts, weird but works for me 
June 6th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
That definitely is a really important option for people that use the ‘read more’ function a lot. It wouldn’t really work to add an ad unit into a short excerpt.
I’ll have to try adding ad units to the bottom of posts, I’ve never tried it! I guess it doesn’t hurt to put an extra on down there.
June 6th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Thx, Court, for the plugin link and the detailed instructions! I’ll be going after that plugin as soon as I finish this comment.
I was just noticing the same results with that type and placement of an Adsense ad on one of my sites today. The other site isn’t a blog, and when I went to see about adding it to my blog I realized it would be an issue for me because I use the feature.
Jonathan - Goes to show readers are reading all the way through those particular posts, don’t you think?
I have an Adsense ad at the bottom of my posts, too, but it doesn’t receive as many click-throughs. I assume it’s because I haven’t reached a high enough level of traffic yet that would supply a higher percentage of readers that find my content interesting enough to read through to the end.
My Ad Link at the top of my blog pages just beneath my header does receive a lot of clicks, however.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
I’m considering adding an additional unit at the bottom of each post. I’m sure it would add an additional click or two.
June 6th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Awww, my comment left out the word “more” just before the word “feature” because I used the code for it.
*slaps hand*
June 7th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Hey Court,
Have you experimented with floating the Adsense block to the left instead of the right? I’ve received a little higher CTR on the left side. I also get some decent clicks at the bottom of my post with a 336×280 block.
Don
June 7th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I actually have! I got a slightly higher click-through also, but haven’t been able to stomach having the ads there. It seems like it lowers the user experience.
I have another site though where the ads push the entire post down. I works like a champ - much better than a left or right floater. Doesn’t help to bring people back though!
I might try the left again sometime, it does have a slightly higher click-through.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Left works for me, I had all my adsense blocks on the right and when I switched ‘em to the left it went crazy!
June 7th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
I really like the way you have it. It looks good with the smaller ad unit. I think I might have to try that placement… Placement number 1,222,333.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:54 am
I’ve implemented the same tactics thanks to some help from Andy Coates. We’ll have to see how they go.
June 11th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Is there a fool-proof way to make sure you do not end up with more than three ad units on any given page of your blog? Seems like keeping track of that might make me a little bit insane.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
I wish there was an easy way to do this in typepad
July 11th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
[…] it says my adsense code is here if you want your ads on the left too. I originally saw this at Courtney Tuttle’s blog, so I credit him (he also has a more in-depth tutorial for installing this plugin). After you are […]
July 29th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I had to add the Adsense button code in the javascrpt file then it worked great.
December 11th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Hello..how to create a special box that will make it float to the right?
January 20th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Hi Courtney,
I’ve followed the instructions exactly, yet my adsense will not ‘float to the right.’ I my text doesn’t wrap around the ad and a huge gap is created. I’d appreciate your help with this.
Sincerely,
Andrew
January 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Hi Courtney,
A different coding (from another site worked)…yours didn’t for some reason. Thanks for the helpful instructions.
Andrew
January 25th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Just now reading this post. I’ll check out the Adsense plugin for WP, but was wondering…
I’ve been inserting my Adsense units by putting them in text widgets (since I wanted to try them in the sidebars). Is this a bad idea? Any downsides you know of?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
thanks for a very comprehensive tutorial court. more power
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hello,
I am puzzled…..I hope someone can help me?
I have had an Adsense account for 5 days now and I have had Google Ads on my web site for those 5 days. (my web site is for broadband info’, tips, news, facts etc…)
Here are the facts from my Adsense account for those 5 days.
It tells me I have had:
24,116 page impressions
3,335 clicks
14% CTR
eCPM $1.52
TOTAL earnings for those 5 days = $36.69 !!
Only $36 for 3,335 clicks on my Google Ads
What’s the point??…thats only 1 CENT a click!
With this rate how is it possible to make decent money (e.g. $5000 per month for example) from clicks on Adsense Ads; I can’t see how?
I REPEAT…
I have had 3,335 clicks on the Adsense ads on my site by my web site visitors in just 5 days and I have only earned $36!!!
I thought that 3,335 clicks and 24,116 page impressions was quite a lot in 5 days….I guess I am wrong.
Is this normal?
If not then can anyone explain why I am earning so little form what appears to be good traffic to my site?
NOTE - the ads on my site are for Broadband services from advertisers such as AOL, BT, SKY, Tiscali, TalkTalk etc. etc (i.e. BIG companies)
Thank you for any info’.
Stuart