My top AdSense updates for 2016:
- Weekly #AskAdSense office hours
- AdSense account interface gets a material design update
- Introducing Page Level Ads
- Earn money with Matched Content
- AdSense Labs: test experimental features from your AdSense account
Fake News supported by AdSense
One of the big stories of 2016 was the proliferation of fake news sites. These are sites that exist only for the ad revenue - the "news" they publish is made up and optimized for clicks. They got a boost when credulous people - including politicians - shared the articles as if they were real. It was great for the enterprising Macedonian teenagers (and others) who created the sites, not so great for political discourse.
In response, AdSense policy was updated to prohibit fake news sites (and Facebook banned fake news sites from using its advertising network too).
Ad Blockers
2016 was also the year that advertising platforms fought back against ad blockers. AdSense has pretty much stayed out of the fray, but in August there was an amusing few weeks where Facebook made changes to prevent ads from being blocked, which made AdBlock Plus call out Facebook for being "anti-user". Two days later, Adblock Plus had found a way to beat Facebook's adblocker-blocker. Facebook then rolled out code to nullify the adblocker-blocker blocker. And back and forth it went - I'm not sure if either side turned out to be the winner.
Adblock Plus reportedly was going to begin selling its own ads, and implied Google was part of their network - a claim Google quickly refuted. And then Adblock clarified they were never selling ads, they just want publishers to use ads from one of their "Acceptable Ads" providers (which doesn't include AdSense). This doesn't seem like a win for publishers to me.
AdSense's take is that ad blockers are indeed a concern, and they want to work within the industry to develop standards "that allow sites and publishers to not have their ads blocked" while "investing in better ads experiences"
The war will likely rage on through 2017 and beyond.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping for some sort of resolution that allows Publishers like me to display ads without annoying my site's visitors to the point where they feel like all ads need block.
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Read on for more details about AdSense updates in 2016 and my favorite AdSense tips.
Getting answers to your AdSense questions
AdSense has been trying to better communicate with Publishers, with tips, updates and directly answering user questions. Here's how you can learn more about AdSense and get your questions answered:
Official updates, announcements and tips:
- Follow +Google AdSense on Google+
- Follow @AdSense on Twitter
- Read the official Inside AdSense blog
- Subscribe to the official AdSense YouTube channel
Every Thursday morning at 9:30 AM (Pacific time) AdSense support has been answering questions posted on Google+ and Twitter with the #AskAdSense hashtag. They are off for the holidays, and it's possible the time may change, so confirm before posting your question next Thursday!
#AskTheAdSenseGuy
John Brown, head of Publisher Policy Communications, has been writing an #AskTheAdSenseGuy column for Search Engine Journal. Read all his articles.
You can tweet your questions to @sejournal with the #AskTheAdSenseGuy hashtag, or fill out this form.
2016 AdSense Updates
This year's AdSense updates.Account updates
- January The new AdSense Optimization tab shows tailored tips for your site
- April Maligayang pagbati mula sa AdSense! Filipino is now an AdSense supported language
- May AdSense introduces Impression Charts in the Ad Review center
- May AdSense Publishers: Google can run experiments on your behalf
- June AdSense Labs: test experimental features from your AdSense account
- October The AdSense account interface gets a material design update
- November Meet the new AdSense account user interface (now the default)
New and updated ad formats
- March AdSense Publishers: Allow ads with your Matched Content
- April The next generation of AdSense ads: Page-Level Ads
- September Google embraces the log-in, leaving cookies behind in new advertising updates (TechCrunch)
- October AdSense updates the look of text and link unit ads
- December Google Contributor as we know it is being unceremoniously shut down
Policy and preventing invalid activity
- Febraury Booting the bots: New botnet protections across our ads systems
- April AdSense rolls out defenses against Clickjacking
- May Preventing accidental clicks for a better mobile ads experience
- August AdSense Valuable Inventory ad placement policy (see clarification)
- November AdSense policy is being updated to prohibit fake news sites
- November Google stops AdSense attack that forced banking trojan on Android phones
Top AdSense Tips
My favorite AdSense tips in 2016- How to get help with AdSense from inside your AdSense account
- Be careful who you share your AdSense account with!
- Is your AdSense click-through-rate (CTR) and revenue (RPM) lower than expected on mobile?
- Why there may be deductions for invalid activity in your AdSense account
- AdSense Publishers: Get your free all-in-one AdSense Policy Compliance Guide
- Did you receive an AdSense policy violation warning? Don't panic!
- #AskTheAdSenseGuy: the Valuable Inventory Policy Update
- YouTube Partners and AdSense Publishers: make sure your content is Advertiser-Friendly!
- Other sites are using my ad code. What should I do?
- How to make the most of Matched content
- Are native ads right for your website?
- Monetizing for Multi-Screen: optimize AdSense ads for all screens
- How to set up AdSense to add advertising to your Blogger blog
- Are native ads right for your site? Download our new #AdSenseGuide to find out…
- Control the ads displayed on your site (video)
Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links
I am trying to add adsense to all of my sites and am having a very difficult time...if you have any advise I would appreciate it....my top concerns at the moment are wordpress,blogger and youtube....thanks
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