Smart pricing: anything but smart
If possible, try to avoid Google’s “smart pricing” scheme. With Smart Pricing, Google offers advertisers a discount based on the popularity or “value” of their website. They tend to base this on their site’s click-through rate. So if your website has a high click-through rate, then the perceived value of your site is high, so the cost per ad click is higher. However, if your click-through rate is low, your site’s value is “low,” so you get less money per click. The difference between a site that is priced smart and a site that is not priced smart can range from a couple of cents to several dollars.
Choose large ads:
AdSense ads come in a variety of formats and sizes, so you can tailor the formats to see which one works best with your blog or website. Having an ad that looks good on your blog or site is important, but keep in mind: the size of large ads has long proven to offer the best pay. Maybe this is because the ad is right in the face of any visitor, or maybe it’s because that size can show video ads.
Use multiple ad units to maximize conversion:
An easy way to increase your click-through rate and AdSense revenue is to place ad units of more than one type (AdSense for content, links, and searches) and in different sizes on your pages. In this way, your users receive more ads from Google’s large inventory of ads, increasing the likelihood that they will end up clicking on one of them. Make sure the best placed ad on your web page appears first in your HTML code. This will ensure that your most visible advertising real estate is filled by the highest ranked listings in the auction, increasing your revenue.
Create an audience before setting up AdSense:
Although it can be tempting to set up AdSense on your website immediately after the first content has been published, you should avoid the temptation if you really want to be successful with AdSense. Cluttering your website with ads before anyone really knows it will likely put visitors off, and consequently, they will be less likely to share or link to it. This limits your ability to emerge as an authority in your niche.
Post high-quality content consistently:
This is really very important to be successful with AdSense, the other points are just tips to help one way or another, but when it comes to AdSense earnings, content is really the most important thing. To keep it simple, if you don’t have traffic, you won’t make money, but more traffic, then you will make more money.
Enable location targeting:
This allows advertisers to include your website in their campaign, either by name or by targeting an interest group. Location targeting should be enabled by default, but if you are using DFP, you may need to take some additional steps.
Monitor your success:
No matter what you do with your blog or website, you need to track the success of your ads. If you don’t monitor your ads, you will ultimately fail. You’ll be able to identify which ads work, which ones don’t, and over time you may find that certain ads work better at certain times of the year, while others work better at other times.