Google Adsense is a great way for any website owner to earn a nice income simply by placing ads on his or her website. The ads are taken from their Adwords Program, and what is shown on the page relates to the content or the theme of that particular page. For example, a page about dogs would rotate ads for pet-related products and services.

Before you decide it must be pretty simple to just throw some Google ads on your pages and go lay on a beach somewhere while the money rolls in, think again. There really is an art and a "science" to optimizing your website to work well with the advertisements.

Remember, you don't get paid unless people click, so before you just plaster the ads in any old space, here are some tips to consider straight from Google and other online resources.

1) Horizontal Display of 4 Image Ads: I found this tip on a forum. There's been some talk that placing a horizontal row of images right above a leaderboard ad format works very well for drawing attention and increasing click-thrus. For more on this read the thread yourself at:

WebmasterWorld.com

2) Blend: You don't want the ads to "intrude" on your content, rather make them "blend" as if they are part of your content.

3) Placement: Above the fold placement is better for maximum eye attention. Visualize the monitor as a piece of paper and cut it in half horizontally. Try to place your ads in the top section and to the left.

4) Wider: Per Google, a wider footprint is better then taller; maybe because it can hold more content and make it easier to read without dropping down line after line. Google claims the most effective sizes for click-thrus are 326x280, 300x250 (inline rectangle), 160x600 (wide skyscraper).

5) More is Better: To generate more revenue, put ads on every single page of your site -- if it works for your set up. This will result in more ad views and more chances for actual click-thrus.

6) Multiple Ad Units: Try putting more than one ad unit on a page. Google allows 3 ad units maximum on any one page of your site.

7) Colors: When choosing colors for your ad layouts, try to pick ones that complement and go with your web pages. If you'd like to keep it fresh, you can select up to four rotating color palettes when generating your ad code. This may help keep your site's frequent visitors from "tuning out" your ads.

8) Google Search: Google offers a "search box" function you can add to your site, which will give you yet another opportunity to generate income. For more on this, see:

Google Adsense Tour

Users can search just Google or your entire website. If they click on any of the ads on the "search results" page you'll earn money.

9) Link Units: Another ad format you can add to your site is called "link units." These are smaller text ads ranging in six sizes from 120x90 pix to 728x15 pixels. You can add one link unit to the already allowed 3 ad units per page, giving you a maximum of four ad units on a page. Again, it gives you another opportunity for click-thrus. For more on link units, see:

Google Adsense Support

10) Channels: Use channels to track different ad formats and color schemes to find out which ad units are working best, and utilize that information to tweak and refine your site. For more, see:

What are Channels?

11) Image Ads: With Adsense you can opt in to show only text based ads or a combination of both text and image ads. Make sure you're utilizing the image format as this additional option opens up more advertising opportunities for your site. Google will show image ads when they have a higher value to you then the normal text ad units would. For more info see:

Will I Earn More with Image Ads

12) Public Service Ads: When Google can't find ads for a page on your site they show what's called "public service ads." By replacing these ads with your own ads, perhaps for affïliate programs you may be involved with, you'll have more chances of earning some revenue instead of giving it away to Google. For more, see:

Alternate Ads

Not all of these tips will work for every website owner. You'll want to test different ad formats, colors and placements to find out what works best with your site. There is no one size fits all so use this information as a general guideline for tweaking your pages.

13) Section Targeting: By adding special tags you're assisting Google in knowing where the "real content" is on your pages which results in more targeted ads and hopefully higher click-thru rates for you. See more on this at:

Section Targeting

or over at Dave Taylor's site at:

AskDaveTaylor.com

14) Adsense for Feeds: Another way to get more ad exposure is this beta program where you can include ads in your RSS feeds. It's limited at this time; see:

What is AdSense for feeds?

Many ebooks have been written on this subject. If you'd like to investigate further, see:

1) Growing Your Business with Google, by Dave Taylor

2) What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense Ebook, by Joel Comm

For great information on using Adsense, bookmark this blog: JenSense.com

Remember, nothing takes the place of good content. Before placing ads on your pages, make sure that you have a quality site with information and resources people will want to see to ensure continual traffic. You won't make much money if you don't have traffic to click on the ads in the first place.

Google makes it simple for any site owner to earn a nice income with their Adsense program. It's up to you to get the most out of it.