Recently, we covered RPM vs CPM as well as viewability, and how publishers can use those metrics as both a gauge for optimization changes and to better understand their earnings. Typically, ad revenue is based on the amount of viewable impressions that an ad generates.  

However, there are several things that publishers can do to increase earnings beyond just enhancing viewability. We’ll go over a few of these goals briefly today.

Quality Content: Having quality content is important for both user retention and ad earnings. While it varies by site, the important thing is to ensure that your content is geared toward your target audience. Text-based content is important too as some ads are delivered based on page context, as well as browser cookies. Offering quality content will keep visitors on your website, lower bounce rates, and encourage visitors to come back. 

Ad Placement: Poorly placed ad units can drive bounce rates up, which will lower your traffic and earnings. Make sure that your ad units fit in all views, including mobile. Ads should be placed content-adjacent, not content-limiting: play around with the browser size to see if ads obscure your content as the window is sized down. If a visitor can’t see your content, they won’t stick around. Test your various ad unit placements and combinations to find a good balance of viewability, revenue, and low bounce rate.

Load Order: Visitors should be able to see your content loaded first, then the ads. Utilizing lazy loading ad units will help your website load faster, as ad units not on the screen won’t load right away. This will also increase your ad viewability, which will drive up revenue as well.

Social Media: Utilize your social media platforms to reach visitors, both new and returning, by promoting your content and increasing pageviews. If your ad provider has a good reporting tool, you may want to track social media promotion and the types of ads. 

Most Visited Pages: What pages on your website get the most views? Ensure that these pages are optimized with well-placed ads to increase impressions. Video and sticky ads perform well and can bolster optimization on your most visited pages.

Seasonal Traffic: Understand the flow of traffic throughout the year to ensure that the best ad placement optimization is in place to reach the most visitors.

Ad Types: Utilize different ad types to optimize your website’s monetization. Sticky ads have high viewability, though be cautious that the ads don’t cover your content. With video ads, the longer it plays for a visitor, the more revenue it generates. Skins, or background ads, work best on desktop browsers and have very high viewability. 

Refresh Rates: Viewability may be influenced by ad refresh rates—an ad that refreshes can raise total impressions and outperform non-refreshing, CTR-based adsense ads.

A publisher can use these tools to explore what works best to maximize earnings. Know your audience to attract visitors and by extension, attract advertisers. Optimize and create quality content to keep those visitors coming back. Be open to trying something new—whether implementing one or many changes, the end goal is to increase your ad revenue.