Google AdSense and AdWords

Because of its great popularity these days, it is only natural to begin with a review of Google AdSense.

AdSense is the complement of Google's AdWords. AdSense pays for publishers to show ads that are bought by advertisers through AdWords. Google negotiates pricing with advertisers, and pays a share of this to the publisher. They use site analysis to provide highly targeted ads.

Pros

Applying to AdSense is very easy, only a matter of minutes. Applications are usually processed in a matter of hours. Also customizing the ads to your website is easy with Google's wizards. You can choose from various sizes, and select either text only ads, or allow image banne ads.

The site analysis ensures that you get highly targeted ads, and that using AdSense on a site with different topics will result in different and relevant ads on each page.

With your account you can also add a search box on your site, and gain revenue from ads that the search results show. A referral system also exists, through which you can refer visitors to AdSense and other Google products, and earn a commission. All this is as quick and easy as the normal AdSense system.

The tracking system is quite good: if you create a separate 'channel' for each of your ads, you can see impressions and clicks separately; and easily compare which pays best.

Cons

The policy your accept at registration is very thorough, and ensures that Google can terminate your account whenever they want - regardless if you do nothing wrong. You have to be careful to follow all the restrictions or you'll quickly lose your account. Most importantly: never click your own ads!

Google seems to keep a majority of the money they get from advertisers, so you may easily find networks with better average CPC prices. However, well targeted ads generate more clicks. Also, the minimum sum to withdraw is $100, so small sites will not be able to withdraw money often. All the more reason to avoid any illegal clicking.

The worst thing when thinking about starting an account is that Google does not reveal any of their rates. You cannot know how much you will earn without signing up and trying it.

Overall

My Rating: 3/5

Overall I do recommend you at least give AdSense a try. Even if it is not the best paying network, it is very easy to set up. And the ads are not very disturbing, so your visitors are probably happier with them.