AdSense: Multiple Web Site Management with AdSense Channels

If you are an AdSense publisher with more than one Web site, you will want to monitor the income that each site is generating. This easiest way to track the performance of separate Web sites, would be with separate AdSense accounts. However, Google only permits you to maintain one account, so the easiest way to do this isn't possible. However, with a few tricks of the trade you can easily monitor the overall performance of every one of you Web sites. You will do it with AdSense custom channels.

Google's AdSense program provides each publisher with two types of channels to optimize the performance of their ads: 1) The URL channel; and 2) The custom channel. The URL channel allows you to watch the performance of single web pages, recording the combined performance of every ad unit. The custom channel allows you to watch the performance of individual ad units.

If the distribution of your ad units is typical, you will only use a few ad units throughout your Web site, and the location of the ad units will maintain a format that you have found effective. For example, your tennis and your baseball Web site both use 3 ad formats in 3 locations. These ad units and their page position include: 1) The medium rectangle at the top of every page, under the title; 2) The medium rectangle at the bottom of every page, following the content; and 3) The wide skyscraper to the left of your content. In total you will have six custom channels.

To track these units you will distinguish them with labels that identify the Web site that they are on, and their position on the Web page. A standardization of the labeling will help you manage your custom channels best. A suggested label format would be to label each ad with the name of the Web site first, followed of the ad type, and then the location.

Recommended titles include:

Tennis Web Site
TennisMedRecTop
TennisMedRecBottom
TennisWSkyscraper

Baseball Web Site
Baseball MedRecTop
Baseball MedRecBottom
Baseball WSkyscraper

Once you have your custom channel ad units created and placed, you can monitor their performance by selecting each of the custom channels for a given site, and producing a report for a selected time period.

Need help setting up your custom channels? The following link under recommended resources can help.