Unofficial Google Products Help Centre

Let's imagine that you're the AdSense Crawler. You're bouncing along all over the Internet, visiting publishers' sites, and letting the AdSense system back at Google know what the pages are all about. Then one day, you run into a site that asks you for a login and password. "Huh? I don't have a username and password to this site. How am I going to crawl the pages behind that login?" This is something our crawler sees every day here at AdSense. The result is that your users end up with poorly targeted ads and the AdSense Crawler ends up with sleepless nights, wondering what could have been -- if only it had crawled those pages. We've recently launched a new feature called Site Authentication to take care of this problem. Using Site Authentication, you can give our crawler access to your login-protected pages by passing it information to log into your site. For example, let's say your news site has a premium content area, with articles that only payi...

If you’re familiar with AdSense for search, then you’re probably aware of the SiteSearch feature, with which users can search through the pages of your site. When you generate AdSense for search code with SiteSearch enabled, the search box will currently default to selecting the websearch radio button. However, a number of publishers have asked if it’s possible to have their search boxes default to SiteSearch instead. It’s a little-known fact, but we’re happy to tell you that it is possible to select this option within your account. First, visit the 'AdSense Setup' tab and select 'AdSense for search' as your product. On the code generation page, you’ll see a sample search box under 'Search box style' that changes as you customize the layout: If you’d like your search box to default to SiteSearch, simply click the radio button for SiteSearch within the sample. Once you’ve finished customizing your search box, copy and paste the provided code onto your pages – a...

This past March, we launched a referrals beta to test the feature and iron out some wrinkles. Now that we've finished our testing, we're pleased to announce that referrals 2.0 will soon be available to all AdSense publishers in referrals-supported languages. While some of you may already be familiar with referrals for Google products, this launch will greatly expand the inventory and functionality of referrals for AdSense publishers. Below we've highlighted a few of the key benefits of referrals 2.0: Expanded product inventory : While many of you have had success referring one of our Google products, some of you weren't able to find a product that fit the context of your site. Referrals 2.0 offers products from thousands of AdWords advertisers, so you can find the right ads for your sites. Category and keyword targeting : With thousands of products available, it can be difficult to decide which ads will perform best on your site. That's why we give you the option t...

As you'll recall, we recently introduced new formats for AdSense ads. This week, we've added a new dimension for publishers in customizing these ad formats. You've long been able to customize the size and colors of your ad units; now, you can also customize the shape by selecting between square, slightly rounded, or very rounded corners. To get started with these new ad shapes, visit the 'AdSense Setup' tab in your account. As with all format options like sizes and colors, different corner styles will perform better for different publishers. We recommend that you choose the corner style that best matches the look and feel of your sites. Please keep in mind that if your page background color, ad background color, and ad border color are all the same, these new corners won't be visible. This new option is part of our ongoing effort to improve the look and feel of our ads. We're also working to give you even more choices to customize your ad formats while maxi...

This week marked the one-year anniversary of the launch of click-to-play video ads . To that end, we thought it'd be fitting to introduce three new members of our click-to-play video ads family: the 728x90 Leaderboard, the 120x600 Skyscraper, and the 160x600 Wide Skyscraper. Previously, video ads were only enabled for the 300x250 Medium Rectangle, the 336x280 Large Rectangle, the 200x200 Small Square, and the 250x250 Square. Just like before, users will see a play button on these three ad formats when a video ad is available - this play button will appear on the right side of the Leaderboard and in the upper half of the Skyscraper formats. Once a user clicks the play button, the video ad will begin to play within the ad unit. Here's an example: Generating earnings with videos ads in these new formats will also remain the same. If the advertiser has chosen to display the click-to-play video ad as a cost-per-thousand impression (CPM) ad, you will be paid for every valid impressio...

Spring is a time for change, when couples fall in love, the trees bloom -- and swallows and AdSense publishers both begin their migration. That's right, we've just started our first Google Account migration tests for older AdSense accounts. When you log into your account, you may be greeted by a screen like the one below, asking you to upgrade your login to a "Google Account". We're rolling out this migration slowly, so please don't be alarmed if you don't see this wizard in your account yet. If you like the email address you're already using, in most cases you'll be able to upgrade it to a Google Account and keep the same login and password. However, if you use another email address for other Google products like Gmail and Picasaweb, you already have a Google Account and you can finally use the same login for AdSense. Please note, however, that at this time it's not possible to update your login to an email address that is already being used ...

You may have noticed that some of your ad units have started to look a little different lately -- we’re happy to announce that, just in time for spring, we've given our standard ad units a fresh makeover. After extensive testing and research, we’ve found that the new formats are not only visually appealing to users, but they also perform even better for publishers and advertisers. We're in the process of rolling out this change to all ad units, and you should see that your ad units are automatically updated over the next few days. But, before you rush to make sure all of your ad units still match your site, please be assured that the fonts and colors of your ads won't be changed. Although it’s not possible to opt out of the new designs, we hope that you and your site visitors will find our new ad formats clearer and more attractive. We're always testing new ways to improve the look and feel of our advertisements, so stay tuned for more format options in the future. (Not...

If you've logged in to your account today, you've probably noticed the new 'Recent messages' section in your AdSense account. We're happy to let you know that this is your personal inbox where we'll send you customized optimization tips. More specifically, our system will automatically analyze your account and ad settings. Based on these findings, you'll receive a notification each month in your AdSense account if there are changes you can make to improve your overall AdSense performance. While we're not able to guarantee results from implementing these suggestions, we've found that these techniques have been successful for many publishers in the past which is why we've developed this feature for you. If you don't receive a notification during a specific month, don't worry. You've probably implemented all of our current suggestions and we'll be adding more tips in the future. Happy optimizing! Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publis...

Following our recent series of referrals announcements, we're happy to announce that you can now earn $5 per referral for Google Apps . With Google Apps, we've taken Google's most powerful communication and collaboration tools, and packaged them together so businesses, schools and other organizations can work more effectively while spending less time and money on IT systems. Google Apps provides customized email addresses (powered by Gmail), Google Calendar, Google Talk, Docs & Spreadsheets and Page Creator, all for free. Best of all, everything is hosted by Google, so there's no hardware or software to download, install or maintain. So how do these referrals work? Just visit the AdSense Setup tab in your AdSense account and click the link for Referrals . Select the Google Apps option and then choose how you want the referral ad to look on your site. (The Google Apps referral ads are available in English right now, but we'll be adding more languages soon.) C...

If you're a web developer or host, you may remember that we introduced you to the AdSense API last May. With the AdSense API , your users can create their own AdSense accounts on your site, and display ads alongside the content that they have created. They can also manage their accounts and view ad performance and earnings reports, all on your site. In addition, you can enhance your customers' user experience by helping them to make money from their content and by giving them the ability to perform many AdSense functions without ever leaving your site. For example, they can: Create and manage AdSense accounts Customize and implement AdSense for content ad units and link units, AdSense for search boxes, and referrals for products such as Google AdWords and Firefox Generate URL and custom channel reports Best of all, you get to make money with the AdSense API through the Revenue Sharing program. Advertisers pay your users and you when visitors click on your users' ads. Plu...

Today we're excited to announce that in addition to AdSense, AdWords, Firefox with Google Toolbar, and Google Pack, you can now refer your users to Google Checkout through AdSense. Checkout gives your users a faster, safer, and more convenient way to shop online. OK, that sounds great for them, but what do you get out of it? Well, every time you refer a user to Google Checkout, you make a little money. It's a simple process that includes all of three steps: You place the Checkout referral button on your site. Someone clicks on the button, signs up as a buyer with Google Checkout using a valid U.S. credit card, and completes a purchase of at least $10 before shipping and tax through Checkout within 90 days. (The current $10 minimum purchase corresponds to our existing $10 promotion for new buyers, so this amount may change in the future.) You earn $1. It's that simple. Please note that Checkout referrals are currently only available for U.S. publishers, and Google Checkout...

Many of you already use referrals to direct users to your favorite Google products. Now, with our new referrals beta, you can select products and services from our base of AdWords advertisers. This is good news for those of you who have wanted to use referrals in the past, but couldn't find a product to match your site's content. With the referrals beta, you can search for products that match up directly with your site's content. And you can customize your referral units to match the look and feel of your site, making it easier than ever to find a referral ad that fits in seamlessly with your site's design and content. What's more, Google can help make sure you find and display the most relevant, best-performing referral ads on your site. Simply provide a few keywords to describe your site and your users' interests, and you'll see ads automatically displayed that perform best for your site. No more constant updating, rotating products, or guesswork. As with ...

Starting today, you may notice some AdSense ads displaying the Google Checkout shopping cart badge alongside the ad title. These small icons identify ads that link to sites where shoppers can buy via Google Checkout . The addition of the Checkout badge makes it easier for people to find sites where they can use Google Checkout's quick, easy and secure checkout option when making a purchase. In addition to shopping carts on AdSense, we're also introducing new badges on ads that appear in Google search results . We hope you enjoy these new additions to our ad formats. It's another step in our ongoing efforts to enhance the experiences of AdSense publishers, AdWords advertisers, and visitors to your site. Posted by Jonathan Berger - Google Checkout Product Manager

Last year we asked you for your feedback on referrals, and one of the issues we heard quite frequently was that it was too difficult to generate revenue with AdSense and AdWords referrals. To address this, we've just introduced a new pricing structure for both programs, which will be as follows: AdSense Referrals: When a publisher who signed up for Google AdSense through your referral earns their first $5 within 180 days of sign-up, you will be credited with $5. When that same publisher earns $100 within 180 days of sign-up and is eligible for payment, you will be credited with an additional $250. If, in any 180-day period, you refer 25 publishers who each earn more than $100 within 180 days of their respective sign-ups and are all eligible for payout, you will be awarded a $2,000 bonus (bonus payouts are limited to 1 per year). AdWords Referrals: When an advertiser you refer spends $5 within 90 days of sign-up (in addition to the $5 sign-up fee) you will be credited with $5. ...

As you may know, custom channels are a great way to track the performance of individual ad units on your pages. Starting this week, with just a few extra steps you can make your site more attractive to advertisers by allowing them to target these channels as ad placements . Creating ad placements for more visible and desirable ad locations on your site increases their value to advertisers using site targeting and encourages those advertisers to bid more. Thanks to the feedback of publishers who helped us test out this feature early on, here are some answers to a few commonly asked questions that you may also have about ad placements: How are ad placements different from custom channels? Think of ad placements as 'enhanced' custom channels. To create an ad placement , you create and implement a custom channel just as you normally would. The only change is the additional step of providing attributes and an accurate description for your ad placement. On the 'Channels' pa...

We often receive questions about the policies related to AdSense referrals. In this post we answer some of your most common concerns. Live (OK -- pre-recorded) from the Googleplex, here's Laura Chen: Laura addresses these burning questions: 1. Why am I receiving less than the full amount for each conversion in my reports? Is something wrong? 2. After I've referred a person to AdSense, can I see how much they've earned so far? 3. Can I ask users to click my referral buttons? See full transcript As Laura notes, you can find more information about referrals in the AdSense Help Center . Don't forget, with our recent program policy update, you can now display more referral units on your pages. UPDATED with link to transcript Posted by Dobromir Montauk - AdSense Publisher Support

In the next few days you may notice a change to our Picasa referrals program. With the recent international launch of Google Pack referrals, we'll soon be consolidating Picasa and Pack referrals into a single program. Don't worry, you will still be able to direct users to Picasa as a part of Pack, which also includes useful software like Google Earth, Desktop and Toolbar. To make for an easy transition, we'll upload new Pack referral options that feature Picasa. To transition to these new referrals, you should generate a new referral unit, choosing Google Pack as the product, and select one of the new Pack units that features Picasa. As an added benefit, if users decide that they only want to install Picasa from their Pack download, you'll still earn the referral fee for Pack -- double the value you were previously earning for Picasa alone. If you're currently displaying a Picasa referral unit on your site, you won't notice any changes to the unit or to the way...

As of today, it is now possible to assign multiple custom channels to a single ad unit. This feature enables you to track your ad performance with greater flexibility and view more granular information. When generating your ad code, you'll be able to add up to 5 custom channels to a specific instance of ad code. What's the benefit of tracking with more than one custom channel? Well, multiple channels can be very useful when you want to track one ad unit across several different metrics simultaneously. For example, let's say you run a sports website and you've placed a leaderboard at the top and bottom of every page. To track the performance of the ad placement, you've created two custom channels -- 'TopLeaderboard' and 'BottomLeaderboard' -- and regenerated your ad code appropriately. But what if you also want to compare your football pages and your baseball pages at the same time? With multiple custom channels, this isn't a problem. Just create ...

Even if your site is well-designed, with colors that look great and ad formats that your users respond well to, you still might hear a nagging voice inside your head that says, "There must be more I can do!" If this sounds familiar, then we've got a cure -- link units work wonders when you're looking for additional ways to give your AdSense performance a pick-me-up. They offer your users fresh, new content and can be customized and tracked just like standard text ads. If the voice in your head is still there, it's likely asking, "Where should I place link units on my pages?" Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling: Above or below a navigation menu or site search box -- but remember to keep your link units distinct Above the fold, at the beginning of pages with more focused content where people may be seeking specific information (article pages, category-level pages) In prime spots as designated by our heat map Looking for more ideas? Our link unit e...

This week we bring you two key improvements to AdSense that came about directly from publisher feedback. First off, you'll be happy to hear that we've completely revamped the Channels page under your AdSense Setup tab. Besides cleaning up the design by housing each product on its own sub-tab, we've also made it easier for you to take action on your channels. Just select the checkbox next to a channel and then choose to activate, deactivate, remove, or rename the channel you've selected. You can also find more information about getting started with channels in our Help Center . We're also launching the new 200 x 200 size ad format, better known as the small square. This ad format supports text, image and video ads, and we hope that you'll find it a useful option when integrating your ads into your site. If you have other suggestions for future product features, we'd love to hear them ! Posted by Nikhil Achwal - AdSense Publisher Support