Speaking as one of those small online businesses who have used Google Adsense, there are ways to help increase profits earned by using those ads. While no one knows what tweaks and changes that Google put into its new Panda update, there are still ways to strengthen a web presence. Please note that this article is for beginners and not for any SEO experts.
While it should not be necessary to put ads on every corner of every page on a particular site, it is important to make sure the appropriate ads are placed on the profitable pages. How can someone know what pages are more profitable? For one thing, Alexa is more valuable than just its toolbar, even though everyone should have it on the browser they use.
Use Alexa's Toolbar to Increase Website Traffic
Even if no one else visiting has it installed, a site owner's visits to his/her own site will help increase its popularity. This has been done to increase a site from about two million down to less than 500,000. Just imagine what could be accomplished if just a few more visitors had the Alexa toolbar.
The most important use for Alexa, once a site has been ranked by it, is that many useful SEO resources are all listed on that one page. To use Suite101 as an example, Alexa provides a list of the highest search terms that the site receives (see first screen capture for example). That list gives not only the highest search terms, but the percentage used of all search terms the site receives. This lets the site owner know what areas need more monetization.
High Search Times Can Equal High Revenue
Of course, sites such as Suite101 already put ads on every page, but not all sites automatically do this. While some small businesses only put Google ads on the first page, this will miss out on all potential earnings of other visited pages. Checking Alexa will let these site owners know where to put more ads. For instance, let's assume that no page referencing "uk tv abroad" has any ads on them. Monetizing that page with ads would increase the site's revenue.
The search analytics tab on Alexa has the most useful search information provided, which will detail not only the highest search terms, but which ones have increased and decreased over time (see second screen capture) and a ranking of high-impact search terms (see third screen capture). Using free sites such as this is integral to online success.
Attention Writers as Well as Website Owners
This information could also help writers as well. Checking the Alexa results would show them the best search term for articles they could write. Never heard of the "17 day diet"? Well, it's currently being searched for, so research it and write an article. Since Suite101 puts related ads on every page, that article should earn well. Google Keyword Tool does the same thing, but Alexa takes it one step further in helping more than just writers.
Every site owner should check his/her stats to see how best to monetize pages that might have been buried or forgotten. That bears repeating. Don't assume because an old page is not part of a site's new design that it isn't still being searched for. Once it's online, it's always online. What was once thought unimportant could one day become important again.
While all this seems like it should be common sense, it really isn't. It's not always black and white on what is best for an online business. Checking a site's search terms at least on a monthly basis will ensure the right pages are being highlighted and monetized.
Judith Lee - Judith has been a writer for over two decades. She is also a blogger and book/movie reviewer.
