Everything a user does online generates data. When collected, processed, and used correctly, the data becomes the most important asset in a publisher’s online kit.
Data is paramount in understanding your audience’s behavior and preferences in order to provide better user experience and more relatable content. But it can also be used to improve your ad revenue.
In this article, we will discuss several strategies and tactics publishers can apply to improve the performance of their ad inventories based on data collected via Google Analytics and other sources.
Since we’ll talk about metrics and other generally-available tools, these tips can also be applied if you’re using a Data Management Platform.
Understand the value of your data
One of the most important programmatic assets that a publisher has is Data. With third-party cookies being phased out by Google, the value of first-party data collected by publishers has risen considerably. This data gives an insight into understanding the preferences and behavior of your audience, in order to provide them with more relatable content as well as a smooth user experience.
Know the Users Flow and Interests
One of the widely used platforms for observing user behavior, Google Analytics can be used to great advantage for tracking users as they go through your website. The best part- GA can help you get a clear idea of which are the pages users spend most time on therefore are the ones that can help you generate maximum revenue. However, beware not to clutter these pages with too many ads, because it might lead to a higher bounce rate too.
Quick note: Most publishers know and understand the GA interface, but it does have a learning curve. So, if you’re new to the world of data and analytics predictions, it’s best to consider some Google Analytics courses. There is a lot to learn about this platform, especially when it comes to AdSense integration!
Experiment to Optimize
Most publishers usually integrate with Google AdSense or other top networks to enhance their ad performance. Through AdSense, you can create ad variations of both display and search ads and find out which performs better for you on what devices and in what geographies.
You can also experiment with choosing the ideal ad placement, one of the most important factors in monetization. The key to success here is to conduct experiments and find out the right balance between monetization and user experience.
Utilizing Ad Server
Publishers that are looking to take a further deep dive into their ad revenue earnings can make use of ad servers to manage ads as well as advertisers. This ensures that publishers can connect with several demand partners and advertisers at the same time, all the while automating several routine tasks like price floors or ad refresh. One of the added advantages is looking into log-level data to find out buying patterns of various advertisers and strategize accordingly.
Content Optimization Practices
The digital landscape has become quite a competitive place over the last decade. Publishers need to rank high in search results; If they are not, there is a huge chunk of potential traffic and revenue you are missing out on.
Metrics such as page views and shares can give you a clear picture of what kind of content is enjoyed by your audience. The sure-fire way to generate ad revenue is to conduct keyword research, to understand what your users are searching for. Plus, by using tools like Google Search Console and utilizing SEO keywords for your content, you’ll pull in new users as well.
This is a guest post by Stewart Dunlop. He looks after content marketing at Udemy and has passion for writing articles that users will want to read. In his free time, he likes to play football and read Stephen King.
Shubham is a digital marketer with rich experience working in the advertisement technology industry. He has vast experience in the programmatic industry, driving business strategy and scaling functions including but not limited to growth and marketing, Operations, process optimization, and Sales.
