New publisher application process

We’re continually evaluating our AdSense application process in order to ensure the safest possible network for our advertisers, as well as the best possible experience for you, our publishers. With that in mind, we’ve now implemented a change to our initial review process that will result in a stronger AdSense network. Improving the quality of the network will drive more interest and demand from advertisers, increasing the earning potential for all of our publishers.



Starting today, we’ll begin adding a new step to the review process and sending notifications at two key points. After a new application is submitted, we’ll begin with preliminary checks on the site and the applicant’s submitted details. If the application passes through this first stage, we’ll notify the applicant by email, grant them account access, and provide them with ad code to place on their submitted site. It’s essential at this stage for the applicant to place the ad code on their site, as the review process can’t be completed until the ad code is implemented.



However, live ads won’t immediately appear once the ad code has been placed on the submitted site. Since the application hasn’t been fully approved yet, temporary “blank ads” will be shown instead. These blank ads will blend in with the background of the page, so users won’t see them and the user experience won’t be impacted. As a result, there’s nothing to click on and thus revenue can’t yet be generated. If the applicant logs into their AdSense account at this stage of the review process, they’ll see a reminder that their account is still under review.



Soon after the ad code has been added to the submitted site, a final approval decision will be made and the applicant will be notified by email. Newly approved publishers will see live ads automatically appear in the existing ad units on their pages. These publishers are then welcome (and encouraged!) to add more ad units to their submitted site and to any other policy-compliant sites they own. We also encourage new publishers to ensure their sites are available to be crawled by the AdSense robot (Mediapartners-Google), and also to use our best-performing ad formats.



If you’d like more information about this new approval process, please visit our Help Center or feel free to post questions about this topic in our Help Forum.



Thanks for being a valuable member of AdSense as we continue to improve the quality of our network.



Posted by Max Cohen, Product Manager

+1 reporting in Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics

UPDATE: +1 Reports in Webmaster Tools have been retired. You can now find information about the performance of +1 buttons on your pages using Social Reports in Google Analytics.

(Cross-posted on the Webmaster Central and Analytics blogs)

It’s been a busy week for us here at the Googleplex. First we released +1 buttons to Google search sites globally, then we announced the beginning of the Google+ project.

The +1 button and the Google+ project are both about making it easier to connect with the people you trust online. For the +1 button, that means bringing advice from trusted friends and contacts right into Google search, letting the users who love your web content recommend it at the moment of decision.

But when you’re managing a website, it's usually not real until you can measure it. So we’re happy to say we’ve got one more announcement to make -- today we’re releasing reports that show you the value +1 buttons bring to your site.

First, +1 metrics in Google Webmaster Tools can show you how the +1 button affects the traffic coming to your pages:

• The Search Impact report gives you an idea of how +1‘s affect your organic search traffic. You can find out if your clickthrough rate changes when personalized recommendations help your content stand out. Do this by comparing clicks and impressions on search results with and without +1 annotations. We’ll only show statistics on clickthrough rate changes when you have enough impressions for a meaningful comparison.
• The Activity report shows you how many times your pages have been +1’d, from buttons both on your site and on other pages (such as Google search).
• Finally, the Audience report shows you aggregate geographic and demographic information about the Google users who’ve +1’d your pages. To protect privacy, we’ll only show audience information when a significant number of users have +1’d pages from your site.

Use the +1 Metrics menu on the side of the page to view your reports. If you haven’t yet verified your site on Google Webmaster Tools, you can follow these instructions to get access.

Finally, you can also see how users share your content using other buttons besides +1 by using Social Plugin Analytics in Google Analytics. Once you configure the JavaScript for Analytics, the Social Engagement reports help you compare the various types of sharing actions that occur on your pages.

• The Social Engagement report lets you see how site behavior changes for visits that include clicks on +1 buttons or other social actions. This allows you to determine, for example, whether people who +1 your pages during a visit are likely to spend more time on your site than people who don’t.
• The Social Actions report lets you track the number of social actions (+1 clicks, Tweets, etc) taken on your site, all in one place.
• The Social Pages report allows you to compare the pages on your site to see which are driving the highest the number of social actions.

Over the next few days (and if you’re using the default version of the latest Google Analytics tracking code), if you’ve added +1 buttons to your site we’ll automatically enable Social Plugin Analytics for +1 in your account. You can enable analytics for other social plugins in just a few simple steps.

Social reporting is just getting started. As people continue to find new ways to interact across the web, we look forward to new reports that help business owners understand the value that social actions are providing to their business. So +1 to data!

UPDATE: 7/11/11 2:05pm PST, corrected references to the social plugin analytics feature.

Written by Dan Rodney, Software Engineer

Announcing the Gold Star Partner Showcase

We’re very excited to launch the AdSense Gold Star Partnership Showcase - a feature on the blog dedicated to our exemplary AdSense partners. We'd like to recognize some of the amazing websites that add immeasurable value to the Google Display Network and who contribute to the growth and diversity of the Internet. While sites come in many different flavors, Gold Star Partners will exemplify these three basic principles:

• Exhibit original, engaging and useful content for users
• Adhere to the AdSense Policies
• Test and try new ways to optimize AdSense ad placements
  

If you’re currently an AdSense for content partner and you think you have what it takes to become a Gold Star Partner that may be featured on our blog, we invite you to submit your website by Tuesday, July 5th.

We may feature a few of the submissions in the AdSense Gold Star Partnership Showcase next month, so make sure to check back in!

Posted by Julia Riley, AdSense Optimization Specialist

Happy Birthday AdSense

AdSense is turning eight years old tomorrow! Growing to over two million publishers worldwide since our launch in 2003, we want to thank all of you for helping us expand and thrive.

As we celebrate AdSense, we want to share our appreciation for all the AdSense publishers whose innovation has made the last eight years so successful. The Google Display Network is comprised of many AdSense publishers like you: those who offer useful and engaging content for your community and serve as an effective channel for advertisers to connect with audiences.

For the last eight years, we’ve relied on your product feedback to help us improve, your success stories to inspire us, and your content to enhance the ecosystem of the world wide web. We look forward to growing older and wiser with all of you for many more years to come!

Posted by Jamie Firkus - Inside AdSense Team

One week left to Doodle 4 AdSense

With only one week left to submit your very own AdSense logo for our Doodle 4 AdSense showcase, we wanted to highlight the amazing submissions we’ve gotten so far. Take a look at our Facebook album featuring entries from creative publishers across the world. We’ll be posting the submissions as they come in waves for the next few weeks, so keep checking back for more awesome doodles!

Inspired to create your own? Get doodling and submit your logo before May 20th. We’ll post all submissions that adhere to our Terms and Conditions on the Facebook page, so the world can see what AdSense looks like to you.

Posted by Katrina Kurnit - Inside AdSense team

Site maintenance on Saturday, May 14

This Saturday, our engineers will be performing routine site maintenance from 9am to 5pm PDT. Your stats reporting may be delayed at that time, but we'll continue serving ads to your pages and tracking your clicks, impressions, and earnings as usual. Your ad targeting won't be affected and you will be able to log-in to your account.

We've converted the maintenance start time for a few cities around the world:



London - 5pm Saturday

Alexandria - 6pm Saturday

Hyderabad - 9:30pm Saturday
Jakarta - 11pm Saturday
Perth - 12am Sunday



To learn more about what goes on during these maintenance periods, check out this Inside AdSense post.



Posted by Katrina Kurnit - Inside AdSense Team

Submit to the Doodle 4 AdSense showcase

We’ve heard some amazing stories over the years about how AdSense has changed your businesses and your lives. Whether allowing you to retire early, send your kids to college, or quit your day job to pursue your true passion, success with AdSense looks different to everyone.

We want to celebrate AdSense and you, our amazingly creative publishers, by launching our first ever Doodle 4 AdSense showcase. What’s Doodle 4 AdSense? It’s the opportunity to create your own AdSense logo to be featured on the Inside AdSense blog, our Facebook page, and Twitter channel so publishers around the world can see what AdSense means to you. Submit your own here!

We’ll post the first round of submissions that adhere to our Terms and Conditions on May 3rd, and close the form on May 20th. Get doodling!

Posted by Katrina Kurnit - Inside AdSense team

Site maintenance on Sunday, March 20

This Sunday, our engineers will be performing routine site maintenance from 3am to 7am PDT. You may be unable to log in to your AdSense account during this time and some features may be temporarily unavailable during the maintenance. We'll continue serving ads to your pages and tracking your clicks, impressions, and earnings as usual. Your ad targeting won't be affected.



We've converted the maintenance start time for a few cities around the world:



London - 10am GMT Sunday

Alexandria - 12pm EET Sunday

Hyderabad - 3:30pm IST Sunday

Jakarta - 5pm WIT Sunday

Perth - 6pm WST Sunday



To learn more about what goes on during these maintenance periods, check out this Inside AdSense post.



Posted by Katrina Kurnit - Inside AdSenseTeam

Help Japan with your AdSense earnings

You may have already seen some of Google’s various efforts to help Japan in the wake of last week’s 8.9 earthquake. We’ve heard some inspirational stories from publishers who are donating their AdSense revenue to help and we’ve heard from many of you wondering how you can also donate AdSense earnings to help those affected by the earthquake.

Currently, the fastest way to contribute is to donate directly via our crisis response page. All donations will go to the Japanese Red Cross Society and will be used directly to support to those affected by the earthquake.

We're working to roll out a way to donate earnings directly from your AdSense account. Please check back here for updated information.

If you’re looking for additional resources, we’ve also launched the Google Person Finder in Japanese, Chinese and English as a tool to help locate missing people, as well as sites in Japanese and English to provide updates on the affected area.

Posted by Julia Peppiatt - AdSense Payments Team

Help us learn how you create and share your online content

We want to learn more about our publishers, so we've put together a very short survey to help us better understand what types of content you create and how you share it with others.

Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey -- your feedback is important to us, and your input can help us improve AdSense! We really appreciate you taking the time to provide your thoughts. Thank you for participating!

Posted by David Hall - The Inside AdSense team