Using Google Analytics

for Ad Optimization
Adspace, 2009
 About Scribd

• Largest social publishing site

• Quantcast #65
• > 50M monthly uniques
• Monetized with Adsense
 Using Analytics for Ad
Optimization
• Adsense integration for Google Analytics
• Gives you a ton of data
• This talk is about sophisticated ways to
mine the data and use it to increase
revenue
 Why?
• Scribd increased Adsense revenue 50%
using Analytics data
• Use it to get two things
• Better eCPM’s through smarter
optimization
• Business intelligence
 Who?
• Relevant for all Adsense publishers
• Especially relevant for
• User-generated content sites
• Database-backed websites
• Collections of articles (e.g., ezinearticles,
squidoo, etc.)
 The Basics
• Simple, free signup
What you get
 What you get
• eCPM by country
• eCPM by traffic source
 What you get
• eCPM by country
• eCPM by traffic source
• eCPM by page url
Getting per URL Data

• Use the Top Adsense Content view

• Download the data as CSV
• Parse it and store it in your database
 Using per URL Data

• Once data is in your DB, run queries on it

• Use join queries to combine other data in
your DB with Adsense data
• Easy to answer complex questions
 Using per URL data
• Sample queries
• Revenue per user
• CTR by length of content
• Revenue by date content was posted
• How long-tailed is your revenue
distribution?
URL Data vs. Channel
Data
• Analytics data is like channels v 2.0
• Channels are useful, but limited
• Only 200 channels
• Can't apply channels to historical data
 Optimization Ideas

• Put more Adsense ads on your best

performing pages
• Consider other monetization options for
pages that aren’t performing
• There is an 80/20 rule in monetization
 The End

• Google Analytics rocks!