How to Set Up AdSense Ad Units and AdSense for Search

Learning how to set up AdSense is actually very easy. Here’s a short tutorial on how you can install it on your site within 5 minutes, including Google AdSense ad unites and AdSense for search.

How to Set Up AdSense Ad Units

The first step is to login to your account at adsense.google.com and click on “My ads”in the top navigation column.

From there click “New ad unit” and you’ll see the following screen: simply fill out all the required fields with the proper information.

If you’re wondering what Backup ads are, they are advertisements that Google shows at the place of your ad units if AdSense doesn’t find anything to display. You can choose whether you want it to be a standard color, blank space or ads from another URL you specify. I recommend you leave it at the default “Show blank space” option.

Also, custom channels are a great way to test how your specific ad units are doing.

For example if you want to see whether the Medium Rectangle or Large Rectangle type of ad unit converts better, you could put them in different channels, install them both on your site, and see it for yourself.

Then you could keep the one that makes the most and replace the poor-performing one.

The next step is to customize the appearance of your ad units. If you don’t want to take the trouble to design everything yourself, you can go with one of the default styles from Select ad style.

However, if you want your ads to match your website’s look and feel, you can customize virtually anything about them by clicking Use custom settings.

Not only that, but if you want to save your customizations as a new ad style for future use, you can do so by clicking Create a new ad style from these custom settings and you’ll never have to spend time on it again.

Once you’re done, click Save and get code. The following pop-up window will appear:

This is the actual step on how to set up AdSense: copy this piece of code “as is”, go to your website editor, open a new HTML block wherever you want the Google AdSense ad unit to appear and paste the code.

I’m using Site Build It!’s drag and drop editor, Block Builder 2, but you can follow these instructions even in WordPress or any other site builder.

Then save your settings, upload your new page and wait for magic to happen: within 24 hours (48 hours at the most) the Google AdSense ad unit you just created will start showing right where you inserted it.

Don’t worry if you see nothing but a blank space in the first 24-48 hours. It takes time for AdSense to determine what your page is about and what kind of ads it should display.

That’s it, congratulations! You just learned how to set up AdSense ad units on your site or blog.

How to Set Up AdSense for Search

Creating a custom Google search box and monetizing it takes a similar approach.

Go to My ads, Search and click Custom search engines. Then click New custom search engine.

You’ll have to go through similar customizations: name, channels, ad-style and so on. But there will be other options as well:

What to search: if you don’t want visitors to leave your site, set this to “Only sites I select” and add in your URL

Keywords: type in here 2-3 keywords related to your website

I suggest you leave all the other fields at their default value.

Below, you’ll have the option to set your unique Search box style. Choose here whichever box you like the best. Personally, I’d go with the very first one with the watermark.

And that’s it. Just click "Save and get code", copy it and insert it into an HTML block wherever you want the search box to appear on your site. It’s as easy as that.

Congratulations! You’ve learned how to set up AdSense for Search as well.

How to Set Up AdSense and Change Your Customizations Later

If you’d like to change the color of your ad titles, modify the font style or alter anything else, you don’t have to create a brand new ad unit all the time. You can change the features of your already existing units.

Just go to “My ads” and you’ll see a list of your current ad styles. To do any modifications, select “Edit ad style” and that’s it!

All your changes will automatically appear on your site thanks to Google.

Important Warning on How to Set Up AdSense

It’s important to keep in mind that you can’t alter the code that Google gives you.You can only copy-paste it, otherwise you’ll breach Google’s terms of usage and your AdSense account will be suspended.

And Google’s support is infamous for not giving a rat’s you-know-what about suspended accounts. So the best way to protect your account is not losing it in the first place.

Bottom line: play by Google’s rules and never change any part of the code they give you, even if you’re savvy in programming.

So that’s as easy as it gets to install Google AdSense. If you encounter any problems, I recommend you contact me instead of AdSense’s support, since they can take 5-7 days to reply, if they acknowledge your question in the first place.

READ MORE: business-online-guidance.com