What Are Google AdSense Channels?

Google Adsense

Google's AdSense and AdWords programs connect content publishers with advertisers. The service works by scanning the publisher's content and matching it with merchants that sell products and services that are related to it. Using AdSense, publishers are able to monetize every page of their sites and are provided with a dashboard from which they can gauge the performance of their various ads. They can determine which ads outperform others and which topics produce the most income over time.

Types of Ads

The content publisher can choose from a large variety of different ads to place on a site. AdSense ads range in size from a few hundred pixels to massive ads that stretch across the entire screen. There are two basic types of AdSense ads. These are text ads and banner ads. Text ads are usually placed in the beginning, the middle or the end of long blocks of website copy and composed of words. Banner ads are, on the other hand, are composed of a combination of words and images. These types of ads are usually placed at the top, bottom or sides of the webpage.

Data Overflow

A potential trap that unwary AdSense users can fall into is the simple abundance of data that is available to them. They can review statistics on all of their ads from many different websites at once. In some cases, this can amount to hundreds of pages and an equal number of ads. If not properly organized, this data can be a challenge to keep up with. Data overflow can seriously hamper a publisher's advertising ambitions as more and more of their time is swallowed by looking up reports for their ads.

Using Channels

Google has a built-in system for preventing data overflow in the form of channels. Channels bundle related ads into groups. These groups present the user with the opportunity to create a system whereby they can view their data in an orderly fashion. The two basic types of channels are 'URL Channels' and 'Custom Channels.' URL channels allow the user to track ads within a certain URL or even from a certain set of pages within a URL. This prevents data overflow because the user can view reports from all of their websites at different times. Custom channels allow users to create ad groups based on criteria that they specify. The user tells the AdSense platform how they would like to group the ad data, and the platform provides them with code that they then install to their webpages.