Digital marketing term
AdSense
Google’s display network for publishers: it fills on-site slots and pays a share of clicks or impressions. It is not the same product as Google Ad Manager for larger inventory.
Detailed explanation
The publisher adds units; Google fills them from advertiser demand. Earnings are usually read as RPM (revenue per thousand impressions) plus click share. Auto ads are faster to place and looser to control.
Policy violations, click encouragement, and invalid traffic get accounts limited or closed. ‘Click here’ copy or units jammed into paragraphs are classic mistakes. Consent limits in the EEA can cut personalized ads and RPM; that is restricted demand, not a ‘broken’ account by itself.
Read RPM with viewability and page experience. Stacking more units to chase revenue often raises bounce. Traffic quality and niche beat raw pageviews.
Frequently asked questions
- When do you outgrow AdSense for Ad Manager?
- When you sell direct, need multiple demand sources, and want finer placement control than the publisher network allows.
- Why did RPM drop overnight?
- Seasonality, country mix, consent limits, invalid-traffic filters, or units sitting off-screen are the usual causes.
Related terms
Internal links for the topic cluster — read these concepts together.
- PublisherThe party that owns the content and the ad inventory: a site, app, or show. Advertisers buy the impressions; this side sells the space and the audience.
- Display AdvertisingBanners, native units, and other visual formats on sites and apps. Unlike search text ads, they show up before someone has typed a query into the box.
- Ad SpaceThe placement where an ad sits, plus the inventory that slot can sell. A fixed unit, run of site, and run of network are not the same product.
- CPMCPM (Cost Per Mille) is the cost of 1,000 ad impressions; it is one of the most common media buying units.
- CPCCost per click: what you pay when someone clicks, not when the ad is only shown. The auction and Quality Score — or the platform equivalent — move that price as much as your bid does.
- ClickA tap or press on an ad or link; opening the page and converting are separate events. Click-through rate is this count divided by impressions.