How to Improve Ad Alignment on EHow Articles

In this tutorial, I'll be showing you how to make sure your ads line up properly with your article content, how to get rid of irrelevant ads on your eHow articles, and how to fix problems with your ad alignment. All of this can be done with one simple tool - Google Adwords. And you thought it was only for keyword research!

How eHow Ads are Chosen

By now, you should realize the importance of using keywords in your eHow articles. If not, I'd suggest you read the previous posts in this series. Your keywords are not only important for search engine optimization (SEO), but also for the ads that are displayed next to your articles, which is where your earnings come from.

The Google adbot visits your articles after they are published, and decides which ads are most relevant to your content. Your keywords factor into this, but so do all the other words in the article. The adbot is different than the search engine bot. It crawls content specifically for the purpose of figuring out what your article is about and displaying relevant ads.

One way that you can see what the adbot sees is to use Google Adwords. How do I do this, you ask? Well, let's take a look at how very easy it is.

Determining if Your Article is Optimized for Relevant Ads

Copy the URL of your published article, and open up Google Adwords. On the right side of the screen, you'll have two options - "Descriptive Phrases" and "Website Content". Click the radio button next to "Website Content", and a new field will appear to the right.

Paste your eHow article URL into the field and click "Get Keyword Ideas". A list of keywords will then be displayed. The first keyword on the list should, ideally, be the keyword you used for your article, or something very similar. Here's an example of one of my eHow articles that has great ad alignment:

My keyword for this article is "get rid of double chin", so naturally I want ads about how to get rid of a double chin to be displayed. Nothing needs to be changed here. The Google adbot realizes that my article is about getting rid of a double chin, and will display relevant ads.

Here is an example of one of my eHow articles that has good ad alignment:

The keyword for this article is "cellulite exercises", so I would assume that readers of this article would be interested in the best way to get rid of cellulite. Google adbot thinks the article is about the best ways to get rid of cellulite, and will display ads relevant to this subject. I could, of course, tweak this a little more, if I wanted, which brings me to my next point.....

How to Improve Ad Alignment on eHow Articles

If you publish an eHow article, run it through Google Adwords, and realize that Google is WAY off, and will be displaying ads that are irrelevant to your article, you'll need to do a little modification to your text.

All of my articles are optimized, so I can't show an example, but I will try to explain. I recently had an issue with this on a niche website, but the concept is the same. I wrote an article with a keyword of "house cleaning checklist," but Google repeatedly displayed "house cleaning" ads. I ran the URL through Adwords, and found that the adbot believed that the article was about "house cleaning" and completely ignored the "checklist" part.

So, I removed every instance of the word "cleaning" or "clean" from the article, except when it was next to "checklist". Instead, I replaced it with "chores" or "tasks". Eventually, I got the ads to line up. Sometimes, no matter what you change, you just won't get relevant ads. Get it as close as you can, and call it even. You'll get a feel for what word combinations work together with practice.

If you have a long-tail keyword, with three or more words, often removing all instances of any of the words in the phrase, except next to one another, will do the trick. Another example is an article I wrote about credit card debt. Google Adwords kept showing that the article was about "bad credit credit cards", even though it was really about credit card debt. Remember, that the adbot considers ALL the words in the article, and because it is not human, it isn't always right.

I removed all instances of "credit card" or "credit cards" from the article, except when it was used in the keyword phrase "credit card debt", and Google finally picked up on it. Tinker around with your words and phrases, until you get it right. It gets easier with practice.

Why Comments Hurt Your Ad Alignment

Don't encourage comments on your articles. This can seriously upset a well-crafted SEO and ad optimized article. Because the adbot considers ALL the text on the page, meaningless comments can really hurt you.

For example, you write an article about stomach exercises, and you work long and hard to make sure the proper ads are displayed, and then someone leaves a stupid comment saying something like, "I've been using these exercises for years, and they really helped me lose weight and keep my butt toned."

Suddenly, the adbot has these new words to consider. Hmm, exercises, lose weight, butt toned.... Now, the adbot thinks your article is about weight loss and toned butts. Not good. This is why random commenting hurts you so much, much more than it helps.

Every time someone leaves a comment on one of my articles, I have to go back to the beginning, run it through AdWords, and make sure it's still showing the correct ads. If not, modification might be necessary. If you don't care what ads are displayed, I guess this doesn't apply. But, I have learned this is a huge part of incresing your eHow earnings.

People searching for stomach exercises probably aren't going to click on ads about getting a toned butt. They want to flatten their tummy, so these are the ads you need.

You won't always get your actual keyword that you use for the search engines, as your number one ad keyword, but that's okay. As long as it is something that a reader of your article would be interested in, you're fine. I promise, if you learn how to properly align your ads, you will see a HUGE increase in profit, almost immediately.

I have purchased several ebooks on making money for ehow and not a single one of them addresses this issue, which, in my opinion, is one of the most important points. Without relevant ads, you have no clicks, which means no money for you.

Time, it's On My Side

Another point I want to make is that time is important. Over time, Google adbot tweaks the ads displayed on your article. It displays the ads that get the most clicks and that make you the most money. Once you start getting clicks, you'll begin earning more and more, as the adbot realizes which ads are most profitable for your article and displays them more often.

This, in addition to the time it takes for your articles to be indexed by the search engines, is why it sometimes takes a little while for the earnings to begin. But, using the methods outlined in my eHow tutorials, I have seen nearly EVERY ONE of my articles begin to earn in the first few days. If you follow these steps, you will, too.

Remember to go to Google Adwords, and run your URL through the check to make sure it knows what it's about, after EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE. If it's wrong, change some of the words and phrases until Google gets the drift. You will make more money overnight. Guaranteed. If you haven't been doing this, go back over your previously published articles. You'll be suprised at what you find. Good luck and happy earning!

Other posts in the eHow tutorial series:
Part 1 - How to Find Profitable Keywords for Your EHow Articles
Part 2 - How to Analyze Your Keyword Competition for EHow Articles
Part 3 - How to Optimize Your EHow Articles for Maximum Profit
Part 4 - Using Images in Your EHow Articles
Part 6 - How to Add Amazon Affiliate Links to EHow Articles