Why you need to choose Adsense Alternatives?

• Your Adsense account is not yet approved or struggling to get an Adsense Approval
  
• Not having enough content to pass Google Adsense terms and conditions.
  
• Your web traffic is not that much quality to respond your Adsense.
  
• Your niche is not supported by Google.
  
• Your Adsense account is disabled because of terms violations.
  
• Want to try more monetizing ad networks to get extra income with or without Adsense.
  
• Looking for other ad formats which may get you better results and more user engagement.
  
• Your content is not able to generate enough Adsense revenue.
  
• You don't have the high percentage of traffic from US/UK that causes more ad income to publishers.
  

In this article, I'm have listed some of the best highest paying Google Adsense Alternatives & options that you can use on your website/blog to make money.


Check out the top & best Google Adsense alternatives ad networks 2019 for every publisher to make money online:

1. Adsterra - Make More Money with Blogging

Adsterra is a high paying display advertising network mainly concentrated on encouraging site owners & including newbie bloggers to make more money using their traffic and content. This is one of the best monetization options, and I insist you test this program, and I am sure you will be amazed by the results.

Ad types:
Standard Banner, Leaderboard, Skyscraper and wide skyscraper, Mobile Banner
[These all smart ad units are fully auto-responsive and mobile-optimized]

Features:
Highest eCPM, CPA, CPI, CPL, and CPM pricing rates
Real-time reporting
personal account managers
Fast payments made through a vast selection of methods

Minimum payout: Publisher payments are processed 2 times a month; min. $100 by either PayPal, Bank Wire or Cheque. Recommended to use Payoneer.

Moreover, Adsterra provides any kinds of online advertising ad formats like pop-ups, pop-unders, interstitial, display banners. Find new business opportunities. Boost your monthly income with the best highly paying Adsterra Network.

Apply for Adsterra - Premium International Advertising Network

2. Ezoic: Increasing Adsense Earnings By 250%

Ezoic is Google's first state-side Adsense partner, trustworthy & world's largest website optimization platform. You should know, the first largest automated website testing tech platform that Certified by Google Adsense. Ezoic can help you increase website revenue from 50% to 200%. It's a FREE program to join. You need to read full Ezoic [Review] – Double Your Adsense Earning with Adsense Certified Program.

It includes all of your best high paying CPC ad networks to boost your website earnings, so I highly recommending you to try it now.

Apply for Ezoic - Best Website Optimization and Monetization

3. Sulvo: Increase Ad Revenue Instantly

This is most recommended CPM, CPC & PPC ad network you should try. The Sulvo will help you maximize your estimated revenue & assists you reach the highest possible position in your current inventory.

It provides an innovative optimization technology which encourages you to exchange each impression at the highest possible CPM/PPC rates. They provide the cross-platform demand that you can count on and give you insights about how to market your content better.

With Sulvo, you are about to watch your revenue boost with more high paying CPM rates than anywhere else. Their technology guarantees that you receive the best possible CPM by allowing more ad networks bidding for the ad impressions on your blogging site. So I suggest you all try the highest CPM, RPM PPC paying network that not only works on desktop but for mobile too & gets to increase your ad revenues quickly with Sulvo Surge Pricing rates. The Minimum payout: $50 by either PayPal, Cheque or Payoneer. Recommended using Payoneer to get $25 FREE SIGNUP BONUS.

Ad Formats:
Sticky Multimedia
Sticky Mobile
Sticky Display
Regular Display
In-Video
Ad Size: 300×250 medium rectangle, 336×280 large rectangle, 160×600 skyscraper, 300×600 Wide Skyscraper, 728×90 leaderboard, 970×90

Requirement:
Your website/blog should be in ENGLISH
Original content [No pirated/illegal material]
No adult content
Regularly updated pages.

Payment Methods:
Payoneer, Cheque, Direct Deposit, PayPal.
[Recommended to use Payoneer]
Minimum Payout Threshold: $50.

Apply for Sulvo: Increase Ad Revenue Instantly

4. Media.Net - Yahoo! Bing Ads for Publishers

When there is an option for earning money online through the blog, there are best PPC advertising networks available. Last time we have discussed in detailed about Media.Net Ad Network Review - Best Alternative to Make Extra Money From Blogging. You need to check that page. It provided dynamic ads optimization and offered contextual advertising solutions to Web publishers with highest paying CPM/RPM ad rates on an impressions basis.

Minimum payout: $100 by either PayPal, Bank Wire or Cheque.

Recommended to use Payoneer.

I highly recommending you to use Yahoo! Bing Network Contextual Ads powered by Media.net and maximize revenue from your online content.

Apply for Top Google AdSense Alternatives: Media.net.

Check this: 15 Tips to Improve SEO Ranking That'll Generate Huge Traffic To Your Site

5. Adversal - Best CPM banner Ad Networks

One of the best banner ad networks and provides the highest mobile advertising cost per impression. Adversal is listed 2nd after Google Adsense and one of the best Google Adsense alternatives to make money online from your blog. They launched in 2003 but then they expanded its Ad format and added various ad types including PPC ads, contextual ad and video ads too. You can use Adversal with Adsense ads as well.

Quick approval and easy ad integration on your blog make them popular. Adversal not only pays on clicks but also for the ad impressions, and CPM rates are comparatively higher than any other ad network and are the only reason makes them as a best CPM Ad Network in online marketing and advertising market. Adversal dashboard an innovative reporting system which actively shows stats about impressions, clicks, earnings, eCPM, CTR for every 3 hours.

Ad types:
Standard Banner, Leaderboard, Pop-under, Ministitial, Skyscraper and wide skyscraper, Mobile Banner

Requirement:
Your website/blog should be in ENGLISH
Need 50000 page views per month
Original content[No pirated/illegal material]
No adult content
Frequently updated web pages

Minimum payout: $20 by either PayPal, Bank Wire or Cheque. Recommended to use Payoneer.

In short, I would like to say Adversal is well known for low payout and high CPM rates and that's why every publisher wants to try and use Advesal. I highly recommend you to all the publishers who are using Google Adsense also try Adversal.

Apply for Adversal CPM ad network.

6. PropellerAds | Best Popunder Advertising Network

The greatest thing of PropellerAds is anybody from anyplace in the world can immediately link his website this Ad Network & get quick approval.

PropellerAds is an innovative digital and high paying advertising network organized for CPM/CPA ads. Was Begun in the UK, 2012 and now it is a fast growing advertising company, implementing targeted reach & quality inventory; that ensures 100% fill rate for your international search traffic and the promises highest CPM possible rates.

The commitment of the PropellerAds is to deliver reliable performance to advertisers and give higher revenues to their respective publishers. In fact, they are especially leading popunder ad network in the competitive community. Recently I have seen an Ad of this network on the Facebook that was claiming to pay $8/1000 impressions. As I told, they have 100% fill rate for all type of visitors from any country along with various ad formats for all type of publishers to monetize website contents.

Ad types:
Popunder
Mobile Dialog Ads
Mobile Interstitial Ads
Direct Links
Interstitial
Native Direct Ads
Dialog Ads/Push Up
Banner Ads too

Features:
No Traffic Restrictions To Join
Quick approval: You need not wait for getting your site approved
100% Fill Rate
Premium advertisers
Competing & Higher Ad Rates
Dedicated support & Expert team
Global coverage: Running All Types Of Ad Formats.
Real-Time Online Reporting
Best & Dedicated Reporting system


Minimum payout: Publisher payments are processed monthly; min. $100 by either PayPal, Bank Wire or Payoneer. Recommended to use Payoneer.

Apply for PropellerAds Ad Network


RECOMMENDED: 8 Best Ways To Increase Page RPM | Google Adsense Optimization [QuickTips]


Also check; How to Create Your PayPal Account Fast - Safe, Easy & Verify For FREE | Rs.200 For Signup

7. Advertopia Best CPM AD Network.

This ad network is the exactly the same network as like Adversal. They both provide Google ads similar to each other. This is best ad network I have seen after above-listed items. Here you will get a $10 as a publisher signing bonus for all the Publishers. Once you signed up, you will receive a $10 credit to your publisher account within 24 hours.

Ad types:
CPM , POP, Standard Banner, Leaderboard, Skyscraper and wide skyscraper, Mobile Banner
[These all smart ad units are fully auto-responsive and mobile-optimized]

Features:
100% fill rates
Higher eCPM
Quick site approval
Works with low traffic too

Minimum payout: Publisher payments are processed Weekly; min. $20 by either PayPal, Bank Wire or Cheque. Recommended to use Payoneer.

Apply for Advertopia.com Ad Network

8. Affinity: Earn Big.

This is one of the popular and best PPC ad network. It helps not only to Add value to your content but also to make money blogging at the same time by displaying targeted ads that your readers actually want to see.

Affinity helps you to have the instant access to its global ad network which has members of 115,000+ Advertisers; which further allows you optimize the content to improve your ad revenue.

Ad Formats:
Banner
Video
Rich Media

Requirement:
Your site content should be in ENGLISH
Original content [No pirated/illegal material]
Non-adult
Regular updated web pages

Payment Methods:
Payoneer, Cheque, Direct Deposit, PayPal.
[Recommended to use Payoneer]
Minimum Payout Threshold: $50.

Apply for Affinity: Dig Deeper. Earn Better

9. Adbuff: Higher CPM & CPC Ad Network.

SIGN UP TO GET $25 FREE. Adbuff is a premium publisher program that brings the largest advertising exchanges in one place to competitively bid on publisher inventory. Many of Adbuff publishers are stating that they have increased their page RPM by over 50% by when implementing Adbuff ad unit codes. If you have a site that gets at least 2,000 unique visitors per day, has traffic from the US/Canada/UK/Australia and the site is in English, then Adbuff is definitely the network for you. With 24/7 support, dedicated account managers, 100% fill rates, and the highest eCPM rates in the industry, Adbuff is a network all publishers need to experiment with.

Ad types:
CPM , Standard Banner, Leaderboard, Skyscraper and wide skyscraper, Mobile Banner [These all smart ad units are fully auto-responsive and mobile-optimized]

Features:
High CPM rates.
100% Fill rates.
Real-time reporting .
A dedicated account manager.

Requirements:
English sites only
Minimum 2,000 pageviews per day
Majority of traffic from USA/Canada/UK/Australia

Minimum payout: Publisher payments are processed monthly. Min. $100 by either PayPal, Bank Wire or Cheque. Recommended to use Payoneer.

Apply To get $25 FREE at Adbuff: Best AdSense Alternative Ad Network



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Best Google AdSense Alternatives 2019:

NO.	ALTERNATIVES	AD SETUP	CONDITIONS	PAYOUT LIMITS
1.	Adsterra International	Banner, Leaderboard, Mobile-optimized	English, Original, No Adult	$100 by PayPal, Bitcoin, Payoneer, WireTransfer
2.	Ezoic	Display, Text, Skyscraper, Link, Mobile Ads	English, Original, No Adult	$20 by PayPal, Payoneer, WireTransfer, Cheque
3.	Sulvo	Sticky Multimedia, Mobile, Display, In-Video	English, Original, No Adult	$50 by PayPal, Payoneer, Wire, Cheque
4.	Yahoo! Media.Net	Text Ads, Display Ads, Mobile Banners	English, No. Min. traffic, No Adult, Tobacco	$100 by PayPal, Payoneer, WireTransfer, Cheque
5.	Adversal RTB	Display, Video Ads, Popunder, Mobile Ads, Ministitial	English, Original, No Pirated 50000 Views/Month	$20 by PayPal, Payoneer, WireTransfer, Cheque
6.	PropellerAds Direct Ads	Direct Links, Popunder, Push Up, Mobile Banner	English, Original, 10000 Views/Month	$50 by PayPal, Payoneer, WireTransfer, Cheque
7.	Advertopia	Display Ads, Skyscraper, Mobile Ads	English, Original, No Adult	$20 by PayPal, Payoneer, WireTransfer, Cheque
8.	Affinity	In-Footer,In-Image, In-Margin,In-Page, Video	English, Original, No Adult/illegal	$50 by PayPal, Bitcoin, Payoneer, Wire
9.	Adbuff FREE $25	Display Ads, Leaderboard, Mobile Ads	English only, 2000 Views/day USA/UK traffic	$100 by PayPal, Payoneer, WireTransfer, Cheque
10.	AdsOptimal 360° Stopped Now.	Banner, Video Ads, Leaderboard, Mobile Ads	English, Original, No Adult	$100 by PayPal, Payoneer, WireTransfer, Cheque

The AdSense alternative ad networks discussed below are not surely greater than Google AdSense, but its all depends on the type of blogging niche and targeted traffic you have on the website. But yeah, a few best performing Adsense alternative programs like Adbuff or Media.net might cause you to earn more and able to drive better results than Google AdSense.

Was your Adsense application rejected? Or, are you trying to test another alternative along with the Adsense? Anyways, for both of the cases, we have 10 best adsense alternatives to check out and increase your earnings (with payment proof).

So I recommend you to also fix those issues and you can also read this awesome article by Ammar Ali about the Adsense approval guide.

Anyways, our main topic is still about the alternatives to Adsense and also we will have to figure out which one is the highest paying Adsense alternative.

Why Do You Need an Alternative?

We know Adsense is the best ad provider on today’s date but sometimes best is not always best. What I really mean is sometimes Adsense might not suit you.

The case might be Adsense rejected your website, your niche doesn’t produce much revenue with Adsense and the main, Adsense can suspend your account anytime.

So, in order to prevent the loss in case of Adsense suspension you must use other Adsense substitutes also.

I have seen many bloggers who used to display the Adsense ads on their blogs but Adsense suspended their blog by saying they’ve violated Adsense Terms & Conditions.

Now, what will they do? They will also reject the adsense and look after the best adsense alternatives and this post is especially for them.

Look what people have to say about replacing the Adsense

I know most of the Google Adsense rules are great and helps to ensure the quality to users but few of them are just as show off.

Since the time is passing and they’re the leading ad distributor in the market, they have started to be more strict with the website owners with some very crazy policies.

So, it is necessary to replace the adsense or use other alternatives along with the Adsense as the insurance to future.

Does it Harm Adsense By Using Alternative

No, it doesn’t harm Adsense account if you use any sort of adsense alternative. Unless that ad distributor has malware codes or harmful viruses. Rather it can increase your revenue,

However, if you’re trying to get approval for Adsense again then I’ll recommend you to remove all ads and make website clean. This increases the chances of your approval.

Anyways, since we’re searching for the alternatives to adsense you can use multiple publishers program at the single website at a time.

Best Adsense Alternatives – Best Alternatives to Adsense

Ok since the whole article is about this, we’ve finally come to the main point. Believe me or not but there are way too many adsense alternatives you’ll get tired of testing. Here in this list, we’ve only mentioned the best adsense alternatives only.

Media.Net

Meida.Net also known as the Yahoo Bing Contextual Ad Network is the best adsense alternative among all. If you’ve enough traffic from American countries like US & Canada then you may probably generate higher income than the Adsense. I’ve used MediaNet before and believe that, they are really good when it comes about the quality and revenue.

As MediaNet shows the contextual ads which means the ads get customized highly related to your article. Due to this your earning can be satisfying with high CTR. They also allow you to add their ads in the fixed sidebar which also increases your revenue which adsense doesn’t allow to do.

Payment Method: Wire Transfer / Paypal

Minimum Payment Threshold: $100

Minimum Traffic: N/A

Mediavine

“If you ever get selected by MediaVine without any wait kick adsense out of your blog”, this is what I heard from the people using Mediavine. They have one of the fastest loading ads which are way too much faster than the Adsense ads. They also have some special publisher loyalty programmes to encourage the publishers. You would need a huge amount of organic traffic to be approved which means you should rank on top of Google.

Mediavine provides 70% of advertising share to publishers whereas adsense provides only 68%. So, this will be the major advantage for you. Also, publishers who are well performing and satisfying the advertisers get extra 5% (75%) commission as the reward.

As per the publishers who use MediaVine. The revenue from Mediavine is way too higher than adsense. But they don’t accept the websites focused on Asian countries such as Nepal, India, Pakistan etc. They approve the site only after seeing the full Google Analytics report of the site. In another word, getting approval to MediaVine is harder than approval in adsense. Also, once you get enrolled in the Mediavine you cannot use other ad distributors on your site. That’s their policy.

Payment Method: Paypal

Minimum Payment Threshold: N/A

Minimum Traffic: 25,000/mo

Infolinks

Without a doubt, Infolinks is the best Adsense substitute but it is completely different than the Adsense. In adsense, we can add ads to our desired area whereas in infolinks you have to select the ad types and ads will automatically be shown. This might be taken as advantage and disadvantage both.

Anyways, as per the user experience, Infolinks need a very high amount of US traffic from search engines in order to make a decent income. As per them, they give 70% of ad revenue to the publishers. They provide inText, inFrame, inSearch, and inTag ad types. However, your website must be in English and getting approval is comparatively easy.

Payment Method: PayPal, wire, eCheck, Western Union, ACH

Minimum Payment Threshold: $50

Minimum Traffic Required: N/A

Amazon Native Ads

There’s not a person online who haven’t heard about Amazon but do you know, the world’s largest online shopping portal also has its ad platform. I know, many of you might’ve already joined their affiliate program since it is one of the world’s most popular affiliate program.

However, Amazon Native Ads is not like any other CPM networks. Here, you need to make an actual sale to earn money from it. You usually earn same as in amazon affiliate network. The thing that is actually special is Amazon native ads recommendation engine. It recommends people very relevant products related to the specific article.

Amazon Native ads are great. They show very high quality and very targeted ads on the basis of your chosen category. They have three types of ads: recommendation ads, search ads and custom ads.

Payment Method: Check/ Payoneer

Minimum Payment Threshold: $100

Minimum Traffic Required: N/A

 Adversal

If you are interested in some sort of Popup ads (though they have other formats too), Adversal is the #1 choice for you. Why? Because they’ve best popups ad in the market, their ad codes are designed in such a way that most of the popup blockers do not detect it. So, what does that means? This means that your income will be high because no one can ever block your ads.

Also, Adversal pays for each raw impression not per click/ visitor. What does this mean? This means that your income will be much high if you can drive in the more traffic compared to other media. Why? Because they focus on impressions, not on visitors/ click. Similarly, Adversal has 7 different ad types like Banner, Leaderboard, Medium Rectangle, Ministerial, Pop-under, Skyscraper, Wide Skyscraper which makes your earning go to the top.

Payment Method: Paypal, Check or Wire Transfer

Minimum Payout: $20

Minimum Traffic Required: N/A

Admaven

Making its spot in the sixth spot Admaven is the best adsense alternative for low traffic websites. This network mainly focuses on the pop-under ads and has one of the best popunder ads in the business. Admaven also has other formats of payment too but pop-under ads are their signature. Admaven has a very good tracking system which assures that your readers only see the quality and targeted ads only.

Like that of Adversal, Admaven can also boost your revenue. How? Admaven also has developed very special codes for their ads which cannot be detected by most of the Pop-under ads blocker. So, this will give you up to 30% of earning boost. Admaven has following ad types. Pop-under ads, Pop-up banner ad, Slider ad, Interstitial ads, Lightbox ads, VPN banner.

Payment Method: Paypal, Payoneer, Wire Transfer (Requires $1000 and $40 fees) & Bitcoin

Minimum Payout: $50 or $1000

Minimum Traffic Required: N/A

Clicksor

Unlike other alternatives of adsense, clicksor is a little different. Some networks are only PPC network, some are CPI networks and blah blah blah… But clicksor has different types of ad formats as per the publishers’ requirement. Also, they do have different payout rates for different ad types. Take look at this one,

Clicksor comes with various types of Ad-types. You can find the ad types picture above. Also, one of the great advantages of using Clixsor is that the language doesn’t matter. What does that mean? This means that no matter in which language your content is written in, you can get approval and start earning from the clicksor.

Payment Method: Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer

Minimum Payout: $50

Minimum Traffic Required: N/A

Chitika

This is the network that I used for the first time when I was rejected by the Adsense for the first time? So, how was the experience? Though the network is brilliant (i am honest) I didn’t even make $10 from Chitika. The reason? Because I didn’t have much traffic (2-3/day) and I was already in greed of making money from my website. But later I realized that I should focus on increasing my website content and started writing more and more articles.

So, again after using it when I was able to get sufficient amount of traffic then the earning was decent (not as much as adsense). Chitika has only two ad types. They are Display (Banner ads) and In-line Text. I would recommend you to use Chitika only if you’ve decent traffic from search engine (North America recommended) and affiliate marketing doesn’t suit your website.

Payment Method: Check and PayPal

Minimum Payout: $10

Minimum Traffic Required: N/A

Revenue Hits

RevenueHits is another ad network that’s especially recommended for websites with low traffic or major traffic from places other than North America. According to Monetizepros, they give 2 billion impressions on ads every day. So, how does that help you? Since they have 2 billion ad views per day, you can be sure that their ads are relevant enough to convert into the dollars.

Two features that differentiate RevenueHits from its competitors are their free ad-block solution, which helps websites make up for the money they are losing when users have ad-blocking software on their browser. Also, They are committed to working with only clean ads, so you don’t need to worry that your visitors find ads for porn, hacking, gambling, and things like that on your website.

RevenueHits are Adsense alternatives that have many different ad types to help you earn more. Ad types include Display Banners, Pop-Ups/Unders, Buttons, Interstitials, as well as mobile-exclusive formats. This means you can choose among these various ad types for your websites which will obviously help increase your ad earnings.

Payment Method: PayPal, Wire, Payoneer

Minimum Payout: $20 for PayPal and Payoneer, $500 for Wire

Minimum Traffic Required: There is no traffic requirement, but it’s recommended to have 5,000 impressions per day.

Taboola

Unlike adsense Taboola has very easy and quick approval process. As soon as you apply, your application is reviewed shortly and then you are approved. This doesn’t mean that Taboola has low-quality ads. They just are grateful to their publishers and made these rules.

Taboola is not so strict. So, this means that you should not worry about rules breaking and all these shitty stuff. Taboola has Sponsored Content ads which means they’ll show sponsored content section. Taboola is used by leading companies like NYC, Forbes, BBC etc.

Payment Method: Direct Deposit via Payoneer.

Minimum Payout: N/A

Minimum Traffic Required: 500,000

Which Adsense Alternative is the  Best Choice for You?

By comparing all the best alternatives to adsense, we’ve chosen some best ones as per the publisher status. So, which one is the best suit for you? If you’re the publisher with more than 50,000 visitors per month then you might want to go with Mediavine.

They give you 70% of the ad revenue from the advertiser. Also, they’ve got very highly reputed and highly targeted advertisers in the business. Just follow their guidelines and apply and you’re ready to blast your account with tons of cash.

What if you’ve less traffic?

In this case, I would recommend you to go with MediaNet and Revenue Hits both. As per the people’s buzz in the forums, they believe that this combination helps to increase the earnings for the new website. Revenue Hits is a CPA website which pays even if the single action is completed and this will help a lot to the newbies.

Whereas, MediaNet is PPC ad network where you’ll earn on the basis of views and clicks of the ads. So, using these both together will help to give a significant rise to your earnings even without the Adsense.

However, if your site is related to cooking, gadgets or similar where your readers might be interested in products then Amazon Native Ads are great. I know it seems difficult to make sales but trust me, their ad’s recommendation engine is really cool. It recommends the exact products which your readers might be looking for.

Why only these adsense alternatives?

Honestly, there are more than 50+ google adsense alternatives. However, we only listed only a few of them. The reason?

Well, the rest of the alternatives to adsense were useless. There are networks like Bidvertiser which are known as best alternatives to adsense. However, they are not.

They pay you so less that you can say you were never paid. The companies like them actually just display useless ads on your site which obviously slows down your website more than any other alternatives.

On average, on such networks, you can get paid around $10 for 100,000 ad impressions and 10,000 clicks. No matter how good your CTR is and what is your niche. This is what you will get.

If you use above mentioned adsense alternatives, for the above mentioned stats you’ll easily make around $200-$300. However, still, it depends upon your niche.

Applying for a Google Adsense account is normally your first step to monetizing a blog.

But are there any good alternatives to Adsense when it comes to running ads and monetizing your site?

Well yes, there are and in this article, we will be introducing you to what I consider is one of the best alternatives to Adsense called Media.net along with 10 others that deserve your attention.

What is Media.net? – Is Media.net a good alternative to Adsense?

Media.net, which is a contextual ad network brought to you by Yahoo! and Bing together. 

Media.net is an alternative to AdSense that is getting some pretty good reviews from bloggers and publishers around the web.

Contextual Advertising is probably the easiest way to monetize a blog or site especially if you have just started or are thinking of starting a blog  or site.

Once it is set up there is really nothing else to do. 

What is Media.net? - Is Media.net a good alternative to Adsense? Click To Tweet

What is Contextual Advertising?

Contextual Advertising is the ads that you see down the side panels of sites or between text paragraphs.

In very basic terms, contextual advertising is the placement of ad campaigns on websites that are directly relevant to your visitors.

Relevant ads that match your content niche get better click-through rates, sales, and conversions

It is all about serving ads that your audience are interested in.

If your site is about electrical goods then it makes perfect sense to show ads about electrical goods.

Ana Gotter over at Disruptive Advertising has a great getting started guide to Contextual Advertising, it is worth a look if you want to drill down more

Contextual Advertising: What it is and Why it Matters

 

When you think of contextual advertising you probably think of Google Adsense but there are some very popular alternatives to Adsense that you should take a look at one of which is Media.net

Media.net is a leading contextual advertising company that works in collaboration with the Yahoo-Bing network and serves 70+ million paid ad clicks every single month.

Media.net ads are served on a number of leading publishers sites including NY Times, Forbes and Good Housekeeping to name just three where they display ads based on your content, that are always relevant.

The company was started back in 2010 by Divyank Turakhia . In 2016 Media.net was acquired for $900 Million by a Chinese consortium.

 

Who is Media.net for?

Media.net is targeted to small to large Bloggers and publishers who produce quality content.

If you are a small blog with quality content and a targetted audience you have a great chance of being accepted into the program.

Media.net features

• Contextual advertisements: These are relevant ads to match in and work with the type of content that you produce ensuring you receive a great click-through rate.
• Quality Ads: The quality of ads is high, yielding great returns from your hosted ads.
• Mobile Ads: Media.net mobile detection technology automatically detects mobile and smartphone browsers. This means that the ads that show via mobile always look good and so benefitting the Mobile Ux for your visitors which is good for your mobile SEO optimization .
• Multiple Websites per account: If you have more than one site then you can add them all to just one Media.net account. Each site that you add will need to be approved.
• Dedicated account manager: Getting new sites approved is fast and efficient with your dedicated account manager. Your account manager can assist you in all areas of your account and that includes the customization of your contextual ads so that they look great within your site design.
• Multiple Ad Sizes: Media.net has a whole range of different ad sizes that you can display on your site within your account 

 

As well as publishing contextual ads on your site you can also join the Media.net Premium Ambassador Program where you can earn additional Income

For every one of your referrals, you will earn 10% of their monthly income for 12 months straight.

The customer you refer to Media.net will also get a bonus of 10% on top of their regular earning for 3 months.

How to apply for an account

You can apply for an account by visiting the Media.net sign up page.

If you have multiple sites that you wish to serve ads on then you can add them all under one account.

Your account will be evaluated and once approved you will be assigned an account manager.

Once your application has been approved, you can start to set up your ad campaigns by adding the ad units of your choice to your website.

 

10 of the best alternatives to Adsense for 2018/19

Media.net is our chosen alternative to Adsense but there are more.

If Media.net is not for you then here 10 of the best and most popular alternatives to Adsense for 2018 and 2019 that are worth checking out.

Please note that the alternatives listed below are in no particular order.

 

Infolinks

Infolinks is another one of the popular alternatives to Adsense.

This popular Adsense alternative works best with text-heavy websites, so if you like to write long then Infolinks could be a good Adsense alternative for you.

The system picks words in your posts or articles and creates hyperlinks to ads

You can set a limit on the number of in-post text ads that Infolinks ads

You can also create ad blocks as a method of serving Infolinks ads.

Just like Adsense Infolinks pays for ad clicks and not impressions and has a minimum payout of $50

Infolinks Homepage

 

Bidvertiser

Bidvertiser is another great AdSense alternative if you didn’t get Adsense approval or got banned then your in luck because Bidvertiser offers instant approval.

With Bidvertiser you can literally monetize your site in just 5 mins after signing up for a publishers account.

Bidvertiser works differently to Adsense. 

Adsense shows contextual ads based on your content. Bidvertiser is more of a bidding system that allows advertisers to bid on your blog.

Revenues can be slow initially but once you are in the system you start to get found by the highest bidders

Bidvertiser has a minimum payout of just $10

Bidvertiser Homepage

 

Amazon Native Ads

Amazon Associates is the world’s largest affiliate program and a favorite with those who review or sell products.

But what you may not know is that it has an advertising program named “Native Shopping Ads”.

Amazon Native Ads only pay you for sales. They don’t pay for impressions or ad clicks.

If your site is based around products then native ads will convert very well for you.

But if your site is more service-based then displaying products on your site may not be the best way to go to monetize your site.

Amazon Native Ads

 

 

Propeller Ads

Propeller Ads is a UK based Ad network. It’s a CPM ad network (CPM – Cost per thousand, also called cost per mille) which pays for every 1000 ad impressions. 

There are many different ad styles that you can add to your website like, OnClick PopUnder Ads, Banner Ads, Layed Ads, Slider Ads, Video Ads, and Mobile Ads.
Propeller Ads  has a minimum payout of $50 for Paypal and $100 for Payoneer

Propeller Ads Homepage

 

Chitika

Both publishers and advertisers alike, use Chitika to supplement Google AdSense.

Chitika can be used as a replacement for your Adsense but you will need search traffic for Chitika to be effective. 

The downside to Chitika is that visitors to your site who land on your pages by clicking a link via social media or just by typing your URL into a browser are shown generic ads that are less appealing than those show to visitors who come from organic search results

Minimum payout is $50

Chitika has now closed down

 

VigLink

Viglink is one of the most popular alternatives to Adsense that takes links on your site and changes them to links that if clicked take you to a product and if the visit results in a purchase you receive commisions.

Product links are created against keywords used within your content

There is no minimum payout for VigLink – Payments are made via Paypal.

VigLink Homepage

 

 

BuySellAds

BuySell Ads is one of the best and highest paying alternatives to Adsense that there is.

You earn an impressive 75 cents for every dollar generated by the ads that you place on your site.

Because BuySellAds pays so well it is harder to get accepted for a publishers account.

You need a minimum of 100.000 page views per month to be accepted.

When you submit a site to BuySellAds for approval, your PageRank, Alexa score, inbound link count and other metrics are all taken into consideration to determine your site’s overall quality. 

You must also own the domain of the site you apply for.

You can’t add a Blogger site or a WordPress.com or any of the other online blogging sites.

BuySellAds Homepage

 

 

Adversal

Adversal is another high paying alternatives to AdSense.

You need 50,000 page views per month to be accepted as a publisher on Adversal.

Adversal is also one of the few ad networks that have an affiliate program that can provide an additional income stream.

The minimum payout is $20 via Paypal

Adversal HomePage

 

 

Clicksor

Clicksor is a great Adsense alternative that offers their publishers multiple ad formats including targeted contextual banner ads for use and clickable text ads.

The ads that display on your site follow the context of your site leading to a better click-through rate and more revenues.

Clicksor also offers an affiliate program that pays a 10% commission.

Payouts are on a weekly basis via PayPal or check.

The minimum payout threshold is currently $50. 

Clicksor Homepage

 

Revcontent

Revcontent is another of the popular Adsense alternatives that is worth looking at.

It is a Native Ads Network with some of the best quality ads in the industry.

Native Ads have much better engagement than regular banners.

They blend in well with blog sites as the ads look and feel just look like related articles and so are non-intrusive.

Revcontent has great CPCs, paying 1-10 cents per each click.

Revcontent Homepage

 

11 of the best alternatives to Adsense 2018 – Is Media.net a good alternative – Takeaways

There are a lot of Adsense alternatives that you can try if for some reason Adsense is not an option for you.

Media.net is the alternative that is the most like Adsense.

If you have experience in using Adsense then Media.net is a great option for you.

The Media.net Premium Ambassador Program is an added bonus that provides additional income

For every one of your referrals, you will earn 10% of their monthly income for 12 months straight.

The customer you refer to Media.net will also get a bonus of 10% on top of their regular earning for 3 months.

1. Monumetric (Formerly The Blogger Network)

Updated info:  Monumetric is now my highest earning advertising network.  I’ve been working with them for most of 2016.  This is still the case in 2018.  I earn more with Monumetric than with AdSense.  Read my Monumetric review here.

Monumetric uses header bidding which has improved performance.  Of course they aren’t the only outfit that offers header bidding.

They are very progressive in new ad concepts.  For example, they provide desktop/mobile sticky ad units which earn ridiculously well.  This ad network is a serious alternative to AdSense.

In the beginning I rolled them out slowly.  It didn’t take long to realize this ad network means business.  The revenue they generate for me is excellent.  I still don’t fully understand how they do it, but they have some excellent advertisers in their network (in addition to Ad Exchange).

Monumetric pays on a per page view basis instead of a per click basis.  This is great, especially since their CPM is reasonably good.

Here’s a recent earnings chart from Monumetric for my bigger site. While it’s not a fortune in revenue, keep in mind this is purely incremental revenue from sidebar and footer ad placements.

=> Click here for Monumetric

2. Ezoic

Ezoic is a different ad network concept altogether.  I’ve worked with them for quite a while.  Read more about Ezoic here (my very recent and upated Ezoic review).

I’m not currently using Ezoic, however, if you want to do some split testing, it’s a good platform to try.

Ezoic is a certified Adsense publisher.  Ezoic in a nutshell manages and optimizes your ad placement.  Their software for testing ad placement is amazing.

They provide Ad Exchange ads which you can set up to split test with your AdSense.  The split testing features are amazing.  Moreover, via Ezoic you can have 5 ad units on your site instead of the usual 3 permitted by AdSense.

Currently, I’m using Ezoic for mobile (AMP).  It takes several weeks for Ezoic to conduct testing.  In fact, testing never ends, but the first several weeks is when the system really tests a lot of ad placements and layouts.  As it does this testing, it rules out poorly performing layouts.

You can optimize your site for revenue, bounce rate and/or page views.  I choose to focus on revenue.

You do need an AdSense account in good standing in order to work with Ezoic.  If they accept your site into their system, I suggest embracing the opportunity.  Just be patient during the first few weeks because the revenue won’t be great as the system starts its testing… but it doesn’t take long for revenue to climb.

Generally, Ezoic states its system can significantly increase a site’s ad revenue through extensive testing, sometimes up to 200%+.  While I didn’t enjoy a 200% revenue increase, the revenue they can generate along with the split testing can help.  Moreover, I like the fact that they are a very knowledgeable sounding board for ad placement ideas.

If you use display ads on your site, I suggest giving Ezoic a shot.  However, don’t pull the plug on day 3.  You need to commit to letting the initial extensive testing run its course.

New Ezoic Info (November 2016):  Ezoic is launching an AMP (accelerated mobile pages) app that will turn your mobile display into AMP for Google search engine visitors.  This is very exciting.  Ezoic is in the process of setting me up with this.  Moreover, Ezoic will monetize the AMP pages, which isn’t so easy to do since you must create AMP specific ads in AdSense.  I will cover this in more detail once it’s up and running on my site (any day now).

=> Click here for Ezoic

3. Media.net

I’m not currently using Media.net but I have extensively.  I’m not using them because my placements are maxed out with a few AdSense ads and then mostly Monumetric which has worked great for me.

However, I think most smaller publishers should try Media.net.  Even bigger publishers.  The ads can pay well.  This is especially the case if you don’t have an AdSense account.

They offer terrific ad customization resulting in high ad conversion and the RPM is decent.  The ads are link units that look fabulous and come in many designs.  Often they look like menu navigation with text links.  These units can get an excellent click through rates in many niches (not all niches, but many).  It’s a contextual ad network in that the keywords in the ads are based on the sites’ content.

You can place up to 3 ad units on a page.

Overall, Media.net is a little more lenient about placement than AdSense… although they do have a terms of service you must be familiar with.  Like Adsense, Media.net (and all quality ad networks) will not tolerate garbage traffic and click fraud.

Since starting with Media.net, I’ve consistently increased my revenue with them.  Here’s a recent earning screenshot (just to show you can actually earn decent revenue with their ad network.

Just as you need AdSense approval with AdSense, you must also apply and be approved with Media.net.

=> Click here for Media.net

Media.net updates:

In November 2016 they’re rolling out in-image ads.  I’m in their beta program to see how they perform.  This could be an exciting additional offering.

In 2018 they rolled out video ads.

4. My favorite video ad platform

I use one video ad on my 3 biggest sites and combined they generate $3,500 to $5,500 per month with CPMs ranging from $8 to $10.  I’ve tried many video ad networks and the one I use is by far the best.

Why is it so good?

• It’s silent by default.
• There’s a sticky feature so that you can have float in the bottom right.  The longer the display, the more your earn.  This is a very powerful feature.
• It includes video content relevant to my niches.  In other words, it’s not all ads.  It actually includes some cool content that gets visitors attention.
• It does not slow down my site.
• It pays extraordinarily well.  No ad unit I’ve ever used generated such a high CPM.

Which video ad network is it?

Click here to learn more.

5. Criteo

Update: Criteo is no longer available for publishers.

6. GumGum

Specifically, I used GumGum image overlay ads.  These are ads that display banners at the bottom of images.  I often consider putting their ads on my sites again, but I’m pretty maxed out right now and fear it would be overkill.

My B2C niche sites are image-rich, so GumGum is a perfect ad network to add to the site.

You can choose how aggressive the ads display such as 10% of images, 20% of images and so on.  I go with 12% to 15%.  I don’t want every image to have an ad on them.

The one issue with GumGum is you need to have a minimum of 500,000 monthly page views in order to have an account.  If you get this traffic volume and have images on your site, I recommend you give them a shot.

=> Click here for GumGum

7. Amazon CPM

Amazon ended their CPM display ad program.

8. Spoutable

UPDATE 2018:  I’m using Spoutable’s exit intent ad on 2 niche sites.  It’s a nice chunk of incremental income.

Spoutable is a new ad network and it’s a very smart concept.  Essentially, Spoutable uses exit intent technology.  When a visitor indicates they are leaving the site by placing cursor on the browser address bar, the Spoutable ads pop up.

Spoutable ads are in the same format as native ads.  Basically they promote other content much like Taboola and Outbrain ads.  This is good because the ads are promoting other interesting content… not hard-selling something.

The engagement is quite high.  I think the ads look great.

Currently, Spoutable is on an invite-only basis, but you can apply here.

Here are some recent earnings I’ve had with Spoutable.  Revenue fluctuates somewhat, but that’s common with many ad networks.

Note:  Currently I’m testing Spoutable by turning them on and off to see if they cannibalize other ad networks.  I don’t think they are, but I always do this testing with new ad networks.  Overall, the revenue is decent.  If you get an invite to use them, I suggest you test them as well.

=> Click here for Spoutable

9. EngageBDR

EngageBDR invited me to place some of their ads on my site.  They offered a very high RPM so I gave it a shot.

The revenue these ads generated was awesome and it was based on a CPM basis.  That said, I know their ads generated a lot of clicks… and if those clicks didn’t happen on my site, EngageBDR would have ended their relationship with me.

However, I’m no longer running EngageBDR ads on my site because their ads were slowing my site down.  They were gif format.  They tried to fix the issue, but it wasn’t fixed.  I had readers complained about site performance, so I removed the ads.  I didn’t like removing the ads because they made a lot of money, but I can’t sacrifice user experience for the sake of revenue to the degree these ads did.

I’m including EngageBDR in this list because I think you should give them a shot if you can get into their ad network.  Perhaps you won’t have the same site issues I did.  If you don’t, you can make a lot of money with them… in fact if your site performs well for them (i.e. you generate a lot of converting traffic for them), these ads could exceed Adsense revenue on an RPM basis.

=> Click here for EngageBDR

I ran EngageBDR ads for a short time (March 12 to March 31) – here’s what they earned:

10. Taboola

Taboola ads are native advertising ads.  These ads link to popular and enticing content.  You’ve likely seen them on other websites… they’re the ads that follow “From the Web” or some similar phrase.

Taboola is an ad network I don’t use much.  It’s one I haven’t had a great deal of success with.  However, I’m including Taboola because I have publisher colleagues who generate a great deal of revenue with them.

For some reason Taboola ads don’t work all that great in my niche.  But they do perform well in many niches, so I suggest you give them a shot.  These ads have a relatively high CTR and with a lot of traffic, can generate some great revenue.

Typically these ads are placed in sidebars and below content.  You should also definitely test some in-content placement as well.

FYI, Taboola isn’t the only native ad network.  There are many of them.  Too many to list.  Outbrain is another popular native ad network, but you need millions of monthly page views in order to place Outbrain’s ads on your site.  Taboola doesn’t have such a high threshold.

=> Click here for Taboola

11. Vibrant Media

I used Vibrant Media’s in-text ads for several months.  I earned $7 to $10 per day.  It wasn’t much.  I don’t use them any more; however, I’m including them in this list because I think they’re worth trying.

The reason they didn’t do well for me is because my B2C sites are image-rich.  The text is much less important.  Since Vibrant Media’s in-text offering is focused on in-text links, I’m not surprised they didn’t do well for me.

If your site is rich with text-based information and you get 500,000 monthly page views, I suggest testing Vibrant Media.

=> Click here for Vibrant Media

12.  RevContent

RevContent is in my view the most progressive native ad network.  They have some amazing ad options, especially for mobile.

I tested them quite a bit.  I love them, but unfortunately they weren’t a great fit for my niche.

That said, I think every site that uses ads to monetize should try RevContent because if it is a good fit, they can make you a ton of money.  I’ve seen revenue from colleagues and it’s very, very high.  The revenue CPC can be excellent in certain niches.

=> Click here for RevContent

13. PowerInbox

I’m currently using PowerInbox to monetize my email newsletters.  If you can’t seem to generate much or any revenue with your email newsletter but have a good number of subscribers, give PowerInbox ads a shot.

PowerInbox provides native ads that you can insert into your email newsletter.  They’re fairly engaging and their algorithm adjusts over time so that it serves ads your readership responds to.

The ad units are horizontal and vertical units (called stripes).  You can place one, two or more stripes in your newsletter.

I’m getting $7 to $14 RPM from these units which I’m happy about.

=> Click here for PowerInbox

14. Skimlinks

I’ve known about Skimlinks for years.

Update 2018:  I use Skimlinks on all sites now and love it.  It makes adding affiliate links so much easier and faster.  I wrote a full-blown Slimlinks review here.

Skimlinks is a monetization platform that turns all links to merchants in their network into affiliate links.  For example, if you place a link to Amazon.com, Skimlinks will turn that into an affiliate link.

3 Main reasons I use Skimlinks:

Skimlinks is an affiliate marketing tool turning links into affiliate links sitewide.

You might be thinking, why would I choose to pay a middle person a part of commissions when I can insert affiliate  links directly on my site and earn more.  It’s a good question.  There are 3 main reasons I use Skimlinks:

1. Convenience and Efficiency:  I have writers produce most of my content.  They place links to various merchants.  By using Skimlinks, I don’t have to go back into that content and place my affiliate links.  Moreover, I don’t have to apply to dozens or hundreds of merchants because Skimlinks has relationships with something like 20,000 plus merchants.
2. Higher commission rates:  Skimlinks has negotiated higher commission rates with some merchants so even though Skimlinks skims some money off the top, the net commissions to me can be higher.
3. Reporting:  While Skimlinks reporting could be improved, the reporting is super convenient and I can see which web pages on my site generates the most affiliate commissions across all merchants very quickly.

The main reason I use Skimlinks is with so many writers on my sites creating links to merchants, it saves me a ton of time because I don’t have to go back and insert affiliate links.

Am I making more money with Skimlinks?

No, but I’m not making less.  My affiliate commissions have always fluctuated, but overall my affiliate revenue remains about the same.  Therefore, I love the convenience of using Skimlinks.

Also, I do not set Skimlinks to override existing affiliate links.  I only have Skimlinks turn non-affiliate links into affiliate links.

=> Click here for Skimlinks

15. Amazon Native Ads

Amazon native ads are a performance-based advertising program.  Basically Amazon provides you code which generates attractive product grids you can place anywhere on your site.  If your site content revolves around topics for which there are physical products available, these units can perform very well.

In order for you to earn revenue, a site visitor must click a link or image in the ad and then purchase something at Amazon from which you earn a commission.

These units are available and can be created in your Amazon Associates portal.

16. Infolinks

I recently gave Infolinks a try.  I love their platform.  I like some of their ad offerings, but I’m very happy with my current ad mix and since my sites are image-centric, the text link ads didn’t really do well.  I do think, however, if your site has plenty of text that Infolinks is worth trying.

Infolinks is popular ad network.  Their claim to fame is turning text into link ads on your site.  They aren’t affiliate links like Skimlinks; instead, the ads pay per click.

Since then, Infolinks has expanded its ad offerings to include the following:

• Intext:  These are the ads that put them on the map.  Basically Infolinks turns keywords on your page into hyperlinks.  When a visitor hovers the cursor or finger over the link, an ad pops up.
• Infold: These are pretty obtrusive, but can earn well.  It’s a large ad that appears from the bottom of your site.
• Inframe: These are gutter ads.
• Inscreen: These are pop up ads.
• Inarticle:  These are link units you can put pretty much anywhere on our site.

I’m considering running their inframe ads again.  I don’t have these types on my site and so it’s a unique offering that may add some nice incremental revenue.

=> Click here for Infolinks

17. Mediavine

I believe you need an active AdSense account to use Mediavine.  You also need 35,000 monthly page views.  While I don’t use Mediavine, I’ve talked to many publishers who do and have had outstanding results.

Based on what I’ve heard, they are a definite must-try.

Why don’t I use them?  They denied me.  I still can’t figure it out.  I’ve never been denied an ad network except for Mediavine and AdThrive.  Go figure.

18. AdThrive

Like Mediavine, I’ve heard from publishers that AdThrive gets amazing results.  I’d like to try them but my application was rejected.  I was given no reason either.

If you can get in, it’s worth trying.  They handel all ad optimization which saves you time.  I know I’d save time from my tinkering.

19. Nativo

Nativo is a new addition to my site.  Revenue has been okay.  The concept is unique.  The ad they put on your site links to an article they provide.  The article is also on your site (they load the article and ad from their end).

Nativo told me they prefer sites within a niche rather than general websites.

20. Underdog Media

Underdog Media has some great display ad options such as gutter ads, slide-in ads and sticky ads.  I see their ads on a lot of sites. They’re a pretty big player.  I ran them for a while, but prefer Monumetric’s sticky ads.

I like Underdog’s gutter ads, but like in-image ads, it’s just too much at this point for my site.

One Other Ad Network to Try (if you can get approved)

If you can get approved, try exponential (formerly called Tribal Fusion).  I think that is would be a very good alternative to AdSense.

I applied to exponential (when it was called Tribal Fusion) and was denied.  This was about 2 years ago, so maybe I’d be approved now… I don’t know.  They talk a big talk and it seems they do perform well.  However, they are very, very difficult to be approved for.  They have a 500,000 monthly page view threshold, strict website quality requirements and they require that you place their ads above-the-fold.

If you can be approved, I think you definitely want to try Tribal Fusion.  One day maybe I’ll be approved for one of my sites.

If you’ve been banned by AdSense, you definitely want to see if you can get into exponential.

Comments About Using Multiple Ad Networks

One of Ezoic’s recent updates is that they now permit you to run ad networks in addition to Ezoic.  When I first used Ezoic I could not use additional networks that participated on Ad Exchange (such as Media.net).  That was a huge problem for me because Media.net has always been such a great revenue source.

However, in 2015 Ezoic completely revamped their platform and now permit me to use Media.net and other ad networks in addition to Ezoic.

It’s a balancing act when adding more ads to any web page.  You want to avoid cannibalization of your higher earning ads.

This why it’s good to test new ad networks one-by-one to determine how additional ad networks impact overall revenue.

The reason the above mix of ads works well as an Adsense alternative or in addition to Adsense ads is they offer unique features and operate differently.  For example, GumGum enables you to monetize images.

Media.net ads perform very well in content and below content because the ads look like navigation options.  Amazon CPM ads work great because you can place them anywhere and earn on a strict CPM basis.

More is not necessary more.  Less is not necessary more.  It takes testing.  Every site is unique.  What works well for me may not work well for you.  Nevertheless, the above list is a set of proven ad networks that you can test.

Even if you discover only one additional ad network that works well for you, the 6 minutes it took to read this list was time well spent.

Adsense Compliance

As far as I know, all of the above ad networks are fine to use with Adsense on a web page.  Please note that I am not a Google Adsense employee and so I don’t know for sure… however, I’ve no issue incorporating the above ads on my site with Adsense.  I just ensure the ads aren’t placed next to Adsense and I ensure the ads do not appear in a similar style to Adsense ads.

How to choose the right ad network(s) for you

If you still have an AdSense account, you’ll probably include AdSense units on your site because it undeniably will earn money very well relative to other networks… but I suggest testing additional ad networks.  Even though AdSense lifted the ad unit cap, it’s not a free-for-all … in fact I recently learned how many AdSense units was too many on one of my niche sites.

If you don’t have an AdSense account anymore or are waiting for AdSense approval, don’t sweat it.  There are many other great networks and ad varieties you can use to generate revenue.

I’ve tested and used many ad networks over the years.  I get proposals every week to use a new ad network.   Here are some tips on choosing the best networks for your site(s):

Be judicious:

It takes time to add code and test new ads.  Therefore, don’t feel you have to jump and work with every ad network that contacts you.  Check out their units and ask yourself: “will these ads look good on my site and could they do well?”

You’ll also want to ask what are some of the higher CPM rates other publishers with them earn.  I ask this immediately.  If they reply $2 or less, I’m not interested.  If they say $5 or more, we’ll talk.  I’ll then inquire which types of ads are generating such CPMs.  If the ads are insanely annoying, I’ll decline.

Test slowly

When I test a new ad network, I don’t just stick the unit in the best spots.  I put the units below the fold and see how they do there.  I realize they won’t earn a ton there, but if they do well there relative to other networks, I’ll keep working with them.

Minimum Payout

I NEVER choose an ad network based on minimum payout.  That’s kind of lame feature to promote.  Don’t get suckered by the lowest a low payout threshold.  What you want is to look for ad networks that will pay well per 1,000 visitors.

FYI, a payment threshold is how much you must earn before you’re eligible to receive payment.

Are the ads unique?

I like unique offerings.  In fact, I like ad diversity on my site. That’s a big reason I work with multiple ad networks.

These days you can put ads anywhere at almost any time.  When choosing ad networks, think about what each offers for your site and where they’ll go.  That said, you don’t want so many ads on your site that visitors can’t read/view/watch your content.  It’s a balancing act.

Here’s a list of the main types of ads (a website advertising glossary) available for a website.

• RPM: Revenue per 1,000 page views.
• EPMV: Ezoic’s preferred ad revenue tracking metric.  It stands for “earnings per 1,000  visitors”.
• CPC: Cost per click. It means you earn money when an ad is clicked.
• CPM: Cost per 1,000 ad impressions.  Some ads pay per impression.
• CPA: Cost per action:  You earn revenue only after an action is taken subsequent to the ad click.  Example is someone fills in a form or buys something.
• Contextual ads: Ads which are based on the website content.
• Link Units: Text link ads.  Usually a list of keywords linked to a landing page.  You usually don’t earn until a link on the second landing page is clicked.  I wrote about Link Units in detail here.  Ad Networks that offer these are AdSense and Media.net.
• Pop-under ad: These units are large ads that show up when you close a website/window.
• Pop-up ad: These are units that pop up on top of a website.  The trigger can be time-on-site, percent down the page or clicking something.
• Text ads:  These are text-based ads.  Many networks offer these.  They’re standard fair.
• Image/rich media banner ads
• Interstitial: These are full page ads that appear arriving to a site and/or when clicking to another page on the site.  They’re very intrusive, but can earn a lot of money.
• Native: These are ads that promote regular content.  They’re classic clickbait and go to long-form content pages.
• In-text advertising: These are ads created from words in the text.  An example is the Infolinks network.
• Performance-based Advertising: These are ads that pay based on some performance threshold, usually affiliate links that pay a percent of the ensuing sale of something.
• Mobile Ad: More and more ad networks focus on mobile ads.  Ads are smaller for mobile and may behave differently.  There really aren’t a lot of placement options for mobile ads yet ad networks continually scramble to come up with a big mobile earner.
• Gutter ads: These are ads that are placed on the left and/or right of a website in the gutter space.  They can be sticky, which means they float down the page as a visitor scrolls down the page.
• Sticky ads:  A term used to describe any ad unit that sticks or floats down the screen as a visitor scrolls down the page.
• In-image overlay ads: These are ads that appear on top of images.  GumGum, Vibrant and now Media.net offer these units.
• Video ads: Video ads are growing in popularity.  These can pay really well.  Essentially they’re commercials.  Some are more informative while others are blatant sales messages.  There are many formats for these units such as full video players provided by the ad network as well as in-banner video options.  Video ad testing alone can be big job.
• Lead Gen Forms: There are ad networks which provide leadgen forms you can place on your site.  If a form is filled out, you get paid.  These are restricted to specific niches.
• Fly-in: These ads fly in from the side or bottom.  They’re kind of annoying but can pay well.
• Anchor ads: Anchor ads that stick to the bottom of the screen.  They’re most popular on mobile devices, but you can get them for desktop and tablet.

Should you use an ad optimization service?

If testing and setting up ads drives you crazy, you can opt to go with an ad management service.

An ad management service handles all ad monetization.  Their fee is usually a percent of the revenue generated.  If you’re inexperienced with ad testing or can’t be bothered doing it, using an ad optimization service can dramatically increase your ad revenue.

What do ad management services do for you?

They’ll test many things in order to achieve the best RPM such as:

• Site layout
• Ad placement
• Ad networks
• Types of ads/ad format
• Ad color and design
• User experience

All of these factors go into ad optimization.  Because there are many variables, there are many, many configurations that can be tested. I explain more about site layout and ad optimization here.  If you don’t use a service, these are variables you’ll want to test as well so that you maximize the revenue from each ad space on your site.

Examples of ad optimization services:

Ezoic:  Ezoic offers full management (via software) as well self-directed options for ad placement.  I’m a big fan of Ezoic because they work with a lot of ad networks, their testing capabilities are terrific, they’re progressive with mobile and their reporting is fantastic.  FYI, for mobile I’ll be using the full layout tester platform with the AMP module very shortly.  I think this will be huge.

AdThrive:  I’ve never used AdThrive, but I’ve read good things.  I’ve seen some impressive revenue numbers from them.  Moreover, I’ve seen sites that they manage and I can say from my experience, they know where to put ads so that they generate good revenue.  While I haven’t used them, I think they would be worth trying out if you don’t like testing ads yourself.

IMPORTANT tip for using ad management services:  Some ad management services will want you to sign a long term contract.  I would not do this unless the promised money was mind-blowing.  However, and this is the kicker, extravagant promises means the number of ads and annoyance level may be very, very high.  If you commit long term, you may lose control over this, which is something I don’t think I could give up.  The fact is some types of ads can (or will shortly) hurt SEO (i.e. interstitial ads). In my view, ads that hurt search engine optimization aren’t worth it at all unless you really don’t care about search engine traffic.