In our previous blog post we talked about how to create a mobile-friendly website. Now we’d like to show you how to best monetize your mobile site with AdSense Mobile product offerings. AdSense for Mobile Content AdSense for mobile content allows publishers to generate earnings from their mobile web pages using targeted Google ads. Below are some key features. Contextual targeting ensures ads match the content of your mobile site. Google advertisers bid directly for your mobile inventory. Mobile-specific ad formats are optimized for the small screen. For mobile websites, AdSense automatically detects the type of phone viewing your site and delivers ads to match. For example, if someone views your site through a high-end smartphone, we'll deliver mobile ads specifically designed for the device’s full HTML browser. It’s important to note that AdSense for mobile content ad units are meant to be used in mobile websites and not mobile applications - as noted in our policies. If you’re looking for an advertising solution for your mobile application, sign up for AdMob. Custom Search Ads for Mobile If you currently use Custom Search Ads for your desktop, we’re happy to let you know that publishers can now also apply to use this feature on mobile sites and apps. Custom Search Ads for Mobile are highly targeted ads that are based on user queries from a mobile website. These ads typically monetize at a high rate and publishers are able to customize the look and feel of the ads to best integrate with the user experience on the page. The ads can be fixed to the frame or scroll along with the results. If you're already an AdSense publisher and want to get started with ads on your mobile site, you’ll find the Mobile Content button under the ‘My Ads’ tab. If you're not a publisher yet, sign up. Posted by Anja Kuncic, AdSense Optimization Specialist 13 comments |

Did you know that there will be a mobile device for every person on earth by 2015, and that mobile searches have grown by 4x since 20101? That means that every day more and more of your users are looking for your content…on mobile devices. What’s their experience like? Can they easily read what’s on the screen without pinching and zooming? Do you have links that are difficult to click instead of user-friendly navigation buttons?

61% of users are unlikely to return to a site that isn’t mobile friendly2. It’s important to remember that even if users can see a website on a smartphone, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the site is mobile-friendly and easy to navigate. Your users are going mobile as we speak, and so the most important thing you can do to grow your business using the mobile web is to create a mobile-friendly website.

Here are ten tips to help you design a mobile-friendly site:
Keep it quick - Design your site to load fast and make copy easy to scan
Simplify navigation - Create clear navigation and search functionalities
Be thumb-friendly - Design your site so any size hand can easily interact with it
Design for visibility - Make it easy for your customers to read
Make it accessible - Mobile sites should work across all mobile devices
Make it easy to convert - Create clear ways for your users to make purchases or contact you
Make it local - Consumers look for local info on their phones all the time
Make it seamless - Convert as much of the functionality of your desktop site to mobile
Use mobile site redirects - Ensure that visitors who visit your website from a mobile device are redirected to your mobile-friendly site
Listen, learn and iterate - Make testing and optimization an ongoing process
To review a detailed set of these best practices, download a copy of the 10 Mobile Site Best Practices. Visit howtogomo.com to explore actual mobile site examples of each best practice and use the GoMoMeter to see how your site is faring on mobile*.

Finally, take a look at Google Sites for Mobile Landing Pages*, a free and easy-to-use tool that enables you to build mobile pages.

1Gartner, 2010; Google Internal Data, 2011; Cisco, 2011

2Compuware and Brand Anywhere and Luth Research

*Note: These resources are currently only available in English, but will be available in other languages shortly.

Posted by Dairine Kennedy, AdSense Mobile Specialist