How To Monetize Adsense For Search On Your Blog

Adsense for Search is another brilliant way to earn money from your Google Adsense Account. It’s implemented by putting an individually-coded search panel to your blog. 

Generally, it’s useful to add a search box to your blog so that your visitors can find information posted on your site, and indeed on the entire web. However, just doing this means that you do not benefit when these visitors actually buy or use something they found because you pointed them in that direction. Customising and monetizing your search box is therefore a sensible option to consider. Once the codes have been added to your blog, you don’t have to do anything more.

Additional reading: How Do I Blog

Recommended practises when implementing 'Adsense for Search'

• Ensure that your search panel is easy to find. Place it at the top of the page so that visitors can see it without scrolling down.
• It’s a good idea to have 2 search boxes. Having one in the middle or at the bottom of the page ensures that your readers will find it once they have scrolled down.
• If you can, integrate the search results within your own site so that visitors stay longer on your page, thus increasing your bounce rate.
• Ensure that ads are placed at the top of the search results page – not at the side or bottom.
• Customise the search results page so that it matches with the colours used on your blog.

How to get your 'Adsense For Search' code

Keep this window open and I'll go over it step by step with you. Now, go into your Google accounts and sign into your Adsense account.

Go into Adsense Setup

Click on Adsense for Search. This brings you to a page with the following:

Search type - either choose your sites manually or opt for the entire web. It’s better to click on ‘only sites I select’ because obviously you can fully customise your search pages to suit the needs of your target audience. However, for now, for the sake of simplicity (and time), we’ll just go with the entire web. Later when you’ve set all this up, you can come back and spend time sorting this out. When you do so, just repeat the above and click on ‘edit this ad’ to change anything you like.

Optional Keywords - put some keywords relating to your site in this panel. If you manage a gardening blog, when your readers type in ‘pots’ in your search panel you want them to find  plant pots - not cooking pots. This gives the user a better experience on your site because it means targeted search results will be geared towards exactly what your audience is looking for. For example, I typed in the word, songs into a Google search and was given the entire web with results relating to millions of songs. I typed the same word into my relationship blog search panel and was given, love songs, relationship songs and songs relating to children and family. (These were my keyword choices).

~Set your site language and country. It’s also beneficial to add or manage your channel. This will be useful later to help you identify which panel works best for you. To do this, click on 'Add a new channel'. You’ll be given a panel. Choose a name and type it in. Do this every time you create a new search box.

~By all means, use Safe Search.

Look and Feel - It’s helpful to customise your brand to suit the colours and style of your blog page. Keep your search box long and generous so that it’s very obvious to your readers.

Opening of search results page - Choose to open results within your own blog because visitors will stay for much longer on your site. They’ll be able to read the search results while still on your site and you’ll see your bounce rate improve dramatically. Having said this, I’ve found out (after hours of wasted time) that Blogger does not support this option. You can still implement and monetize your Adsense for search on Blogger, but you’ll have to open the search results page on Google instead of on your own blog. I'll show you how to do this below.

If you’ve chosen to open results in your own page, go to your blog and create a blank page. Some blogs allow you to build standalone pages. If you can’t do this, just create a blank post page, give it a name that relates to your blog (like Gardening Google Search or Search for Wooden Furniture – for example). Publish this page and keep it open. You will need to come back to it later. For now, copy the url of the blank page you’ve just created and paste it into panel where required.

Opening of search results page for Blogger users - You have to open results in Google. Choose in a different window or in the same window – whatever suits you.

The look and colours of search results - There are over 200 colours to choose from here. Use them to the full advantage and play around until you get it right. Blogger users will also be shown a sample logo and be asked for a logo image url. This is simply an image you'd like to place at the top of your search results page. When people use your search panel, they'll see this (your) personal logo at the top. Choose any image you like, but it has to be on the Internet with a proper url.  

~Tick the box to show the image above the search box. If you’re at a loss, just open a new browser window and search for images. Type in the name of your blog. You’ll find images that you’ve used on your blog before. One of them should be your blog header. Click on the picture you want, then click on ‘see full size image.’ This will appear on the right of each picture you click on. Only by clicking on this phrase will you get the direct url of that image. Copy this url. Go back to your adsense for content page, and paste it into the ‘logo image URL’ panel . Click anywhere on the page to say you're done.

~Click the box to agree to Google’s terms, name your search engine and ‘submit and get code.’

Ad Location for non-Blogger users - Top and Right is by far the best position for your search box, based on Google's research. Finish off the style of the search results on your page. Toggle the colour palettes to choose the one that works best for you.

NOTE TO ALL: sometimes you get a message that says there has been an error in submitting the code. Don’t start over again if you do. Just go into Adsense set up. Adsense for search. Scroll down to Custom Chanel (you’ll see two options here: manage channels and add a new channel). Scroll down from ‘No channel selected’ and click on the name of the one you’ve just created (see, naming it is important!). Make sure everything is the same as you selected and ‘get code.’

Get code for non-Blogger users - This proved to be very tricky for me because the directions on this page are not very clear. I’ve set out exactly what you have to do below. If you follow these guidelines it should be pretty straight-forward. 

If you’ve chosen to show the search results on your own site (this means you don’t have a Blogger blog) you will be given two sets of codes. Copy the first set. 

~Go into your blog’s layout page and ‘add a gadget’. 

~Choose the ‘HTML/JavaScript’ gadget. 

~Add this where you want the search panel to appear on your blog (we said the top right hand is the best place for it to be). 

~Paste the code you copied from the Adsense for Search page into the ‘content’ space of your HTML/Javascript gadget and save this. 

~Now you have your customised search panel displayed on your blog. This will not work properly unless you have the second set of code imbedded in your blog. Remember that blank page you created? Copy the second set of codes and paste them into this blank page on your blog. 

~Save. 

Now whenever someone types a word or phrase into your customised search panel they will be sent to this page where your results will be displayed.

Get code for Blogger Users - You will be given just one set of codes. Copy this. 

~Go into Blogger Layout. 

~Add a Gadget. 

~Pick HTML/JavaScript. 

~Paste code into the space. 

~Save. 

We said that the recommended place for your search box is at the very top of your blog page. Your search results will be displayed in Google, but it will give you the opportunity to earn money, should any of the searches yield a conversion (like a sale or an action). If you look at the very top of the search results page you should see your Google publisher account number and your nice little logo!

Enjoy and let me know how you get on.
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