While some of the listings within Tutorials, Articles on AdSense Optimizing also cover filtering ads, these listings are specifically about this topic. Should you filter out MFAs and low-paying ads in addition to competitors? Many feel it's worthwhile and increases their earnings, while some don't. See these articles and forum discussions to help you decide.
- Competitive Ad Filter
Google's official help, support information about the AdSense Competitive Ad Filter. Includes how to use it, how to locate the URLs of the ads you wish to filter without clicking on the links (important!), and more. [Website section: Google Help Center.] - Filtering Ads
Index page listing all the FAQs and information about filtering ads within Google AdSense. This is Google's official help, support information. [Website section: Google Help Center.] - To Filter or not to Filter: Google says I filter too much...
Discussion of Google's Optimization Team's monthly optimization report that always seems to tell everyone to reduce the number of filters in their competitive ad filter. Discusses using competitive ad filters for low-paying ads and MFAs, not just for competitors. Excellent tips on using an Excel spreadsheet:
More insight, ideas, and discussion here, too. [Forum thread beginning 10/16/2007 - ongoing, WebmasterWorld.]Keep track of your filter list in an Excel sheet. Upon entering look up once other relevant information, e.g. registrant or target IP address. Then determine whether these guys are annoying, bad or really bad. ;-) When you run out of space, throw out the annoying ones first. If you still need more space, have a look at the bad ones' Alexa charts. Often, from the chart you can already see whether they are still actively advertising (in this case you see a spike in traffic). Then you may be able to release the sites in question as well. Never release the really bad sites. They will keep on advertising. Maybe they are just pausing their campaigns and do the domain-switch thing...
- Google AdSense: How did I Increase My AdSense Revenue with SAME CTR?
Tremendous insight here on how the author had “done everything right” with keyword-rich content, good SEO, and more, but he still had low earnings. He carefully analyzed his site's ads to find consistently low-paying ads inundating his site. This article goes into detail about how he figured all this out and then how he solved the problem. Fantastic article and unique insight and helpful ideas here. A must-read article on AdSense.[Article/tutorial dated 12/15/2006, by Raj, BlogHASH.] - Using the Competitive Ad Filter to Increase AdSense Earnings
Blog post that explains how bad MFA sites are for your site visitors that click on MFA site ads, in addition to negatively impacting your AdSense earnings. Editor note October 2007: Although Google has taken action to ban MFA sites since this blog post was written, there are still plenty out there. [Article/tutorial dated 11/04/2006, by John Chow, John Chow dot Com.] - What does YOUR Filter Look Like?
In addition, “What types of sites end up there, and are there any trends you notice?” In addition to responses about filters, you'll find other tips, such as using Excel to track your filters. Some tell what and why they filter certain ads, such as direct competitors, parked domains, scams and email harvesting schemes, eBay, 'get rich quick' schemes and others. Also a lively debate on whether or not it really matters to filter out ads - pros and cons. [Forum thread beginning 07/27/2007 - ongoing, WebmasterWorld.] - Why filter MFA and Directory Sites?
Excellent discussion on the pros and cons of using AdSense Competitive Ad filters to block MFAs.
