5.5 Ad Link Units

So far,I 've been talking about where to put your ads and I 've recommended above the fold, with little competition and suggested that you might want to put them in a table. But you should also think about which kinds of ads you want to place where.
Ad Link units let you place a box on your site that contains four or five links.
They come in sizes ranging from 20 x 90 to 200 x 90, and are really meant to be placed on a sidebar.
Because you can place one Ad Link unit as well as three other units on the page,you might find that the choice helps:if a user doesn 't spot something interesting in one type of ad block, he might spot it on another. 
Where Ad Links differ from other types of ads is that they only display a list of topics that Google believes are relevant to the content of your pages. They don 't display the ads themselves.When a visitor clicks on a topic,Google pops up a new window with targeted ads.
It can be argued that the Ad Links are ineffective because people have to go through two clicks in order for you to get paid.That 's right,you only get paid for the second click (but that does mean you can check to see which ads your users are being served.)
But it can also be argued that if someone is taking the time to click on a topic, then they are probably very interested and are likely to click an actual advertisement on the resulting page. Some people have found that just about everyone who clicks on an Ad Link will click on the ads that appear on the next page.
I have tested Ad Links on multiple sites and have seen vast differences in results. That makes it more difficult to say whether or not they are for you.

In the first case, I placed the Ad Links on an information-based site with a very general audience. The results were nothing to write home about. Let's just say that you could just about buy a large candy bar with the CPM I saw.
In the second case, I placed the Ad Links on a product specific site with a narrow audience. The results were fantastic! We're talking about a CPM that is greater than what someone might make flipping burgers in one day.
The conclusions should be obvious.If you 're going to use Ad Links units campaign. You need to put them:

1. On a site with a specific field of interest. A general site will give you general ads - and few clicks.
2. Above the fold with few other links. For Ad Links, this is crucial: If your users are going to click a link, it should be a link that gives you money.
It 's also a good idea to keep y our Ad Link units for sites with high-paying keywords. If someone comes to your site seeking out information or a product on a top-notch keyword, they tend to be more likely to click as a result.

I 've already mentioned Chris Pirillo 's site at Lockergnome.com as an excellent template for how to do AdSense properly. While I don't have access to his AdSense statistics, I have watched his sites long enough to speculate as to his success.
The center column of his page is classic AdSense placement. He is using a medium or large rectangle with blue links, black text and subtle URL. The ads are placed inline and right justified. People start on the left and drift to the right. My testing has also shown that ads on the right perform best.
He is using a 120 x 600 skyscraper ad, which I usually don't recommend. 
However, many people use the skyscraper ads in sidebars. Pirillo has thought outside the box and used the white space next to his bullet points for this page. Right justifying the skyscraper block and placing it inline is a slick move.

But look where his Ad Links are: in the top left column of the page, above the fold. That means you can see Ads by Google as the first item. As long as those AdLinks are very targeted to the content on the page, they could generate 1%-2% in clicks. If you have the space and they fit in your sidebar, I would test them on your site as well.

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