+1 reporting in Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics

UPDATE: +1 Reports in Webmaster Tools have been retired. You can now find information about the performance of +1 buttons on your pages using Social Reports in Google Analytics.

(Cross-posted on the Webmaster Central and Analytics blogs)

It’s been a busy week for us here at the Googleplex. First we released +1 buttons to Google search sites globally, then we announced the beginning of the Google+ project.

The +1 button and the Google+ project are both about making it easier to connect with the people you trust online. For the +1 button, that means bringing advice from trusted friends and contacts right into Google search, letting the users who love your web content recommend it at the moment of decision.

But when you’re managing a website, it's usually not real until you can measure it. So we’re happy to say we’ve got one more announcement to make -- today we’re releasing reports that show you the value +1 buttons bring to your site.

First, +1 metrics in Google Webmaster Tools can show you how the +1 button affects the traffic coming to your pages:

• The Search Impact report gives you an idea of how +1‘s affect your organic search traffic. You can find out if your clickthrough rate changes when personalized recommendations help your content stand out. Do this by comparing clicks and impressions on search results with and without +1 annotations. We’ll only show statistics on clickthrough rate changes when you have enough impressions for a meaningful comparison.
• The Activity report shows you how many times your pages have been +1’d, from buttons both on your site and on other pages (such as Google search).
• Finally, the Audience report shows you aggregate geographic and demographic information about the Google users who’ve +1’d your pages. To protect privacy, we’ll only show audience information when a significant number of users have +1’d pages from your site.

Use the +1 Metrics menu on the side of the page to view your reports. If you haven’t yet verified your site on Google Webmaster Tools, you can follow these instructions to get access.

Finally, you can also see how users share your content using other buttons besides +1 by using Social Plugin Analytics in Google Analytics. Once you configure the JavaScript for Analytics, the Social Engagement reports help you compare the various types of sharing actions that occur on your pages.

• The Social Engagement report lets you see how site behavior changes for visits that include clicks on +1 buttons or other social actions. This allows you to determine, for example, whether people who +1 your pages during a visit are likely to spend more time on your site than people who don’t.
• The Social Actions report lets you track the number of social actions (+1 clicks, Tweets, etc) taken on your site, all in one place.
• The Social Pages report allows you to compare the pages on your site to see which are driving the highest the number of social actions.

Over the next few days (and if you’re using the default version of the latest Google Analytics tracking code), if you’ve added +1 buttons to your site we’ll automatically enable Social Plugin Analytics for +1 in your account. You can enable analytics for other social plugins in just a few simple steps.

Social reporting is just getting started. As people continue to find new ways to interact across the web, we look forward to new reports that help business owners understand the value that social actions are providing to their business. So +1 to data!

UPDATE: 7/11/11 2:05pm PST, corrected references to the social plugin analytics feature.

Written by Dan Rodney, Software Engineer

+1 around the world

A few months ago we released the +1 button on English search results on google.com. More recently, we’ve made the +1 button available to sites across the web, making it easy for the people who love your content to recommend it on Google search.

Today, +1’s will start appearing on Google search pages globally. We'll be starting off with sites like google.co.uk, google.de, google.jp and google.fr, then expanding quickly to most other Google search sites soon after.

We’ve partnered with a few more sites in Europe, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand where you’ll see +1 buttons over the coming days.
If you’re a publisher based outside of the US, and you’ve been waiting to put +1 buttons on your site, now’s a good time to get started. Visit the +1 button tool on Google Webmaster Central where the +1 button is already available in 44 languages.

Adding the +1 button could help your site to stand out by putting personal recommendations right at the moment of decision, on Google search. So if you have users who are fans of your content, encourage them to add their voice with +1!

Posted by Nick Radicevic - Product Manager

New Interface Wednesdays: Analyzing earnings by page views vs. ad requests

If you’ve spent time wandering around the Performance reports tab in the new interface, you've likely stumbled upon the Columns button. This button lets you customize your report to view earnings by page views, ad requests, matched requests and individual ad impressions. Selecting one of these options will change the columns and data shown in the table and graph. All other metrics, like CTR & RPM, will be based on the selection you choose.

We’ve received some questions about understanding these reports, especially when viewing by ‘page views’ and ‘ad requests’. To get an overall sense of your ad performance, view your earnings by ‘page views’. When looking at specific ad units or channels, however, we recommend using the ‘ad requests’ view. This will provide you the most accurate numbers for specific reports like ad units, ad sizes, custom channels, ad types, targeting types, and bid types.

Why is this? When analyzing the performance of individual ad units, the ‘page views’ view may show you inaccurate CTRs and RPMs if you have multiple ad units on one page. Each time a user views a page with multiple ad units, your reports will log only one page view and associate it with the first ad unit on the page. This means that when you’re viewing more granular reports by ‘page views’, the CTR and RPM of the second and third ad units on the page will be calculated based on “zero” page views, resulting in invalid data. By using the ‘ad request’ view when looking at specific ad units, you’ll ensure that you’re reviewing valid CTR and RPM values.

Try it now! Navigate to the new interface and click on the Performance reports tab, then select the ‘Columns’ button from any report to change the metrics you’re viewing.

Today marks the last post of our New Interface Wednesday series. We hope you're now more familiar with features available in the new interface, and how you can use them to better understand your ad performance and manage your account. You can review any of the previous posts in this series by visiting the New AdSense Interface label at any time, and learn more about specific features in our Help Center. As we continue to develop new features in the new interface, we'll be sure to post updates here on our blog, so please check back frequently!

Posted by Guillaume Ryder - AdSense Engineering

Announcing the Gold Star Partner Showcase

We’re very excited to launch the AdSense Gold Star Partnership Showcase - a feature on the blog dedicated to our exemplary AdSense partners. We'd like to recognize some of the amazing websites that add immeasurable value to the Google Display Network and who contribute to the growth and diversity of the Internet. While sites come in many different flavors, Gold Star Partners will exemplify these three basic principles:

• Exhibit original, engaging and useful content for users
• Adhere to the AdSense Policies
• Test and try new ways to optimize AdSense ad placements
  

If you’re currently an AdSense for content partner and you think you have what it takes to become a Gold Star Partner that may be featured on our blog, we invite you to submit your website by Tuesday, July 5th.

We may feature a few of the submissions in the AdSense Gold Star Partnership Showcase next month, so make sure to check back in!

Posted by Julia Riley, AdSense Optimization Specialist

Happy Birthday AdSense

AdSense is turning eight years old tomorrow! Growing to over two million publishers worldwide since our launch in 2003, we want to thank all of you for helping us expand and thrive.

As we celebrate AdSense, we want to share our appreciation for all the AdSense publishers whose innovation has made the last eight years so successful. The Google Display Network is comprised of many AdSense publishers like you: those who offer useful and engaging content for your community and serve as an effective channel for advertisers to connect with audiences.

For the last eight years, we’ve relied on your product feedback to help us improve, your success stories to inspire us, and your content to enhance the ecosystem of the world wide web. We look forward to growing older and wiser with all of you for many more years to come!

Posted by Jamie Firkus - Inside AdSense Team

Webinar: Implementing the +1 Button

(Cross-posted on the Webmaster Central blog)


A few weeks ago, we launched the +1 button for your site, allowing visitors to recommend your content on Google search directly from your site. As people see recommendations from their friends and contacts beneath your site in search results, you may see more, better qualified traffic from Google.

But how do you make sure this experience is user friendly? Where should you position the +1 button? How do you make sure the correct URL is getting +1’d?

On Tuesday, June 21 at 3pm ET, please join Timothy Jordan, Google Developer Advocate, to learn about how to best implement the +1 button on your site. He’ll be talking through the technical implementation details as well as best practices to ensure the button has maximum impact. During the webinar, we’ll review the topics below:

• Getting started
• Best practices
• Advanced options
• Measurement
• And, we’ll save time for Q&A

If you'd like to attend, please register here. To download the code for your site, visit our +1 button tool on Google Webmaster Central.

Posted by Kari Wilson - Product Marketing Manager

New Interface Wednesdays: Multi-dimension reporting

We've been listening to your feedback for more reporting and better insights into your data and are pleased to share a powerful new feature called multi-dimension reporting. You can now add dimensions to your performance reports to sort and view data across multiple dimensions including ad units, ad sizes, and countries.

This new feature allows you to add up to three dimensions to your reports, including viewing a channel by date or an ad unit by targeting type. To add a dimension when you create or edit a report, click ‘Add dimension’ and select a dimension. The dimension selected is added to the table, so you will now see two dimensions. To add another dimension click ‘Add dimension’ and select again. You can also change and remove a dimension by clicking the drop-down for the dimension you want to change or remove.

Try multi-dimension reporting now to interactively explore your data and gain more performance insights. And stay tuned for more dimension combinations coming soon as we continue to improve reporting regularly.

This reporting capability is just one of many improvements we’re making to the new AdSense interface as we gradually move away from the older version. Please feel free to provide your feedback in the comments field below so we can continue to tailor the new interface to your needs! If you haven’t yet tried the new interface, learn more about getting started today.

Posted by Vincent Zanotti - AdSense Engineering

Optimize your site with Affiliate Exclusive Opportunities

It’s that time again. Google Affiliate Network Exclusive Opportunities are back. As a reminder, this limited time opportunity enables you add a variety of great consumer offers to your site. If you aren’t a Google Affiliate Network affiliate, now is the time to join and start earning more from your website today.

Earlier this year, we announced that the Affiliate Exclusive Opportunity program had been extended into 2011. In March, over thirty advertisers participated with great success thanks to publishers like you. This month, over fifty Google Affiliate Network advertisers are providing exclusive offers from Friday, 6/24, through Monday, 6/27.

For every transaction that originated from your site, you’ll earn a performance fee. Here are just a few examples of offers that will be available:

$10 off $75	$20 off $125	10% off $100

How do I promote these on my site?
To promote any of these exclusive opportunities, you need to be an approved publisher in the Google Affiliate Network.

1. Apply for Google Affiliate Network with your AdSense Publisher ID (or sign in if you're already a Google Affiliate Network publisher).
2. Once approved, review offers and click the "Apply Now" link for every one that you wish to promote.
3. Tracking links will be available in your Google Affiliate Network account by viewing the “Announcements” section of your Home tab. You can also search for “June Exclusive Opportunities” links in the Links section on June 24.
4. Need help registering or want more information? Review the Getting Started guide today.

When can I post these on my site?
All opportunities will be available on June 24, and all will expire at midnight June 27. You may not post any of these exclusives until June 24. To learn more about Google Affiliate Network and other affiliate exclusive opportunities please visit this blog post.

Posted by Jamie Ross - Google Affiliate Network team

Clarifying our ad implementation policies

We’ve recently made some changes to the language of our program policies. We highly encourage publishers who have signed the AdSense online Terms and Conditions to check the AdSense program policies often, and we'd like to take a moment to clarify our ad implementation policies and mention a few updates that have been made.

Publishers are encouraged to experiment with a variety of placements and ad formats to enhance the user experience and thereby maximize their earnings. However, altering the behavior, targeting, or appearance of AdSense ads without explicit approval from Google is generally prohibited. This behavior includes but is not limited to placing ad code in iframes in such a way that manipulates the standard behavior, targeting or delivery of ads. An iframe is an HTML tag used in web design that allows a webpage, picture, or graphic to be displayed in a frame within another page. Our policies have always disallowed the misuse of iframes, and recently we clarified our language to explicitly prohibit the misuse of iframes in our program policies.

Improperly iframed ads are a disservice to our advertisers since the ad itself can be obscured. Not only are they not viewable, these implementations can lead to accidental clicks if these hidden ads are placed in a location that users frequently click. Please see below for an example of a partially hidden banner.

Hidden iframed ads is one form of misuse. The other is cross-domain iframing abuse. Cross-domain iframes are used to frame content from a different site. This type of implementation can allow other sites to frame ads that belong to another site without the publisher’s knowledge.

As a result, we’ve modified our Ad Behavior policy to the following:
AdSense code may not be altered, nor may the standard behavior, targeting or delivery of ads be manipulated in any way that is not explicitly permitted by Google. This includes but is not limited to the following: clicking Google ads may not result in a new browser window being launched, nor may Google ads be placed in an IFRAME.

We’re aware of certain ad implementations that require the valid use of iframes. As per our program policies, exceptions to our policies are permitted only with authorization from Google.

With our updated language, our goal is to be more proactive about enforcing the misuse of iframes. Iframing is not only deceptive when improperly implemented, but it often leads to unintended behavioral outcomes that result in policy violations, such as the double-serving of ads. As our program policies also note, we reserve the right to disable ad serving to sites and/or accounts that fail to comply with these policies without permission from Google. To best adhere to our policies and experience better targeting results, we recommend pasting our ad code directly into the source of your web page HTML.

We hope you found this clarification to our program policies useful. If you have any questions regarding iframe policies or program policies in general, feel free to contact us. To help ensure the good standing of your account, we encourage you to check your content and implementations on a regular basis. You can also stay informed about policy updates by revisiting our Help Center, our Help Forum, and subscribing to this blog for updated posts, tips, and upcoming AdSense events. If you find sites within our network that are clearly violating these guidelines, we encourage you to report them to us.

Posted by Cecelia Choi - AdSense Policy team

Western Union payment options spreading throughout sub-Saharan Africa

We’re working hard to give more of you more payment options. As part of our continued efforts to expand globally, we’re excited to announce the launch of Western Union Quick Cash® as an AdSense payment method to 11 additional countries in sub-saharan Africa: Reunion (FR), Tanzania, Madagascar, Seychelles, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Zambia, Benin, Burkina Faso and Gambia.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this form of payment, Western Union Quick Cash payments are free and will reach you faster than checks. Payments follow our normal payment schedule and are available for pickup in your local currency at your local Western Union agent the day after they're issued.

A couple of things to note: We can send Western Union payments only to publishers that have an individual account at this time. Also, the payee name on your account must exactly match the government-issued ID card that you'll use when picking up your payments. For more information on how to sign up for and pick up Western Union payments, please visit our Help Center.

If you don’t yet have Western Union Quick Cash as a payment method in your country, we hear your feedback and appreciate your patience as we work to make this available. Keep checking in on the Inside AdSense blog, as we’ll post all future launches here!

Posted by Julia Peppiatt - AdSense Payments team

AdSense Indonesia is now on Twitter

Selamat datang publisher Indonesia di @IDAdSense!

We’re excited to let you know that our Indonesian Twitter account has officially launched. Now you can get the latest updates on AdSense in Bahasa Indonesia by following @IDAdSense on Twitter. You can also find out our best practices and optimization tips to maximize the revenue of your site.

Every month, we’ll have a special week where you can ask questions about a certain topic that we’ll discuss. We'll have an AdSense expert do their best to answer your questions. Find out more about the special week by following @IDAdSense.

Indonesian joins our other global Twitter channels in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, Turkish, and Japanese. Sign in to your twitter account now, and start following us in the language of your choice!

Posted by Niken Sasmaya - Inside AdSense team

Add +1 to help your site stand out

(Cross-posted on the Webmaster Central and Social Web blogs)

When we introduced the +1 button in March, Google search took a small step in an important direction. Search results can be more helpful, and more personal, when recommendations from the people you trust are there to guide your way.

The +1 button can help publishers, too. As potential visitors see recommendations from their friends and contacts beneath your Google search results, you could see more, and better qualified, traffic coming from Google.

Since we announced +1, we’ve gotten lots of requests from Google search users and webmasters alike for +1 buttons in more places than just search results. That’s why today we’re making the +1 button available to sites across the web. Sometimes you want to recommend a web page after you’ve visited it. After all, how do you know you want to suggest that great article on Spanish tapas if you haven’t read it yet?

We’ve partnered with a few sites where you’ll see +1 buttons over the coming days:

You'll also start to see +1 buttons on other Google properties such as Android Market, Blogger, Product Search and YouTube.

Adding +1 buttons to your pages is a great way to help your content stand out in Google search. By giving your visitors more chances to +1 your pages, your search results and search ads could show up with +1 annotations more often, helping users see when your pages are most likely to be useful.


To get started, visit the +1 button tool on Google Webmaster Central. You’ll be able to configure a small snippet of JavaScript and add it to the pages where you want +1 buttons to appear. You can pick from a few different button sizes and styles, so choose the +1 button that best matches your site’s layout.

In the common case, a press of the button +1’s the URL of the page it’s on. We recommend some easy ways to ensure this maps as often as possible to the pages appearing in Google search results.

If your site primarily caters to users outside of the US and Canada, you can install the +1 button code now; the +1 button is already supported in 44 languages. However, keep in mind that +1 annotations currently only appear for English search results on Google.com. We’re working on releasing +1 to searchers worldwide in the future.

If you have users who love your content (and we bet you do), encourage them to spread the word! Add the +1 button to help your site stand out with a personal recommendation right at the moment of decision, on Google search.

To stay current on updates to the +1 button large and small, please subscribe to the Google Publisher Buttons Announce Group. For advanced tips and tricks, check our Google Code site. Finally, if you have any questions about using the +1 button on your websites, feel free to drop by the Webmaster Help Forum.

Posted by Evan Gilbert - Software Engineer, +1 Button