Referrals reluctant to appear?

We've heard that many publishers are having trouble viewing referral 2.0 ads on their pages, and we'd like to explain some of the most common reasons why this might be.

First, keep in mind that not all referral ads are available in all sizes. For instance, most horizontal referral ad units smaller than 180x60, square referral ad units smaller than 125x125, and text links are only available at this time for Google products such as AdSense or AdWords. This means that if you generate code for referral ads in an unsupported size, you won't see any referrals shown on your webpages. To avoid this issue, we recommend first selecting categories or products for your referrals before selecting a size at this time.

Similarly, you may not see the referral ads you've selected on your pages if you've grouped a number of referral ads into your Ad Shopping Cart which are each available in different sizes. If this is the case, you may wish to try regenerating your referral code with a particular ad format in mind -- this way, you can be sure to select products available in that format.

Here are several other reasons your chosen referral ads may not show:

1. The particular referral ad you've chosen is not available in your country. When generating your code, you can view the ads available for specific countries by clicking the 'change' link above the referrals wizard.
   
   
2. You've unselected the 'Pick best performing ads' checkbox for a referral where the advertiser has run out of budget or ended the campaign. To take advantage of the available inventory of related products, we recommend leaving this box checked.
   
   
3. You've added more than three referral units to your page. Our current policy allows a maximum of three referral ad units on any policy-compliant page.
   
   
4. Our system has determined that your pages contain potentially mature or sensitive content. However, as your content changes, you may begin to see referral ads appearing.
   
   
5. The referral ad code may have been modified. Be sure to copy the code exactly as it appears in your account and paste it directly onto your pages.
   

Please know that we're working as quickly as we can to fine-tune the process of generating referral code. Also, we appreciate all of your feedback on referrals 2.0 so far, and we encourage you to let us know how we can keep improving AdSense.

Get inline

We've heard your feedback about wanting to insert Google ads between your blog posts, and we're happy to let you know that Blogger now supports this implementation through the AdSense widget.

Here's all you need to do:

1. Log into your Blogger account at http://www.blogger.com .
   
2. Visit your blog's Template tab and click on the Page Elements link.
   
3. Click Edit in the Blog Posts section.
   
   
   
4. Check the box next to Show Ads Between Posts. You can then select how often you'd like your ads to appear, such as once after every post or once after every other post.
   
   
   
5. Customize the ads and click on Save Changes when you're done.
   

Please note that right now, it's only possible to insert Google ads using this widget, and not AdSense for search boxes or referral units.

For more detailed instructions, please visit Blogger's Help Center. Lastly, don't forget to check out our blog optimization tips for ways to improve your ad performance.

A SiteSearch to behold

If you’re familiar with AdSense for search, then you’re probably aware of the SiteSearch feature, with which users can search through the pages of your site. When you generate AdSense for search code with SiteSearch enabled, the search box will currently default to selecting the websearch radio button. However, a number of publishers have asked if it’s possible to have their search boxes default to SiteSearch instead.

It’s a little-known fact, but we’re happy to tell you that it is possible to select this option within your account. First, visit the 'AdSense Setup' tab and select 'AdSense for search' as your product. On the code generation page, you’ll see a sample search box under 'Search box style' that changes as you customize the layout:



If you’d like your search box to default to SiteSearch, simply click the radio button for SiteSearch within the sample. Once you’ve finished customizing your search box, copy and paste the provided code onto your pages – and voila, you’ll see that SiteSearch is selected as the default for your search box.



Haven’t tried monetizing your pages with AdSense for search yet? Visit our Help Center to learn more.

We go round and round

As you'll recall, we recently introduced new formats for AdSense ads. This week, we've added a new dimension for publishers in customizing these ad formats. You've long been able to customize the size and colors of your ad units; now, you can also customize the shape by selecting between square, slightly rounded, or very rounded corners.


To get started with these new ad shapes, visit the 'AdSense Setup' tab in your account. As with all format options like sizes and colors, different corner styles will perform better for different publishers. We recommend that you choose the corner style that best matches the look and feel of your sites. Please keep in mind that if your page background color, ad background color, and ad border color are all the same, these new corners won't be visible.

This new option is part of our ongoing effort to improve the look and feel of our ads. We're also working to give you even more choices to customize your ad formats while maximizing revenue and user satisfaction. We hope you enjoy the new corner options, whether you choose to go edgy or bubbly.