13 Comments

February 17, 2014 ,

 Updated September 8, 2016

In 2014, link units remain rather rare. Most sites we come across, including those that are using Google AdSense as a primary means of display ad monetization, don’t use this type of ad at all. Most of the webmasters and site owners reading this article probably don’t know what a link unit is, and certainly haven’t considering using them on their sites.

Link Units 101

Link units are text links that take visitors to a custom landing page filled with ads for a certain topic. Link units work by analyzing the content of your site, and coming up with relevant keywords. Unlike traditional ads, clicking on a link unit won’t take you to an advertiser’s site. Instead, you’ll be directed to a landing page that is populated with a number of (hopefully relevant) ads from different advertisers. Here’s the visual representation of the path taken:

Example Flow Chart

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Link units utilize a cost-per-click (CPC) pricing model, meaning that publishers get paid for each click that leads to an advertiser’s page. In this case, that’s actually the second click; there’s no revenue generated by the first click that gets visitors to the landing page. So as a publisher, you’re actually allowed to click on link units to see what ads are showing up, as long as you don’t click on any of the ads on the “landing page”. (If you don’t believe us, here’s the approval from Google to do so.)

Because of this implementation, link units can potentially generate significant revenue if visitors end up clicking on multiple ads from a single landing page. Moreover, some partners (specifically, Media.net) will partner with larger publishers to create a branded landing page that makes visitors feel as if they’re navigating through the site (and not clicking out to a paid ad). Here’s an example of the link unit landing page on Forbes.com:

Forbes Link Units

The appearance of link units is probably what scares off some publishers from implementing them. They can look a bit spammy, especially when implemented in a careless way on a site. But there are ways to integrate link units tastefully without turning off visitors–making them appear as an organic part of the site.

They can also look ineffective to those who have some experience monetizing via standard display ads. Link units are much smaller than the standard banner ads, and have no call to action; there’s simply a hyperlinked word or phrase.

Why Link Units Work

There are some compelling arguments for adding link units to your monetization equation as well. Specifically:

  • Google allows only three display ad units; adding the three allowed link units doubles the number of ad placements on the page.
  • Link units can be easily integrated into content.
  • Link units generally won’t cannibalize existing ad units.
  • Link units can potentially generate click rates and earnings that equal or even exceed traditional banner units.

In other words, for publishers who are relying exclusively on AdSense, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility to double your earnings with the addition of a few link units to your site.

Sample Implementations

Rather than discuss the opportunity of link units further, we’ll show some examples of sites that have these ad units in action. Here’s an implementation on Labnol.org of a 468×15 link unit inserted within an article:

Labnol - In article

Below is another example of a link unit, this time above the nav bar of a site. This can work well because the nav bar is a high visibility area; visitors to a site commonly look to this section for guidance on where they should be clicking:

TechHim - in NavBar

The example below is from TheStreet.com, and features link units below the conclusion of an article. This implementation (which is powered by Media.net and not AdSense) appears under a “See Also” heading that serves to draw attention to the section. Clicking on one of these links takes visitors to a custom page where they will be presented with both links to content from the site they’re on as well as third-party ads. This implementation is similar to the Forbes example we showed above.

TheStreet - After Article

 

Here’s another example of a link unit positioned well above the fold, this time between the nav bar and the beginning of an article on Mashable. Note how the “Social Media” header seems to point to the links, a directional cue to visitors and a feature that helps to integrate these links into the site (note also that the color has been tweaked to match the color of the site and not the traditional “link blue”):

Mashable

Finally, here’s an example that is perhaps a bit less ideal but still interesting. This page has almost exclusively ads above the fold, which probably isn’t a very good long-term strategy after Google has repeatedly rolled out changes designed to ding these types of sites. If they were to move some more content higher up on the page, however, the link unit should perform even better:

Sizlopedia

Who Offers Link Units?

A number of ad networks offer link unit products as part of their display advertising solution. As mentioned above, Google AdSense lets publishers include up to three link units per page and offers a variety of different sizes:

  • 728×15
  • 468×15
  • 200×90
  • 180×90
  • 160×90
  • 120×90

The horizontal link units (15 pixels tall) will generally be used most efficiently above or below text, while the vertical sizes (90 pixels tall) can fit in well in a left or right rail of a site.

Just as with text display ad units, AdSense lets partners experiment with different settings for link units (such as different colors for links).

Media.net also has a link unit product, though theirs is different from AdSense. Media.net offers link units within standard IAB sized units, such as a 300×250 rectangle or 728×90 leaderboard.

Chitika also offers link units, though in our experiments with that network the contextual targeting was pretty bad. (I.e., the text links showing up were not relevant topics).

Best Practices

If you’re interested in trying out link units, we have a few suggestions that may help you get started. Inserting link units into content (as in the labnol.org example above) can result in much higher visibility and engagement. Link units also tend to perform well at the bottom of content, when visitors are open to going a new direction or finding further information on a topic.

While it may seem counter-intuitive, some publishers may see good results by placing link units near other standard display ads. For example, you may want to try putting a 200×90 link unit immediately below a 300×250 rectangle.

As with standard ad units, experimentation is the key to link unit success. With AdSense link units, experimentation is relatively easy given the compact size of the link units; it’s much easier to move a 468×15 unit around your site than it is to reposition a larger 300×250 unit, for example.

Bottom Line

Link units are a great opportunity for publishers looking to add additional revenue streams to their sites. While they aren’t visually impressive, these ads can be extremely powerful and lead to a significant increase in bottom line revenue from existing traffic.

  • Link units are definitely a way to be tested out for more display revenue especially if it is blended into the page nicely. In my opinion from the above list mashable and forbes are the better examples. Btw we utilize Sulvo.com for our display monetization.

  • I am just starting to test link ad units on few recipe blogs I run and am thinking if it is possible to direct link to the ads via social media? Or are they only tracked from site by Java? I know this could be risky but I can not find any definitive answer online.

  • What do you mean “direct link the ads via social media”? Sounds like you are thinking of Tweeting out links to ads…

  • Yes but not twitter and would be a little more complex than just posting links. Very BH I know but I can not find anywhere saying it is against adsense TOS. If we are allowed to look at ads through our site what is to stop “other” people sharing the same link? I am not saying for one moment it is something I am going to do but the lack of information on the subject is very strange?

  • Gotcha. I would advise strongly against that. You’re not going to get credit for the revenue if it isn’t coming from your site, so zero upside with a ton of risk.

  • Danny, I am guessing what you are proposing, is actually prohibited by their Terms & Conditions, you’d just have to dig thru those with a fine-toothed comb to confirm. In any case, “experimenting” with AdSense implementation in ways like you propose sound to me like a fast-track to getting banned from AdSense for life 🙂

  • link units generating 70+% of the income for me.

    generally, I place 2 link units on above fold and 1 link unit below the article.

    i want to know why link units CTR & CPC high when compared to image ads. (I guess misleading clicks)

  • I was thinking about adding link units to my site, since as you said you only earn from the second click. But I know of a site where the webmaster told that when he added 728×15 link unit above the fold , like in the first example, that his earnings increase, so I guess I will try to add it in my header and below article and see what happens

  • I was thinking about adding link units to my site, since as you said you only earn from the second click. But I know of a site where the webmaster told that when he added 728×15 link unit above the fold , like in the first example, that his earnings increase, so I guess I will try to add it in my header and below article and see what happens

  • Great Article !! I am new to Adsense and the ideology of Link UNIT is superb. Thanks for sharing !!

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