Matched Content by AdSense - Frequently Asked Questions

Google recently launched the Matched content feature for AdSense publishers. Read the frequently asked questions and my answers to them below.

How can I know if my AdSense account is eligible for Matched content feature?

Login to your AdSense account and click on the "Gear" icon on the top right corner. Select "Settings" in the menu. Now click on "Site Management" in the left panel. It will show the list of your owned websites on the right panel. If you see a column for "Matched content" there, that means atleast one of your site is approved for this feature. For the sites that are approved, you will see the label "Approved" and for the remaining sites you will see "Not approved".



How can I apply for Matched Content for my blog?

Unfortunately, there is no application process to submit your site for approval. Google uses its automated systems to approve qualified sites for this program. There is no manual approval process involved.

What can I do to get my site approved?

Google selects the qualified sites based on its own criteria. According to the announcements from Google, the sites with unique topics and good volume of traffic will be considered. However, in my case, some of my sites with over 100K daily page views are not approved but sites with less than 100 visitors per day are approved. Some of my high quality sites with lot of unique content are not approved but some sites with relatively less-unique content are approved. One common thing I see across all approved sites is, they are all many years old. This doesn't mean all sites that are few years old are approved. I have some blogs which are nearly 15 years old and have high search engine ranking but still not approved.

Do I get paid if someone clicks on the links in Matched content units?

Matched content units are visually similar to AdSense ads. However, instead of ads, those units display links to related content from the same website. When a user click on those links, user will be redirected to those pages. Since there are no ads, no revenue is generated when someone click on the matched content units.

Can I click on my own matched content links?

Yes, since there is no revenue involved, Google doesn't restrict you from clicking on your own matched content units. However, if you are using "backup ads" feature to fill the units with ads, then avoid clicking on those ads displayed within the matched content units.

Can I use normal AdSense ads within the matched content units?

You can edit your ad unit any time in your AdSense account and change the "Ad type" to text ads or display ads. Once you change your ad type, within a few minutes, your ad unit will start showing normal AdSense ads instead of matched content links. From that point onwards, you are bound to follow AdSense policies for such placements.

How many matched content units I can use per page?

Google hasn't set any limit on how many times you can use this units in each page. I would recommend you use a maximum of 1 matched content unit per page. The matched content units are not counted against the total ad units per page. However, Google allows you to edit and change any matched content unit to normal ad unit from Google AdSense website. When you make this change, all your existing matched content units will be changed to Ad units and this may result in violation of AdSense policies if the number exceeds the max limit of 3 ad units per page.

What kind of pages appear in the matched content?

Google will select the pages from your website based on the content and also based on user preferences. The goal is to show related content in such units. There is not much information revealed by Google on exactly how they choose the related links. From our experiments so far, it appears that Google selects the pages based on content/keyword matching and shows related links.

Is there any way to exclude certain pages from appearing in the matched content units?

No, you can't exclude any pages from appearing in the matched content widgets. Google may choose to show any indexed pages from your site. If you want to exclude any specific pages, the only option is to remove those pages from Google's index.

Can I select my preferred pages to be displayed in the matched content units?

May be Google will add this feature later, but as of now, there is no way you can recommend your preferred pages for matched content units.

Can I place the matched content units as soon as I create it?

While you may think you can start using the ad script as soon as you generate, Google has mentioned you should wait "15 minutes" after you create them. The reason quoted by Google is, while the new ad script is being propagated through Google systems, they may display standard ads in such units instead of the recommended links and could result in more than 3 content ads per page. This appears to be a "problem" in Google's implementation but it is recommended to follow their rules to play it safe.



Is it possible to show AdSense ads within matched content units?

When you create a matched content unit (or, any ad unit), you have an option to use "backup ads". In the place for Backup ads, you may use other ads like Doubleclick ads, which could in turn display AdSense ads. These ads will be displayed only when Google can't find matching content to be displayed in your pages which is a rare possibility.

Many of my pages never appear in the matched content units. How can I suggest those pages to Google to show in the matched content units?

Google recommends you have unique content with unique images to get selected for unique content. As of now, all the links in the matched content units are coming with images, so having pages with unique images seem to be a good option to get your pages included in the suggested links.

Where can I see a live implementation of this?

Check out the site studyvillage.com and scroll down to the bottom. You will see a live implementation of the matched content unit at the bottom of all pages in Study Village.

Also Read How to use Matched Content by AdSense & tips to get your site approved