Advertisers look for quality websites with an engaged audience. Our most successful publishers write about subjects that are knowledgeable about and have a unique point of view.
The following are metrics that are good indicators of success in monetizing your website and what we look for when vetting websites that apply to work with us.
Minimum Traffic Requirements. We require a minimum of 1000 sessions per month.
Countries of origin. We look to countries of origins to determine where your traffic originates. Depending on where in the world your readers are coming from, countries of origin can impact CPMs and overall performance.
Tip: US traffic monetizes at the highest rate. Other high value countries include countries in Europe.
Traffic sources. We will review where the traffic to your website originates. Sources that monetize well include (but are not limited to):
- Email traffic
- Google (organic search) traffic
- Pinterest traffic
- Facebook traffic
Tip: As you grow, think about ways to diversify your traffic. This will help you to grow your audience more quickly and will ensure more stability in the face of algorithm changes.
Original content. Websites that monetize at the highest rate create original content with a unique point of view. Take care to ensure that content is not duplicated or crowdsourced from other websites and resources around the web. We’d also advise that you steer clear of creating a website that is entirely focused on “round-up” posts or aggregated content (posts that link to other websites without little input or original thoughts and additions from the author).
Posting often, but not too often. Advertisers are looking to reach engaged audiences. When you post regularly you’re more likely to find new readers and you’re more likely to have return traffic. However, posting too often can be an indication of overuse of AI or content that is not original.
Well-structured content. Format your content so that it is easy for readers to navigate your website.
Average session duration. Time on site is a great metric that indicates reader engagement. A short time on site can indicate a reader's lack of interest, and an opportunity to optimize the content and design of the site to increase this metric.
Pages per Session. This will vary based on your traffic sources and niche, and is another metric that helps us to understand how readers are moving around your site.
Brand safe content - The words and images that you use in your posts play an important role in the quality of a site. Advertisers want to place their ads next to clean, family friendly content. We’ve written an article about how advertisers use keywords in your content to find (or not find) the best content.
How each of these metrics fit together is different for every website. You can learn more about how to best Optimize Your Content here.