Google now targets AdSense on pages behind password protection

June 5, 2007

For quite some time, people have wanted to be able to monetize pages that are located behind a login screen, whether it is for premium content, webmail, or just special member’s only pages. But until now, the ads would not be targeted to the page, simply “themed” ads, or worse, display PSAs. But now AdSense allows publishers to place ads on pages behind a login by following an authentication process.

Here is the step-by-step process to authenticate to get contextually targeted ads on those pages:

1. Enter an authentication rule
Specify an authentication URL and a set of parameters that will allow Google’s web crawlers to access your content.

2. Verify your site ownership using Google Webmaster Tools
We will direct you to Google Webmaster Tools, where you can verify that you own the site by uploading a file to it or changing the META tag of a file.

3. View your improved ad targeting
When your authentication rule is verified, you should see better ad targeting on your pages. You can check the status of your authentication rules at any time.

There is also a FAQ for the process as well.

You do need to login to Google Sitemaps using the same login email address as you use for Google AdSense, so if you currently use two differen logins, you will need to set up a new Sitemaps account with the matching AdSense email login.

This is an awesome addition to AdSense by Google, one that people have been requesting for quite some time. It will be interesting to hear back as people authenticate their password protected pages and report on the targeting on those pages.

Posted in Google AdSense