How to raise your website's RPM
Two sites with the same traffic can earn very different amounts. Eight things that change your revenue per 1,000 pageviews, from your network to your ads.txt file.
RPM is what you earn per 1,000 pageviews, and a lot of it is under your control. Some of the changes below take an afternoon. One of them (switching networks) depends on your traffic first.
Change networks when you qualify
For most sites this is the biggest lever. Managed networks like Mediavine and Raptive bring more advertisers into the auction and handle the layout work for you. Both have entry rules: Mediavine wants $5,000 a year in ad revenue and Raptive wants 25,000 monthly pageviews. The details are in our network guide.
Put ads where they get seen
Advertisers care whether an ad was actually seen. Google's Ad Manager counts a display ad as viewable when at least half of it was on screen for at least one second, following the IAB standard (Ad Manager metrics). An ad at the bottom of a page that nobody scrolls to drags your average down. Ads between paragraphs, where people are actually reading, are seen far more often.
Use one sticky unit
A sticky footer on mobile, or a sticky sidebar on desktop, stays on screen while the reader scrolls, so it's viewable for much of the visit. One is plenty. Two starts to feel like the page is shrinking.
Keep the page fast
Every ad brings scripts with it, and too many will slow a page enough to hurt both readers and rankings. Google's Core Web Vitals measure three things: how fast the main content loads (LCP), how quickly the page responds to input (INP) and how much the layout jumps around (CLS) (web.dev). Ads mostly hurt the last one. Reserve space for each ad slot so text doesn't shift when an ad loads, and lazy-load ads further down the page. Search Console has a Core Web Vitals report that shows which pages need work.
Get people to a second page
A reader who views three pages is worth three times one who leaves after the first. Link to related articles inside the text, add a related-posts section at the end, and group articles into series so there's an obvious next one to read.
Write the longer version
A thorough 1,800-word guide has room for more ad slots than a 400-word post, and it often ranks better because it answers more of the question. Length only helps if it's useful, though. Padding loses readers.
Think about who you're writing for
RPM depends heavily on where your readers are and what they're reading about. US and UK readers and topics like finance and health attract higher-paying advertisers. You can't change your audience overnight, but it's worth keeping in mind when you choose what to write next.
Check your ads.txt
ads.txt is a small text file at the root of your domain that lists the companies allowed to sell your ad space. The IAB Tech Lab created it to make counterfeit inventory harder to sell. If yours is missing or out of date, some buyers may decide not to bid. Your network will give you the lines to add. Check the file every time you change networks or add a partner.