Google Adsense Tutorial: Best Performing google adsense ad formats and placement

Adsense is a very good way for the webmasters to make real money, particularly for information websites.

The adsense ad formats that are best performing at my sites are(in the order of performance) :

Tip: The ads tend to perform well if it is placed above the fold - as the visitor will immediately see the ad when the web page is loaded, which increases the chances of ad clicks.

Ad Units:
These are the standard ad units(serving both text and image ads). I always recommend and opt for the text ads as there are more links which gives more options for the visitor to click.

Large Rectangle(336x280)
This one is great. If you have a light background web page, you can try to blend the ads along with the content of the web page. You can remove the border of the ad unit and set the link color and the ad description color as the same as that of your site's links and text color respectively. You can make the url color of the adsense ad unit very light that the user will not be able to easily read. The large rectangle has converted very well for me.

Medium Rectangle(300x250)
I used it in my site before I started using the Large rectangle, now only at homepage. This is another good format that tend to convert well similar to the Large Rectangle. You can take the same recommendations as the Large rectangle.

Leaderboard(728x90)
I make a resonable amount of dollars with this format.Can be placed above the fold, Usually in the header which will be displayed site wide. There is a wide chance of visitors clicking the ad.

Banner(468x60)
This is the commonly used banner which shows up two text ad units. You can take the same recommendation as of Leaderboard.

Wide Skyscraper(160x600)
It is not perfoming as much as the large rectangle does. But you can expect a good amount of clicks with this ad unit. The wide skyscraper can be placed at the side bars of your web pages either at the top left of your side bar.

Skyscraper(120x600) - I am not using it now
This one is similar to the Wide Skyscraper. You can use this if your sidebar cannot fit the Wide Skyscraper. The skyscraper has minimum text to display when compared to the wide skyscraper.

Ad Links:
The ad links are the link units which will display 4 or 5 links in horizontal and vertical formats. When a link in the ad link unit is clicked another web page is loaded which displays a number of ad units. The Ad links are a good way to make real money as the user does not have a restriction on the number of clicks made. Your site will not get banned if the user clicks multiple ads in the loaded page.

728x15
I place this above the fold below the leaderboard or the banner. This converts well in my site.

468x15
Placing this unit just above the main content and just at the end of the content has produced good results. After reading the entire content, the user will be looking for more information. So placing this link unit just below the content will definitely be useful.

200x90
I place this beside the main content. When the user reads the content, he has some options to click.

160x90
I have placed this link unit in the sidebar. This unit also converts well for me.

Referrals:
To learn more about the referral units and Tips & Tricks - Tips to Increase Google Adsense Referral Earnings

You can take a look at the heatmap to have a good understanding of the best performing ad positions.

You can also read:
How to Wrap Text Around AdSense
Tips and Tricks to Increase Adsense CTR and making money with Google Adsense