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The digital advertising industry is projected to spend more than $600 million in 2022. That’s one of the reasons why publishers have a wide variety of ad networks to choose from.
Partnering with ad networks can increase publisher revenue by allowing them to sell their inventories to a pool of advertisers. Programmatic ad networks automate this entire process so publishers don’t need to worry about finding the right advertiser for their content, and can just focus on creating quality content.
The question is, which is the best ad network for publishers?
In this comparison article, we discuss all you need to know about the three top ad networks today—Ezoic, AdSense, and Publift—so you can decide for yourself which is the best network for your publishing business.
Table of Contents:
• Ezoic vs. AdSense vs. Publift: The Full Overview
• Ezoic vs. AdSense vs. Publift: Which is the Best Ad Network?
• Ezoic vs Adsense vs Publift: Who Pays Better in 2023?
Ezoic vs. AdSense vs. Publift: The Full Overview
What Is Ezoic?
Ezoic is an adtech platform that uses cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to help publishers improve ad earnings. Ezoic allows website owners to connect with ad networks and access high-paying partners, while also improving their website’s user experience. It also assists publishers with improving their website visibility and attracting more traffic.
How Ezoic Works
Ezoic helps its publishing partners find and run productive ads on their websites, helping them increase their ad income. It mainly offers two different features to its partners—Ad Tester and Leap.
Ad Tester helps website owners figure out the best ad placements on their websites based on data-driven insights that take into account visitors’ graphics, display, and user experience (UX) preferences.
Leap helps website owners increase page speed, load times, and other important performance-related metrics to improve ease of access and page experience.
How to Integrate Ezoic
Ezoic has low entry barriers for its partners. This means a publisher of any level can join the ad network. You can use Ezoic by connecting your site to its platform.
There are two ways to integrate Ezoic with a website:
- Through cloud integration
- Through a WordPress plugin.
Connecting Ezoic through Cloud Integration can be done either via your site's name servers or by connecting via CloudFlare. To connect via your site’s name server, just log into your Ezoic account and click “integrate your site”. You can then select the “Cloud Integration” option and connect your site's name servers to the Ezoic server at your host.
Ezoic is a CloudFlare partner and connecting it via this tool is easier. If you already have a CloudFlare account, Ezoic will detect it. If you don’t have a CloudFlare account, you can simply create one and activate Ezoic.
Alternatively, if you run your website on WordPress, Ezoic has a WordPress plugin for displaying ads that you can easily install and activate.
How Do Publishers Benefit From Ezoic?
Ezoic takes care of the technical aspects of ad management such as running tests and finding the right ad layout, allowing publishers to focus on creating quality content.
For instance, there is a wide range of potential ad location options and ad formats that website owners need to analyze before finding the most appropriate one that generates the greatest user engagement.
Manually pinpointing the best way of placing ads takes a lot of time, effort, and money as you have to go through many tests and use many tools for each process. Ezoic’s AI-enabled technology will instantly identify the best combination of positioning, sizing, and ad placement that suits each publisher. It also allows website owners to choose between a user experience-focused strategy or a revenue-focused strategy.
Furthermore, the ad network also identifies the right combinations for each device for a particular publisher based on real data. This data-driven approach removes the guesswork from the crucial task of ad placement.
Ezoic Pros
- Helps improve earnings while increasing site performance and attracting more traffic
- A large pool of quality ads
- Publishers have full control over their ads and monetization
- Data-driven insights
- Suitable for users of all levels
- Fully automated solutions
- Multiple payment options.
Ezoic Cons
- The free version doesn’t offer a lot of features
- You need to wait at least 30 days before you can withdraw your earnings
- A difficult learning curve for beginners.
Our Verdict
Ezoic is a great CPM ad network for low-traffic publishers who are just starting out on their content monetization journey. It doesn’t just help publishers maximize their revenue but also helps them grow through different services, such as speed optimization, content delivery network (CDN), web hosting and SEO.
What Is AdSense?
Google AdSense is another advertising network that helps you monetize your website by matching your website inventory with relevant ads. Advertisers pay to run their ads through Google AdSense, and you get a share of the revenue as the ad host.
AdSense is often regarded as one of the best ad networks with the easiest monetization methods for beginners. It could be an ideal place to begin your monetization journey if you’ve just started out your publishing business. It is easy to integrate and there are plenty of resources on the internet to help you along the way.
How AdSense Works
In simple terms, Google AdSense runs ads on your website and pays you a chunk of the revenue for hosting them. Many publishers often confuse Google AdSense with Google Ad Exchange, and look for a Google AdSense vs Ad Exchange type of comparison to understand how AdSense works.
However, this is like comparing apples and oranges as AdSense is an ad network, whereas Ad Exchange is a programmatic ad exchange. The former acts as a mediator between publishers and advertisers, whereas the latter is a marketplace that dynamically matches publisher inventory in real time with advertisements.
To be able to run AdSense ads, the network first needs to approve you. Once you’re approved, you can integrate AdSense and start running ads.
One thing you should know is that advertisers pay different prices for different ads. Therefore, the amount you earn will vary according to ads.
Google AdSense ads are automated and responsive. This means that they automatically find the most optimal placement on your website that is likely to result in the most conversions. This also means that they can adapt their size to fit the user's screen, allowing you to maximize your ad placement without having to worry about ad sizes.
How to Integrate AdSense
You’ll only be able to show ads on your website once AdSense approves your site.
To get started, create a Google account, add a phone number and address, and connect your account to AdSense. You can then connect your website to it.
Once you submit your interest, AdSense reviews your website to assess if it complies with its content policies. The approval process usually takes a few days, though it may take up to a few weeks in some cases.
AdSense doesn’t have a restrictive entry barrier as any publisher at any level can apply for a partnership. But that doesn't mean AdSense approves every site that applies for a partnership. To be approved as a Google AdSense partner, you need a site that publishes content on a regular basis and provides value to its readers.
You can check if your site is approved or rejected on the "Sites" card on your AdSense homepage.
Once Google AdSense has approved your website, you can run ads on your website and manage them.
How Do Publishers Benefit From an AdSense Account?
AdSense is highly customizable, allowing you to put ads on your website the way you want. For instance, if you don’t want your website to display certain types of ads, you can easily filter them out in the settings. You can also choose the size and inventory of your website for ads.
AdSense also allows features, such as self-control, auto-ads, and experiments, allowing you to experiment with ads. But be careful while experimenting, as AdSense can easily ban you for violating rules if you keep exploring without noticing warnings and instructions.
Another benefit of having an AdSense account is that publishers can engage in AdSense arbitrage. Google AdSense arbitrage is a content monetization strategy in which publishers use paid ads to drive traffic to their website, with the aim of having these visitors click on the AdSense ads already placed there. The strategy works if the revenue from clicking on AdSense ads exceeds the cost of driving paid traffic to the website.
A major drawback with AdSense is that if you need help, there isn’t much in the way of human support.
AdSense Pros
- Easy approval process
- Publishers have full control of their ads
- Easy partnership requirements
- Multiple ad formats and quality ad units
- Allows users to choose between responsive and automated ads
- Provides analytics for traffic
- Effortless payments
- Doesn't require updating coding for new ads each time.
AdSense Cons
- A $100 minimum payment threshold might be too much for publishers that have just started out
- Google AdSense ads may affect your site speed
- AdSense provides very limited human support
- Configuring analytics could be challenging for new users.
Final Verdict
AdSense is a great network if you’re a beginner with zero technical knowledge looking to monetize your website. It doesn’t have a high requirement for approval and can help you start earning from ads within a few months of publishing your website.
However, that doesn’t mean AdSense approves every website. It won’t approve your website if it doesn't attract a good amount of traffic and does not publish useful content.
What Is Publift?
Publift is a programmatic advertising network that specializes in helping small to medium-sized publishers monetize their websites. As a Google certified publishing partner, Publift’s expertise in helping publishers navigate the online advertising landscape is recognized by Google itself.
Publift helps website owners grow their earnings by implementing light-weight, cutting-edge ad technology to connect them with the right partners. This also means that Publift partners can choose appropriate ad formats and layouts to provide visitors to their website with a better user experience. Its technology-driven analytical features allow users to track their revenue and quickly make informed decisions.
How Publift Works
Publift makes it quite straightforward for publishers to run premium ads on their websites. You just need to sign up and be approved.
Once you sign up with the ad network, Publift’s account management team conducts a detailed audit of your website. You’ll then get ad layout consultation before being connected with ad partners.
Publift will also optimize your ad based on the best practices to suit your specific requirements. Publift will then provide you with tags that you can include on your website that allow for header bidding. And finally, it will run ads on your website via a central ad server to help you to maximize your revenue.
How to Integrate Publift
To integrate Publift on their website, all publishers need to do is to insert Publift’s proprietary, light-weight ad tag, known as Fuse, into their website’s source code.
To do this, publishers need to sign up with Publift and have their website approved. Of course, being a platform that only works with premium advertisers, Publift has some eligibility requirements. These include either a monthly traffic of 500,000 page views, or a minimum monthly revenue of $2,000. In exceptional cases Publift may waive off these requirements.
Once approved, publishers are assigned a personal Publift Account Manager who takes care of not just their ad strategies, but also suggests ways in which Publift can improve a publisher’s website’s visibility and experience.
How Do Publishers Benefit from Publift?
Publift matches publisher inventory with the right ads without imaciting page load speed. As a Publift partner, you can automate all your ads without thinking too much about how to find the most profitable ones for your website. The best part is that you still have full control of your site.
Publift also helps publishers plan and implement the best practices to attract more traffic and also provide a seamless user experience. Some important features of this ad network include ad placements and layout optimization, price automation, ad-block monetization, etc.
These features don’t just enhance ad possibilities but also provide users with impressive insights about their ads.
Publift Pros
- Publift doesn’t have lock-in contracts, meaning you are free to work with any other similar network or platform at any time. This way, you can compare the services and outcomes side-by-side and decide which network suits your needs best.
- Great customer support
- Access to a wide range of high-quality ads.
- The platform provides excellent reporting on revenue and deals, ensuring that publishers are always up-to-date with their site’s performance
- Publishers have full control of their sites
Publift Cons
- Selective entry criteria means new publishers aren’t a great fit for this ad platform.
Final Verdict
Publift is a great platform for small to mid-sized publishers looking to upgrade to the next level within their specific industries.
It matches publisher content with the best ads without slowing down your website, while providing best-in-class technical support. All-in-all it is one of the best Google AdSense alternatives for publishers who feel they’ve outgrown the somewhat limited capabilities of popular ad networks such as AdSense and Ezoic.
Ezoic vs. AdSense vs. Publift: Which Is the Best Ad Network?
No two publishers are the same and neither are their monetization requirements. Which means that the choice of the best ad network for each publisher ultimately depends on their content and their content monetization strategy.
That said, there are certain objective parameters against which each ad network can be evaluated to get a fair assessment of the value each delivers. As such, we’ve compared some of the three networks’ most important features to determine how they stack up.
Requirements
All three ad networks have their own approval requirements. This is a reflection of what kind of publisher each network targets. At the same time, it also makes it easy for publishers to decide which platform is the best match for their needs.
Ezoic Requirements
Small publishers and those new to publishing quality content are welcome to partner with Ezoic as it doesn’t have a high qualification bar. Ezoic has an easy approval process.
Here’s what you need to partner with Ezoic:
- Page Views: Ezoic doesn't require minimum traffic, but it has two different plans for beginners and established websites, depending on if they experience more than 10,000 page views in a month or less.
- Content Quality: If you’re thinking about partnering with Ezoic, make sure your website has unique and relevant content that adheres to Google’s publisher policies. It doesn't approve websites that publish illegal content.
- Website Type: Ezoic prefers partnering with informational and content-rich websites.
If your website meets all of the above requirements, you have a higher chance of receiving Ezoic’s approval.
AdSense Requirements
Google AdSense doesn’t specifically require a minimum number of page views or engagement. That’s why it’s more popular with small publishers and bloggers.
If you have been publishing quality content on your website for a while, you can apply for AdSense approval. Publishers of all levels can benefit from this platform. Small website owners can learn the ins and out of digital advertising, while established publishers with a savvy technical team can also use their resources to make the most out of it.
Google AdSense has an effortless approval process. Here are the approval requirements for AdSense
- Website: To be approved by AdSense, your website must be at least six months old.
- Traffic Requirement: There’s no minimum traffic requirement, but websites that don’t publish quality content frequently and attract little traffic may not secure AdSense approval.
- Content: AdSense requires content that is original and complies with Google content policies.
- Site Owner: The site owner must be at least 18 years old.
If you can meet the above requirements, you have a good chance of being approved for AdSense. However, this isn’t guaranteed as AdSense may sometimes also look into other site metrics before deciding.
Publift Requirements
Publift’s primary goal is to help small and medium-sized publishers get access to premium advertisers. Since Publift only connects publishers with the most sought-after advertisers, it does have some quality control criteria in place to make sure only quality publishers make the cut.
Approval requirements of Publift are as follows:
- Ad Revenue: Publift requires publishers have at least $2,000 in advertising revenue per month.
- Page Views: Publift partners with websites that experience more than 500,000 page views per month. However, exceptions may be made for publishers that regularly publish high-quality content but do not meet this criteria.
- Content: Publishers need to have original content that is legal and meets industry guidelines.
Sign-Up Process
Nobody likes long-drawn-out and complicated sign-up processes. We take a look into each network’s sign-up process to assess which of the three is the friendliest towards publishers signing up for the first time.
Ezoic Sign-Up Process
You can easily sign up for Ezoic if your website meets Ezoic requirements. Here’s a step-by-step process to sign up for Ezoic:
- Go to the Ezoic registration page and click Start Free Trial
- Provide your email address on the registration page.
- Click Continue and you’ll be taken to a new page.
- Enter your website URL. Next, go through the Ezoic terms of service and click Continue.
- You’ll now have three Ezoic program options to choose from—Ad Revenue, Site Speed, and Analytics.
- You can either select all or the ones that you prefer.
- Next, click Get Started.
Once approved, you’ll be taken to your Ezoic Dashboard.
AdSense Sign-Up Process
To sign-up with AdSense, you need a Google account and your own website or blog. Here’s a step-by-step guide to sign-up for AdSense:
- Visit Google AdSense and click Get started.
- Sign in to your Google Account and enter your site’s URL where you want to run ads.
- Click Go to, if your website site runs on one of Google’s host partner platforms. This way, AdSense will help you set up faster. If it’s not, click Next.
- Select your country or territory for payment.
- Accept the AdSense Terms and Conditions and click Start Using AdSense.
Once you’re approved you’ll be able to start using your AdSense account.
Publift Sign-Up Process
Publift registration process is a little different than Ezoic and AdSense. It’s also the shortest of the three.
- Get in touch with Publift by filling up in a form on the Let’s Talk page
- If your website meets Publift’s standards, a representative from the Publift team will contact you and assist you in setting up a plan.
- Once you’ve been set up, you can sign in to the Publift dashboard on your own.
- You can now benefit from Publift services.
Ad Optimization
We next look at how each of the three platforms approaches ad optimization for publishers.
Ezoic Ad Optimization
Ezoic uses AI-based ad technology to optimize ads, meaning users don’t need to manually test tools and placements multiple times to find the right fit for them.
Its intelligent ad optimization process uses placeholders to place the most productive ad on the publisher’s website. Furthermore, the tools not just increase advertising revenue but also impact the performance of a website. Powerful AI-based tools and data-driven strategic insights mean there’s no guesswork involved when it comes to ad optimization.
Making the most out of Ezoic, however, could be a bit difficult for publishers or publishing teams with limited technical expertise. It also has a difficult learning curve for beginners. Nevertheless, you’ll still see the difference in your advertising revenue after a month of incorporating it even after putting in minimum effort.
AdSense Ad Optimization
AdSense is a simple platform that relies on manual testing for ad optimization. It means you’ll be running a lot of experiments and testing a lot of tools to ensure the right ad strategy on this network. It includes running experiments on different templates and exploring custom search styles to improve your ad earnings.
If you have sound technical knowledge, you may find it exciting to explore so many possibilities of ad opportunities. However, if you’ve just started out or have limited tech knowledge, you may find yourself working quite hard to find profitable ad layouts and sizes for your website.
Publift Ad Optimization
Publift focuses on maximizing the viewability of its partner’s websites. Therefore, with Publift, you’re not just getting profitable ads on your website but also making it more popular among your target audience.
The platform allows you to automate your ad process, define and measure your key performance indicators (KPIs), set campaign goals, and measure outcomes. All this through its simple and interactive dashboard, so you get to run high-revenue ads on your website without spending a lot of time figuring things out.
Analytics Tools
The right set of analytics tools are essential to allow publishers to derive insights from their revenue reports. We compare how the three platforms fare when it comes to providing analytics tools to publishers.
Ezoic Analytics Tools
Ezoic offers excellent data analytics tools that help you analyze all metrics associated with your website’s monetization in granular detail. Using its analytics dashboard, you can filter revenue by author, topic, category, or any other qualifier you want. This way, you can make informed decisions based on data to automate your ad processes and improve revenue.
Its page-level reporting helps you pinpoint the best-performing campaigns and figure out what’s working and what’s not. This way, you can effectively understand the ROI of each campaign.
AdSense Analytics Tools
AdSense allows you to use Analytics to give context to your AdSense data and get a better understanding of your ads and their performance. That being said, AdSense may not provide high-level tools for in-depth analysis of your activities.
Analytics records data for AdSense content ad units, but it doesn't include data for other units, such as search boxes, mobile ads, or link units.
AdSense may not be the perfect fit if you’re looking for advanced data and in-depth analytics of your ads and activities to make effective ad strategies.
Publift Analytics Tools
When it comes to analytics, Publift offers the most advanced tools from among the three platforms.
Publift’s reporting dashboard helps website owners break down their revenue streams using a number of metrics.Users can also analyze overall CPM and page RPM and identify the networks that are performing the best. You don’t need to put manual effort into reporting and analytics with Publift. Everything is automated once you place Publift’s Fuse tags on your site or app. The best part is that you also don't need any technical knowledge to use these tools.
The platform also integrates Google Analytics data for a top-level understanding of website performance.
Customer Support
Ad platforms are fairly simple to use. However, in the event that publishers do encounter unforeseen issues when running them, it can throw a spanner in their entire monetization strategy.
For this reason, having efficient and timely support is an important parameter to judge the best ad network. Let’s take a brief look at customer service of each of the three platforms.
Ezoic Customer Service
Ezoic provides excellent customer service to its clients with expert customer service team members who can help you round the clock if you run into any issues. However, its customer service also depends on what plan you’re subscribed to. You can access Ezoic customer service from your dashboard, chatbots, and email. You can also make a direct call for urgent solutions.
One of the cons of Ezoic customer service is that you may sometimes have to wait a while before finding the right assistance to your problem on account of its relatively large customer base.
AdSense Customer Service
AdSense customer service is simple and traditional. You can get help round the clock through different means. Plus, there are thousands of articles from Google about AdSense issues on the internet. You can easily access them and solve your issues instantly.
However, AdSense doesn’t provide expert human support that advanced platforms provide. If you run into a unique problem, you may need to wait for quite some time before your issue is fixed.
Publift Customer Service
Publift provides a more tailored ad tech solution to its clients. Since it’s a boutique adtech firm with a relatively small but highly committed team, it is capable of a more personalized customer service experience.
You can access Publift support through your dashboard, email, live chat, or a phone call. There are no long waiting queues like Ezoic or other large, generic ad platforms.
Ezoic vs Adsense vs Publift: Who Pays Better in 2023?
In order to make an informed decision about the best ad platform, publishers need a fair idea of how much they can expect to earn from an ad platform. As such, we’ve analyzed the payouts of these three platforms below.
Ezoic Payment
You may need to wait some time before seeing the actual impact of Ezoic on your ad earnings since it works by collecting data from your site to optimize your ad placement.
According to Ezoic, you can expect to earn $40-60 per 1,000-page views. That being said, there are various other factors that affect your ad earnings. The best way to figure out your Ezoic earning is by using the Ezoic calculator.
AdSense Payment
Adsense typically pays you 68% of the revenue earned from the ads placed on your website. Additionally, you’ll get 51% of total revenue generated from AdSense for search.
However, your audience region and niche plays a vital role in determining Google AdSense revenue. For instance, if your primary audience is from the US, UK, or other high-income countries, you’ll likely earn more than your competitor’s website whose primary audience is from developing nations.
Moreover, if your website content targets competitive niches, such as insurance, real estate, or digital marketing, your website will likely generate better ad revenue than generic niches.
Publift Payment
Publift focuses on connecting its clients with the best paying advertisers in the ad market, claiming to have increased its client’s ad revenue by 55% on average.
The platform facilitates improved revenue on every ad placed on publishers’ websites. That being said, since ads pay differently according to niche and region, your ad revenue depends on what you create and who your audience is.
Publift pays its publishers via direct bank transfer in the currency of their choice. Google revenue is paid at the end of every month, while revenue from other networks is paid after 90 days,
To calculate their potential Publift earnings, publishers can use this free Publift ad revenue calculator.
Final Thoughts
Advances in adtech have made generating ad revenue quite straightforward. If you’re a website owner with good revenue potential, looking for the best ad networks, there are a lot of options available. That being said, choosing the right network depends on your publishing plans and preferences.
If you’re a newer publisher or blogger looking to boost your ad revenue, Ezoic or AdSense can be the best ad network for you.
Publift, however, is not only one of the highest paying ad networks but also offers a very high quality of technical support and value-added services. It's a great fit if you’re looking to take your ad revenue to the next level, want additional services such as website optimization, and have little patience with generic customer service.
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