After getting the Google Adsense account approved, the thought that comes to the mind of every blogger is ‘how to optimize adsense ads?’.  After adsense ads starts displaying on our sites, we feel that we have done everything. But, many of them will have CPC of  just 1 to 30 cents. But, if you can optimize the adsense units effectively, you can increase your CPC from mere cents to several dollars.

Adsense Optimization techniques for higher CPC and CTR

1. Change adsense ad layouts to find out which one best suits your site. A placement strategy which works well in one site need not work better in another. So, don’t worry. Just change the ad placement and watch the change in adsense earnings.
2. Use maximum number of available ads(3 standard ad units image/text, 3 link units and search bar) possibly in most of the pages. But, you should do it carefully such that the user should never get a feeling that the site is full of ads.
3. Use more standard text ad units as it gives higher CPC than image ads.
4. Implement highest paying ad sizes(Large Rectangle-336×280, Leaderboard-728×90, Medium Rectangle -300×250 and Wide Skyscraper -160×600).
5. Try different ad layouts in each post. That is, in case of a 300×250 ad unit, if it is placed at the begining of a post, just push it to last in the next post and so on.
6. Change the ad colour in link ad units and text ads(colour used for hyperlink usually give better results).
7. Ad Targeting: If you are using the same ad unit in all pages(eg 728×90 ad), target the ad. It will increase the Cost Per Click(CPC) of that ad unit. For that open adsense homepage. Click on ‘My ads’ tab. Go to ‘Custom channels’. Click on ‘New custom channel’. From there select the ad unit, give a name and tick on Targeting and fill the boxes below. Now, it’s all done. Analyse the changes in earnings in a week or two.
8. Switch to responsive WordPress themes. Since mobile and tablet users are increasing day by day, responsive themes play a crucial role for more traffic and for getting more adsense earnings.
9. Don’t place all the 3 ad units above the fold. This can decrease your adsense CPC.  It is true that you can get more clicks by placing ads at the beginning. But, from my experience it will lower your adsense CPC. Another advantage of this policy is that you can increase your site speed. Lowering Javascript above fold will decrease the page load time and is good for SEO as well.
10. Use responsive adsense ad units. Responsive adsense units are ads that are capable of changing their size according to the maximum available area where the unit is placed. For example, if you have a sidebar 400px in width and you have placed a responsive ad unit there. The ad unit will display 300*600 or 360*280 or 300*250 or other automatically. Moving to responsive ad units will dramatically increase adsense earnings(cpc and clicks) from tablets and Smart phones. I gave these units a try and found it great. But, moving all the  ad units to responsive mode is not a good idea. The only condition you should follow is that never place a responsive ad unit before title. Since when viewed from mobile platform, it will show large ads which is against Adsense TOS(Content should be served first).
Above all this, try to visualize your site as a user visiting the same, and try to exploit the chances so that you get more clicks.(Place ads where they would surely notice). This will surely increase your CTR.
Now, this is my word for you.
“Never get carried away by the success stories of fellow bloggers and website owners. Every one will have their time. Just do experiments on your ad arrangements, wait and see whether it works(say for 3 to 4 days or a week). If it fails, try another. Surely you will see a boost in your adsense earnings soon.”