How to Place 5 Adsense Ad Units on a Web Page (Legitimately)

It’s common knowledge that Adsense has a rule limiting the number of ad units to 3 per web page.

The rule makes sense. Imagine if Adsense didn’t have any limitation.  The web would be a garbage heap of ads.

However, if you would like to place more than 3 Adsense ads on a web page, it’s now possible without violating Google Adsense Terms of Service.

How is this possible?

It’s possible by using a Google ad partner service that works with Google’s Ad Exchange instead of Google Adsense.

Don’t worry, the ads via Google Ad Exchange look exactly the same as the Adsense ads.  However, with Ad Exchange you have access to more advertisers.

I’ve never personally tried to be an Ad Exchange publisher; however, I do use the Ad Exchange ads by partnering with a Google ad management service.

To date, I’ve used 2 such services.  They are Ezoic (read my Ezoic review here) and Sortable.

Let me be clear.  If your website is accepted with Ezoic or Sortable, you will be able to place up to 5 Google ads (desktop display only) on a web page instead of 3.  I’m talking the big paying Google ad units (not counting the link units and custom Google search box).

As you can well imagine, being able to place more ads on a web page provides the potential to earn more money.

There is a cost though

The cost to using any service that places Ad Exchange ads on your site is that you cannot place other contextual ad networks on your site.  For example, you cannot place Media.net ads in addition to the 5 Ad Exchange ads.

Nevertheless, in my limited experience using these services (I’m currently using Sortable), because Google ads pay more, having 5 Google ads vs. 6 ads (3 Adsense and 3 Media.net ads) results in higher revenue.

Acceptance is not guaranteed

Unfortunately not all sites will be accepted to work with Ezoic and Sortable.  You must apply. That said, the thresholds aren’t terribly high so if you have decent content and some traffic, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be accepted.

In other words you don’t need 500,000 monthly page views for acceptance.

Use 5 ads only if it makes sense

You don’t have to use all 5 ads with these services.  In fact, if you have a website with short content pieces, 5 ads may be too much.  I tend to publish websites with lengthy content so 5 ads makes sense.  Use your discretion.  More importantly, test to find out if your site generates more revenue with fewer ads (this can happen).

Maximum on Mobile is 4 Ads

I should also mention that for mobile devices, the maximum number of ads is 4.  This makes sense given mobile display of websites usually doesn’t have a sidebar.

The plus side with mobile is you can have a floating bottom ad (yes, Google offers a floating bottom ad for mobile devices).

From my experience monetizing my sites on mobile devices, I’ll take 4 ads with a floating bottom ad over 5 ads with no floating option.

Is it worth using ad management services like Ezoic or Sortable since they charge fees?

In my experience it is.  I’m currently working with Sortable and results are great even though their fee is 15% of my revenue.  I’ve also used Ezoic. Read more about ad testing services here.

Which service should you use?  Both are very good so I suggest testing both.  They are not identical services.  They offer different features so carefully read what they uniquely offer and choose the service that seems to make the most sense for you.

Jon Dykstra

Jon Dykstra is a six figure niche site creator with 10+ years of experience. His willingness to openly share his wins and losses in the email newsletter he publishes has made him a go-to source of guidance and motivation for many. His popular “Niche site profits” course has helped thousands follow his footsteps in creating simple niche sites that earn big.