Learn what is the maximum number of Adsense ads you can show on a web page without exceeding content in 2020

Congrats, Google AdSense has lifted its ads limit per page policy!

Publishers can now place unlimited AdSense ads on a web page provided that the total number of AdSense ads or third-party ads must not exceed the visible content.

On a blog post written by SEJ, they have confirmed that Google has removed the ad limit policy:

I spoke with a Google representative this afternoon who confirmed the ad limit has been removed.

AdSense Has Removed "3 Ads Per Page Policy"

If you check the AdSense policy page with the web archives WayBack Machine, you can find that the old ad limit policy section which reads "Ad limit per page" has been replaced with "Valuable inventory" section on the updated ad placement policies page. 

Ad limit per page

Currently, on each page AdSense publishers may place:

Up to three AdSense for content units 

Up to three link units 

Up to two search boxes Publishers may not place more than one"large" ad unit per page. We define a "large" ad unit as any unit similar in size to our 300x600 format.

Previously publishers could add 3 AdSense content units and 2 link units. Premium partners could place up to 6 ads units per page, normal publishers could do it only with the help of certified publishing partnerssuch as Ezoic.

In August 2016 Google updated this policy and now you can place an unlimited number of AdSense ads on a single page with no upper limit.   

The new Google AdSense Ad Placement policy 2020 is the following:

Valuable inventory
Advertising and other paid promotional material added to your pages should not exceed your content. Furthermore, the content you provide should add value and be the focal point for users visiting your page. For this reason, we may limit or disable ad serving on pages with little to no value and/or excessive advertising until changes are made.

According to the new ad placement policy, there is no limit on the number of ads you can place on a given page which means:

1. Unlimited Content Units: Publishers can now put more than three AdSense for content ad units on a given page. Content units include all Text + Image ads. 
2. Unlimited Link Units: Publishers can add more than three Link ad units on a single page.
3. Unlimited Large Units: Publishers can choose to place more than one large ad unit per page. Which means you can show more than one 300x600 ad formats. Large ad units include for example, 300x1050 and 970x250 formats, 750x200 and 580x400 regional formats. 

Conditions To Follow Before Placing AdSense Ads

There are two strict conditions to follow before placing multiple AdSense ads on a web page. You must follow these restrictions carefully to ensure your AdSense account is not disabled or limited. 

Condition#1: Avoid Excessive Advertising

Google has explicitly mentioned this policy:

Advertising and other paid promotional material added to your pages should not exceed your content. 

All your AdSense ad units combined with any third-party Ad network ads (i.e Media.net or BuySellAds, AdClerks) you might be using, should not exceed the length of your visible content. 

Visible content refers to the actual content of your article or blog post, that includes: 

• Images, Text and Videos 

How Can You Know If Ads Exceed Your Content?

A simple rule of thumb to ensure you never do excessive advertising on your blog is to stick to this formula:

Total Content Space > Total Ad space

As long as the total length or space of your visible content is greater than the total space occupied by ads on your site, you are not violating AdSense policy. 

Reverse this formula and you will see a flood of Ads on your site that will not only irritate the website visitors but would also kill the overall user experience, giving a look of a fish market i.e. Ad market! 

How Many AdSense Ads Per Page Can you Add In 2020?

Now when there is no restriction on the maximum number of AdSense ad units on a single page, you can wisely place as many ad units on your pages as you want, provided that the total content space is always greater than the total ad space i.e. Ads not exceeding the content. 

Keep these tips in mind, to ensure that the total number of Ads should not exceed content:

• For a short content i.e. less than 500 words in length, do not show more than 3 Content Ad units on a web page 
• For a long content i.e. between 1000-1500 words, do not put more than 4 Content Ad units on a page. 
• For a very long content i.e. more than 2000 words, do not place more than 6 Content Ad Units per page. 

Placing more than 6 Content units on any lengthy post, will naturally effect user experience. 

So never overdo advertising, even if your content is way too long. Utilize more link units instead of only using content units in longer posts.  

With too many ads and very short (thin) content, users will simply leave your site and thus leading you to a high bounce rate.

Nothing causes more harm to any website than low quality content and a bad user experience. 

A content that has little to no value is called low quality content or thin content. Such content is not based on in-depth research and is simply a rewrite/copy/spun of a third-party content for the sole purpose of gaining traffic by spamming search engines. 

Google has warned against sharing such content that has no real value. Such sites are not only black listed in search engines through penalties such as Google Panda, but ad serving is also disabled on such pages as explicitly mentioned in 2020 AdSense ad placement policy:

we may limit or disable ad serving on pages with little to no valueand/or excessive advertising until changes are made.

Condition#2: Show Only One Ad Above-The-Fold On Mobile Site

You can show only one Ad above-the-fold on a mobile site but unlimited ads below-the-fold, provided that no two ads may appear on the screen at the same time. 

Although this condition is no more present on the new policy page but it is strictly recommended by Google. Most of my clients receive email notices from Google to remove Ads from above the fold in mobile view. 

This is one reason why I have only shown one link-unit  just below blog title on the mobile responsive version of this blog for smartphone devices. 

Through the WayBack machine, I could extract the following policy guideline by Google:

Mobile implementations:
The above ad limits also apply to mobile sites. In addition, two or more AdSense ads may not appear on the screen at the same time on a mobile site. Publishers with sites using responsive website should consider that ad units may shift into non-compliant positions as the site scales across different devices.

This policy which  clearly mentions that no two ads may appear next to each other at the same time on a mobile screen. More emphasis is given through emails to above-the-fold section that is viewed when the user first enters your site. 

Above-the-fold is the section of your site that is viewed first time on page load before the user starts to scroll down.

I strongly recommend that you add only one link unit of size 180x90 or 200x90,just below your article title to avoid policy violation applied to mobile views. 

I have tested this AdSense ad spot with a link unit and it has proven to be one my best-performing ad units compared to content units placed at top. 

Note: There are tons of other ad placement rules such as ads in emails, pop-up, iframe etc. that you must follow. In this tutorial we focused on the latest ad limit policy change only. 

Why Did Google Remove its Ad limit Policy?

For three simple reasons:

1. AdSense has more competitors today than before such as Media.net ads by Bing and Yahoo. If they don't allow publishers to add more ads, they will simply start displaying Media.net ads to fill empty ad inventories. 
2. To allow publishers to test new Ad Types such as Page-level ads and native ads which includes: In-feed ads, Matched content ads and In-article ads.
3. To keep advertisers happy: If publishers are allowed to test more ad units, this will encourage more advertisers to invest on AdWords in order to expect a higher return on investment. The previous ad limit policy was not giving much to both publishers and advertisers as far as mobile monetization was concerned. Now publishers can show more ad units allowing the advertisers to experiment with several different ad formats. 

How Many AdSense Ads Per Page Will You Show?

The removal of all restrictions on the number of ads does sound great but it puts a lot of great responsibility on the publishers. So use this opportunity carefully and increase your ad revenue by following the tips we discussed today. 

I would love to hear your feedback on this pleasant surprise. Do share with us how many AdSense ad units you are currently using on your Wordpress or blogspot blog. Now when Google has lifted the ad limit policy, how many AdSense ads units do you plan to show on a single page? 

Share your thoughts by leaving your precious comments!