which boxes make the most $$$?

Ya, I like the 250x250 too. But the best one is the ad links. Why? Because I can have 4 units if one of them are an ad link and three otherwise. Because ad links are small and integrate well into Webpages.

 

Don't trust Google blindly.

Their heat map suggests that best visibility of ads is on the right side while the Google search pages show ads on the extreme left.

 

That's because Google wanted to be seen as a "pure" search engine that doesn't intermingle search results and ads.

But, If you notice, some ads are begining to appear at the top of the page. For example search for "mp3 player" and you'll see ads above the search results. When its really lucrative, Google does put ads in the "hottest" spot.

 

I like this advice!

If I look at a lot of the most successful sites, the all seem to have a banner/half banner at the topmost right-hand corner of the screen. I bet this gets the highest CTR as far as ad placement goes.

As far as "best paying", I dont want to sound like a smart ass, but the best paying ads are the ones that get the best CTR. What I mean is that it is hard to separate the role of "ads placement" from the notion of "best paying ad size".

I bet they go too hand-in-hand to really make any concrete assertions.

 

That's right. Google's advice is more concrete than some other publishers. But the experience of the publisher can be considered.

 

I prefer leader boards and 120x600 towers, just because they fit with my site design better.