One of the easiest ways to monetize a blog is through AdSense, but what kind of content generates the most ad revenue? Is there a difference, aside from how much traffic types of content bring to the website? In this case study, I’m looking at the numbers for WriterSanctuary in 2025.
I would love to perform this case study across different niches, but I haven’t had a chance to publish regular content on the other blogs. And considering I am using an entire year’s worth of numbers, it’ll be a while before I can compare the fitness and gaming sites.
So, that means you need to keep in mind that the following case study centers purely around a writing blog that covers several related topics. These include blogging, self-publishing, and freelance writing.
Examining the Content for Ad Revenue
Perhaps one of the most important things to keep in mind is that there are a lot of variables that come into play when estimating ad revenue. Not all blog posts are going to draw the same type of audience.
For instance, a blog post that gets tons of views might not make as much money as one that doesn’t because of the audience type and information. We’ll see quite a bit of this when we look at the top 25 blog posts for the site.
A Year-Long Review
In this small case study, we’re looking at the data accumulated by Google Analytics over the entire span of 2025. That will include both old and new content that may have been published in the last few months of the year.
However, by looking at the year as a whole, a lot of those newer articles won’t show unless they performed amazingly well compared to posts that have already been published prior to January 1st, 2025.
Because of the nature of Google, its ever-changing algorithm, and the continued development of AI Overviews, we have to take the data with a grain of salt. Things can literally change overnight, and Google could near-instantly crush a website because of a change to search parameters.
Top 25 for AdSense Income
To get an idea of the type of content that generates the most ad revenue, we’re looking at the top 25 blog posts on this website. That means looking at the type of content that performs the best, such as reviews or tutorials.
I’m organizing the top posts according to how much they made in ad revenue alone. Some posts did exceptionally well when affiliate and book sales are tallied. But for this case study, we’re looking strictly at the money generated by AdSense.
This is also a great way to determine what types of content work best for your own blog. It’s always a good idea to analyze the performance of your website’s content, as it can give you all kinds of ideas for what to write next.
Best Types of Content to Create for Ad Revenue
Ok, let’s take a look at the data I’m sharing for this case study.
Despite the listicle generating more than one-third of all ad revenue for the website, there are so many more reviews ranking in the top 25. This demonstrates how prominent reviews are online.
According to the data from last year, the review content was more prominent for both ad revenue and traffic. That is a sound argument, considering how 98% of US shoppers consult reviews before making a purchase.
It’s also worth pointing out that “review websites” can make some serious income with the right content, niche, and content strategy.
Something else to consider is that there are far fewer listicles on this website than reviews. According to keyword research, list posts still generate a lot of interest on Google, which could easily translate to a boost in traffic as well as ad revenue.
This includes search phrases like “Best Gaming Chair” or “Cheap Cat Toys.”
What is the Income / View Line?
Because I am a bit of a dork and like to estimate income as precisely as possible, I break down content types with an “income per viewer” dataset. This is how much those posts generate from AdSense with every view on average.
In this case, we can see some of the blog posts with far fewer views generate a lot more income per visitor. Why is that? Well, a lot of things can go into how visitors behave and what ads are shown.
Some things that will affect income per view include:
- Focus niche topic for high-value visitors (they are more likely to click certain ads)
- Google already knows precisely what ad to show a visitor to click
- A larger portion of the visitors on average clicked ads compared to high-traffic blog posts
In reality, an income-per-view metric doesn’t necessarily mean those are the articles you should write. I just find it interesting that some articles generate a lot more per visitor than others.
So, What Is the Best Content To Write for Ad Revenue?
According to this particular blog, it’s apparent that listicles and reviews are the breadwinners for generating traffic and advertisement income. The one listicle brings in more than 33% of all ad revenue while also bringing in 15% of all traffic.
Does that mean I should focus on more list articles? Yes. The trick, however, is to write about products or services that are relevant to the primary niche of the blog. In this case, writing.
In fact, I have plans to cover a variety of services that are available for both bloggers and authors, so there is no shortage of things to cover. Then, each of those listicles can easily turn into a long list of full reviews for each of those products and services.
Again, this case study is only taking a single writing blog’s perspective according to AdSense revenue. In the future, I’d like to incorporate a larger dataset of niche websites, starting with my fitness and gaming blogs.
At the end of the day, the best content to write is what works best for your website. All blogs are not created equal, and each one will vary in topics and traffic. So, use the data above as more of a guideline of what to create rather than a rule. Don’t be afraid to experiment on your own to discover what content drives the most ad revenue for you.
AI Overviews Have Done Some Damage
Since the rollout of AI Overviews, traffic to many blogs has been decimated. In one Pew Research analysis, roughly 1% of AI Overviews led to a cited source. This meant only one out of every 100 people clicked the citation from AI Overviews to see the originating website.
Because of the instant answers, fewer people are visiting blogs, which means fewer ads are being shown.
In fact, the click-through rates of websites spanning many industries experienced a 30% to 60% decrease in clicks when AI Overviews was presented after a search. And AI continues to collect more and more data to replace answers found on blog posts.
Most people have the mindset of “why visit the website when the answer is right here in front of me?”
The reason I bring this up is not to discourage you from blogging. On the contrary, you should create a blog and focus on human followers and subscribers, especially if you’re an author. The point of this is to highlight that you cannot rely on ad revenue alone to make money from your content.
Don’t Purely Rely on AdSense
Every form of income from a blog requires one inescapable factor: traffic. If you don’t have people visiting your website, no one is going to click ads or buy products. That means traffic will dictate how much you make.
With that being said, there are various ways you can make more money per visitor than with AdSense. For instance, there are people out there still making a decent living with affiliate sales from review blogs.
Take this blog, for example. I’ve used affiliate links, sponsored posts, book sales, and ad revenue. In 2023, I made about three times the money in sponsored posts than I ever did with ads. And when I was pushing Buy Me a Coffee regularly, I made about six times what ads bring in.
It all comes down to being diverse in how you monetize the blog. Digital products, memberships, sponsorships…there are a number of ways you can make more than what ad revenue provides for your content. The most difficult part is making sure you can drive traffic to your website.
Having high-quality content makes the biggest impact on how much you can make every month.
Blogging Has Changed A Lot
I’ve been involved with websites so long that I think in terms of decades. And since my first days of creating a website from my Sega Saturn over a 28.8 baud modem in 1998, websites have come a very long way.
Nowadays, so much of development is automated. But if I think about it some, I bet I could still write an entire frame-based website purely in HTML.
Anyway, blogging has also come a long way since those first days when AdSense cropped up. If you want to consistently be successful managing your blog, you need to keep a close eye on Google and the data from your website. Whether you’re using Analytics or some other tracking app, never underestimate the value of the data collection.
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