How to filter or block ads in Google Adsense

On your site, Google Adsense ads appear promoting your competitor site. On your gadgets and technology blog, unrelated ads for weight loss and religion sometimes appear.

If you are faced with the following problems as a Google Adsense publisher, what do you do?

The simple answer: you filter or block those unwanted ads. But how exactly?

Competitive Ad Filter

One method is to use the “Competitive Ad Filter” option inside your Adsense account. This can be found under Adsense Setup > Competitive Ad Filter. This option lets you filter all ads that lead to your competitor sites. You can block a broad URL as in www.example.com or just a subdomain as in http://subdomain.example.com.

Ad Review Center

What if you want to block a category of ads that doesn’t fit your site? For example, if you’re running a technology blog, you might want sex- or dating-related ads not to appear.

In this case, use the Adsense Setup > Ad Review Center option. Launched to most Adsense publishers only this month, the “Ad Review Center” lets you block a category of ads. Right now, you can choose to block up to 5 categories. The idea, of course, is to block categories that don’t give much earnings.

Below is a screenshot of the Ad Review Center inside my Adsense account.

I  tried the Ad Review Center today and decided to block 5 categories. Let’s see how this will affect my Adsense income.

To those who have already tried the Ad Review Center, did it help increase your online income or not?