Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Do not know for sure but I am thinking it could be due to "Advertise On This Site" which was just activated and appearing on the ads for my network of sites starting Thurs night.
IMO, a problem with it is that if you have say 2 or 3 ad units on a page (most of my sites have 3 units) the Advertise link is far too obvious to the site visitor making the site look too commercialized and perhaps taking away clicks. It also seems to harm the blending in effect we strive for, making them stand out as ads too much.
Another problem is the minimum Adwords bid seems to be 0.25c (at least on my sites I checked) and since G is assumed to pay about 50% or so. That means we are believed to only get about 12 cents per click which (if correct) would be well below what our sites normally get.
The last 3 days appear to be the poorest 3 consecutive days in a very long time, going back far into the past, so far back I did not find old bad performance dates yet from the quick scan of my account over many mos.
Extremely upsetting situation (especially with our greater overall traffic plus more and better websites online) after all our hard work with Adsense over the last 2-1/2 yrs with them.
Anyone else believe this could in fact be due to Advertise On This Site?
IMO, a problem with it is that if you have say 2 or 3 ad units on a page (most of my sites have 3 units) the Advertise link is far too obvious to the site visitor making the site look too commercialized and perhaps taking away clicks. It also seems to harm the blending in effect we strive for, making them stand out as ads too much.
Are you suggesting that a user might actually recognize the ads as being ads? That's terrible! Think of all the revenue lost from inadvertent clicks! Why, the next thing you know, advertisers might start receiving fair value for the money they've paid!
No drop in ctr or revenues here though.
Are you suggesting that a user might actually recognize the ads as being ads? That's terrible! Think of all the revenue lost from inadvertent clicks! Why, the next thing you know, advertisers might start receiving fair value for the money they've paid!
Why the sarcasm? There is nothing wrong with doing that. In fact, Adsense help say's this ".....you may find that colors that blend in completely perform better..."
Many experieced publishers will say it's best to blend in the ads as much as possible, with good placement and colors which match your site colors and also merge well with your layout.
If the ad link looks similar to your site content as far as blending and the category goes it very well could be the visitor is more likely to buy your product rather than less likely, IMO.
IMO, I don't think a drop in revenue has anything to do with the "advertise on my site" message. Since opting out, my revenue has been dropping like a rock and it's mainly due to ads not being on target. CTR down 60% and cost-per-click has dropped substantially.
kz
Why the sarcasm? There is nothing wrong with doing that. In fact, Adsense help say's this ".....you may find that colors that blend in completely perform better..."
Sure, for the publisher, not for the advertiser (at least until smart pricing kicks in).
"Advertorial" in newspapers or magazines works the same way, with one difference: the advertiser isn't paying by the click.
"Advertorial" in newspapers or magazines works the same way, with one difference: the advertiser isn't paying by the click.
and the publisher actually knows what he's being paid for the ad space. :)
Have now reviewed our all-time report and the last time my income was this low was Fri thru Sun April 15 16 17, almost 8 mos ago! That was also based on about 15% less traffic then than now making the current performance even worse.
I'm glad Chitika and other affiliates are getting the clicks as a result of this adsense problem. It makes me think about replacing adsense with my other affiliates.
kz
LOL. My adsense for search is outpacing my adsense for content 2 to 1. An indicator that content ads are just not targeted for consumers to click.
As with most things, that depends--on the topic, the ad inventory, the individual advertisers, the audience, the content itself, and what discounts (if any) the advertiser receives via smart pricing.
Some publishers do very well with content ads, just as some advertisers do very well with the content network.
Something is definately wrong with the ad inventory of late. My sites go through this about once per month correcting itself within 2 days. But since Nov 29th, income has dropped and getting worse.
Oh well, just have to wait it out like everyone else.
kz
Welcome to the world of Adsense. It's too hard to figure out what's wrong and these things happen all the time with no rhyme or reason.
But from what I've seen, nothing good can come of Content Ads /advertise on this site, until they give us more control. Highly recommend opting out. With the exception of people who are earnings pennies a click or horrendous CTR.
But since Nov 29th, income has dropped and getting worse
29 Nov brought me a new highest ever 15% beyond my last highest ever day. I posted this in "Extrem high EPC today".
It runs great since this time. So great, that I thought this is the other side of smart pricing.
Jetteroheller - Google must have given you my share accidentally :).
kz
Since I can't attribute the decline to any other factors I am making an educated guess it is due to my units being too cluttered and a commercialized appearance (especially when running 2 or 3 units on the page), and the look and feel of the page declining due to that.
Plus, min bids to those clicking on my links are low IMO at only .25 cents and I assume most advertisers only offer the minimum.
P.S. Does everyone have a min bid of 25 cents or are we all different? Is 25 cents the fixed minimum? Find out by going to your link and adding your own site to your existig Adwords account, which is the way I learned it was only 0.25c.
Also, getting .25 cents is a lot better than many of us here getting merely 3-10c a click.
What are the bids on other members 'advertise on this site' based links? How does G determine the minimum bid amount, are websites different and if so based on what?
P.S. It would be great if Jenstar covered these issues in her own excellent website since she is not posting in the threads from what I can see.
You can charge whatever you want based on a monthly flat fee and keep 100% of the money rather than give G about 1/2.
Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! Why not eliminate the middle man?
Because for many, the bookkeeping involved is too much of a hassle.
