336x250 only showing two ads?

[maxgoldie]

For the first time I see only two ads in my 336x250, where there normally should be four. Plus the fonts are almost twice as big as normal.

It looks terrible. Any ideas how to get it to show four ads?

(I have opted out of CPM and "advertise on this site".)

[webpublisher]

Is this what others are seeing , because this certainly isn't the case with some of the sites profiled in the Adsense case studies.

[skunker]

Still seeing 2 big ads instead of the 4 standard:(

[annej]

Strange but I seem more likely to get 4 on rectangle units on short pages that have fewer visitors. The busy pages still get 2 ads in rectangles.

I understand there are some ads that are by impression. How do we tell if we have one of those?

[fearlessrick]

After a hopeful day Friday, Saturday and Sunday were back in the tank. What I can report is so far this month (as compared to last month) my page impressions have remained constant, total clicks are down 18%. CTR is down 25%. eCPM is down roughly 40-45%, average daily earnings down about 35%.

Happy New Year. I'm certain a little of that is seasonal, but some has to be attributed to two ads showing in blocks where there should be 4.

I'm almost sure Google will figure it out sooner or later, but eventually they will take a larger percentage of earnings (which they may be dong now) in order to satiate their investors for ever-escalating profits.

This really is a no win game for publishers absent of better transparency. I may switch to YPN over the course of this month, not because they're any better but because at least they do not rely on advertising for almost 100% for their revenue. They are more diversified and that is a little more confortable, at least for me.

[newbies]

After observing for several days the effects of two ads in 336x250 which is used by most of my pages and consists of most of my income, I found the following:

CTR down 1-2%
ECPM up ~10%
EPC up ~20%

Total earnings remain unchanged or is little bit higher.

Stangely, today I saw 4 ads for 336x250 format on one page, but unproducible.

[21_blue]

The single ads came back again a couple of days ago, and income dropped again. I banned the advertiser that I saw appearing most frequently; today I'm back to full ads and income is back up again.

[annej]

I'm trying a comparison between two popular sets of articles each in their own section. One still has the rectangle ads and the other I've put in the narrow skyscraper which means I had to redesign to get my navigation elsewhere.

After 5 days the results seem to be about even. So the rectangle ads with two items in them aren't really hurting me but they do look bad.

Jensense just posted about this on her blog.
[jensense.com...]

It looks like we are stuck with them.

[adamxcl]

I'm currently doing a test on stacking two half banner blocks (234x60) in place of the large rectangle. I figure if I have to show only two ads, maybe I can control the appearance a bit more? It looks much better on the site but I'm waiting to see on the dollars and performance.

[21_blue]

annej wrote:

It looks like we are stuck with them.

Thanks for pointing out Jensense's blog. I hope you're not correct in saying "we're stuck with them", because there are two or three things reported in jensense's blog that concern me:

• ASA's statement (made earlier in this thread) that their algo determines if the expanded ads make more money
  
• that the reported depression of earnings is due to seasonal fluctuations
  
• that ASA says it is determined on a page basis.
  

I suspect that, whilst Google are genuine in their intentions, they may be making some inadvertent errors, putting too much trust in the logic of their algos. "Smartpricing" has created a very complex beast, perhaps far more complex than they intended. Eg: changes that increase eCPM on an individual page basis could simulataneously have a knock-on Smartpricing impact that reduces overall earnings.

With regards the claim of "seasonal fluctuations", I am concerned that this is wishful thinking and not based on hard statistical analysis. In my case, I think that most WW members who have read my posts over the last 6 months will recognise that I take a hard statistical approach to most analysis. I have submitted a report to Google with evidence that CPM ads, contrary to their claims, was suppressing earnings. I can't do a similar analysis on expanded ads because there isn't detailed enough reporting from the Adsense system. But what analysis I am able to do is strongly suggestive that, on my site at least, these expanded ads are damaging the bottom line. We've probably spent 2 to 3 man-days on this in the last fortnight.

I recognise that, in the overall sea of web advertising, many of us publishers are minnows. Google aren't going to base their business strategy around little ol' me. However, although we are relatively small, to us internet publishing is a big part of our way of life. If we are going to be able to plan and invest for the future, and help Google's business grow as well as ours, then there are some very serious questions that Google need to look at, such as:

1. How do Google handle the situation where their testing shows that a feature "on average" generates more revenue, but it actually depresses the revenue of some individual publishers? Do they say "tough, live with it", or gives us reports, allow us to monitor and then opt out of that feature (as they do with CPM ads)?
   
   
2. What can Google say to build confidence in their algorithms when those who take a statistically-driven approach can provide evidence to show their claims of "it earns you more money" are incorrect?
   
   
3. Do Google really understand "systems thinking" (and I'm not referring to computer systems), which suggests that if you make an apparently isolated change in one area it can have an unexpected impact in another? Have they created something which is more complex than they realise?
   

This is not intended to be a moan against Google - I have been and continue to be critical of whingers. I want to work in partnership with Google. But a partnership involves both sides expressing their views and concerns and working to further each other's aims.

However, in recent months I'm spending an increasing amount of effort defending our bottom line against new "monetization" initiatives. I reckon CPM ads cost us $1,000 or more in November alone.

In my view, the current problems with expanded ads is not, not, "seasonal fluctuation" - such Big Sweeping Generalisations do little to instil confidence in this particular individual publisher. I can provide data to suggest (though not conclusive) that this particular claim is incorrect, just as the CPM ads claim is not correct.

[annej]

Actually my best earning month is always January. Women are done with Christmas and can finally spend some money on their hobby.

On the need to work together AdSense gives us so many choices like whether we use ad links, search, the kinds and shapes of ad units. Why can't they give us a choice on this?

It would be one thing if the problem was there are't enough ads for my page but this has never been the case before. Just let me choose if I want a 4 ad rectangle or if I want the expanded ads.

In my case it's more how it looks than how much money it earns. My site has an academic aspect and I don't want it to just scream commercial. I'm going to give it a few more days then I'll convert the rest of my articles back to skyscraper ads in the side column. They are more subtle there yet seem to get clicked on just fine.