Forum Moderators: martinibuster
For example, I would imagine 0 - 0.5% is underperforming, 0.5%-2.0% is about average and 2%-5% is doing great and anything over 10% is going to raise some flags. What do you think?
To use an example, I could slash my 3,500+ pages down to a few hundred carefully selected pages, and my CTR would rise significantly. But my site would generate fewer AdSense impressions (not to mention affiliate sales), and I'd earn less revenue.
The bottom line is that your bottom line (not your CTR) is what counts.
One more - wouldn't it depend to some degree on how narrow or broad the search terms were that people arrived at the site for, assuming they came in from a search engine?
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I was typing as EFV posted, I think he pretty well covered this second one and gave us a good start.
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You forgot to give your rating for a 5-10% CTR! And while I wouldn't tell what mine is and can only guess at which pages are higher or lower on any sites, I do know that the numbers vary from day to day. That is the range I'd like as a targeted goal given a choice in the matter, which of course we don't have.
My blind guess as an overall for all types of sites is that 3-5% would be respectable and acceptable, and that anything lower would warrant taking a good look at how the pages are done and whether, if they happen to be product pages, they have a history of conversion to sales.
I do wonder to what degree conversion factors come into play with how poorly or well pages are doing with AdSense CTR.
For example, I get a fairly low CTR on a large Adsense site (tens of thousands of pages), partly because each visitor reads plenty of pages. Still, the net effect is a healthy proportion (double digit percentage) leave via an ad, despite the dismal CTR. The low CTR isn't because they don't leave via an ad, it's because they read lots first.
Would stating a CPV be a violation of the adsense terms, given that you aren't telling how many clicks and visitors you get?
edit-
Just going back to what Marcia said, whether or not they are product related pages is going to have a huge impact on CTR. I'm purely in the information sector, about as far from products as it gets, unfortunately :P So my estimations of what normal traffic will be is going to be a lot lower.
Now, there are many threads here that talk about improving CTR, but here is what I think is important (at least for my site).
Page Variables
1. Page Title
2. File name
3. Keywords in content (as close to the top as possible)
4. Header text
5. Link text
6. A good site map that will lead Googlebot to every page of your site w/AdSense code(from what I have learned there are 2 ways of getting relevant ads served - 1)page already indexed by Google or 2)have the page called with the AdSense code in it, then the bot will automatically come)
Ad Variables
1. Leaderboards have the highest CTR (at least for me)
2. Place them above the fold (as close to the top as possible)
3. Some say color plays a role but I have not found this. I have had the same color (fitting with theme of site) since inception and CTR has only improved.
User Variables
1. VERY IMPORTANT - I have found that if you have highly targeted users your CTR can soar. My site covers a mainstream industry but that's all it covers. I get decent traffic naturally but I also buy about 5,000 clicks per day. On days when I have paused my ad campaigns I have seen CTR fall by as much as 40%. At first I thought it was just a coincidence but after some further testing I am sure that this trend is due to the fact that the users I am buying are more targeted searchers than those coming in naturally. Moral of the story is the type of user has as much to do with CTR as anything. If you can bring someone to the site that is actively searching for red widgets and you can direct them to a page that shows ads title red widgets, guess what 9 times out of 10 they will click the ad.
Bottom line. You have to experiment. After about three months of experimenting I have settled into what I think is a great format and possibly the ceiling for my CTR.
Further, why is it so difficult for people to understand that there is no such thing as an average CTR they should aspire to? Sites are so different that CTRs of 0.5 are high on some sites and CTRs of 10.0 are LOW on others (Yes, that is a fact)
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If there's poor or good CTR is it because of the quality of the pages, or because of how good Google is with placing ads that are properly targeted
what I'm really looking for is a benchmark
When are people going to realise that there isn't one?
Bottom line. You have to experiment. After about three months of experimenting I have settled into what I think is a great format and possibly the ceiling for my CTR
That makes more sense than what most Adsense publishers here seem to realise. Read it carefully again. dflayfield, welcome to ww and thanks for some very sensible comments.
[edited by: Jenstar at 6:11 am (utc) on Jan. 19, 2004]
[edit reason] TOS # 19 [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]
When are people going to realise that there isn't one?
The benchmark is CTR per unique visitor, i'd suspect the average is higher then 5%
Trying to compare Site A and Site B (I realise now) is pretty pointless unless the sites are very similar.
What do you mean - poor quality pages get higher CTR?I think what she was referring to is that if you land someone on your site looking for apples, which user is led to believe will be there because of page title, link text from whence they came, etc. but there is no information on apples on the page, yet there is links to apples in the adsense ads, you basically have a low quality page with a high click through rate.
Is proving people wrong really that much fun?
[edited by: Jenstar at 6:14 am (utc) on Jan. 19, 2004]
[edit reason] Check sticky please [/edit]
yet there is links to apples in the adsense ads, you basically have a low quality page with a high click through rate
Assume I have a high quality authority page on apples with no outwards links - not even to my home page - except for Adsense ads. And that page is normally visited by people desperate to buy apples... then my top, best quality page will get a high CTR. Quality plays a very, small part. While I always argue in favour of quality content let's drop the pretence that quality is a defining factor for CTR. Poor quality pages can get high CTR ... or a very LOW CTR. If I have a poor quality page with millions of ads, that takes 60 seconds to download on a T1 connection... and I stick Adsense at the bottom of that page - I doubt I'd see a high CTR.
It's not about proving people wrong. It's about getting the facts right. The intention is not to attack any person, but to dispel rumours and inaccuracies.
Average CTR across sites is a non-issue. One webmaster's CTR on site A has no connection with another webmaster's CTR on site B which is a completely different site, with different content, design, number of visitors, type of visitors, ads, ad locations, stickiness, quality, location and size.
When I first started AdSense I was receiving essentially the same ads as the AdWords ads on the Google serp page on which my site was found. The click through rate for us was 5-10%.
Then (3 months into the program) the ads got much less targeted... those companies that were a perfect match (as evidenced by their willingness pay for AdWords under my exact same site subject) were now gone and replaced with less pertinent ads, although related. Now the CTR is 2.5%
I am unsure if these 'perfect subject match' companies have opted out, restricted my URL or if it is Google that made the change. Judging by the group of sites that I manage, it was Google that made the change to less targeted ads (advertently or inadvertently) thereby lowering my CTR.
Assume I have a high quality authority page on apples with no outwards linksThat sounds like an oxymoron.
That sounds like an oxymoron
Not at all! The number of outward links do not decide the quality of the page's contents. If a quality academic site has a heavily respected - and often linked to - page that answers all questions anybody may have about atomicwidgets then that page is a destination in itself. It does not NEED any outward links to prove it's worth.
There are just too many factors to really use the CTR to decide if your new changes helped any. Sombody told me the other day they made some change and their CTR went up. My CTR can go way up and way down on some days without any changes.
Absolutely! A site that is doing 15% CTR over the month may do 13% on one day and 16% the next.
[edited by: Macro at 5:14 pm (utc) on Jan. 19, 2004]
But with Adsense you can't figure much out. I suspect that sometimes they even carry some earnings forward so one day it may appear you earned less than average and then suddenly the next day it shoots up. In fact that would be a good way to keep webmasters guessing if Google was so inclined ;-)
Remember, clicks won't occur unless readers find your site. A site with 1,000 pages of quality editorial content will almost certainly have a much lower CTR than a 10-page site that's optimized for a few high-profit AdSense keywords, but it will have more search listings, more inbound links from other editorial sites, better chances of being included in respected directories and awards listings, etc. It's also likely to earn more revenue--and it will be less subject to dramatic swings in CTR and revenue than a smaller "AdSense-optimized" site.
The key to success as a content publisher is to build for the long term. Revenue sources may come and go, but if you have good "evergreen" content that can be kept online for years with occasional updating, you'll earn money with that content indefinitely. Just as important, as your content grows, your revenues will have a chance to grow. IMHO, a "build and grow" strategy makes a lot more sense over the long haul than a "dump and start over every 12 months" approach.
You've made out an excellent case for why it should be about content. I couldn't agree with you more. That is THE solution really. Worry about content. In the long run it will make more difference to your bottom line than all the hand wringing over CTRs, EPCs and everything else. CTR does give you immediate satisfaction in that you can see daily figures. But if you don't get hung up on it and you can see the bigger picture you will be doing yourself a favour.
As usual a top grade post from EFV.
page that answers all questions anybody may have about atomicwidgets then that page is a destination in itself.I didn't mean you had to link out to be quality, but I do believe you need to link out to be an authority. I also think usability is a factor in quality and a page with no navigation limits usability.
An authority site is defined by incomeing links
CTR is the ONLY variable that as a webmaster with adsense that I can influence
I have an authority that does not link out at all. An authority site is defined by incomeing links. By Google at least.Yes but we're talking about a page here with no navigation whatsoever (internal or external).
Except for a slight handful of freebie pages which are confusing the heck out of Google, mine are on ecom product sites, on very specifically targeted product pages - just the way we have to go about Google (or Ink) optimization right now, which is the way I've always enjoyed doing sites and which is how I've always done sites and will continue to.
My "content" is my product photos, the design and however I'm describing the specific products I have on my own pages, which I'm starting to tremendously enjoy taking pains with and getting creative with. It's done for my pages and the products I'm displaying alone and for no other reason, and I'm enjoying it more than anything else I've done for a long time. It's just plain fun!
I have no "educational" content sites just yet but expect to by mid-year, so my view is strictly from an ecom point of view. I look at running AdSense as a value added feature I'm providing for site visitors, providing them with a quality alternative if what I have isn't exactly what they want or isn't what they like.
I firmly believe that 3-5% is a perfectly acceptable CTR for an ecom-oriented site - on an average, considering that some pages may be very specific and some more general and that some items are more in demand than others. I also firmly believe that 5-10% CTR is a good goal as long as we don't get neurotic about it.
It's all done with the visitor in mind if we're considering them in the first place, all the way from color choices consistent with the site theme, appropriate language usage (cute, formal, informal, etc.) to usability factors and download time. If pages load slowly folks will hit the back-button before the page ever loads regardless what kind of site it is.
If the colors are consistent with the site theme that people decided to visit, if graphics are decent and also consistent and appropriate, and we put things where they're expected to be found, I don't know what more we can do. It's just like being a gracious host or hostess to a visitor and getting the house in order.
If folks catch a couple of lines of easy to read, relevant and catchy text that grabs their interest and they continue reading the product descriptions, they've decided they like the page enough to stay, and IMHO there's more of a chance that they'll click on something there, whether it's our stuff or the alternatives we're providing them.
I don't see where those factors - which are part and parcel of basic site conversion 101 - are any different, regardless what kind of a site it is. Sure, the CTR will vary from one type of site to another, but that's immaterial as far as I'm concerned, from a rational perspective.
The original question in the original post asked what we think about CTR:
I'd be interested to know what you would consider to be a normal, healthy CTR?
Of course we've got different perspectives depending on what kind of sites we run, as well as different expectations. So those are my numbers from my POV, full well understanding and respecting that for others it's different.
I'm glad for the opportunity AdSense gives us, and if it's within a reasonable range I'm happy, as long as those checks get mailed. ;)
Yes but we're talking about a page here with no navigation whatsoever (internal or external).
AFAIK, we were talking about pages with no external links. Not pages with no internal links whatsoever. To reiterate, a page does NOT need to have any external links to be a quality page, an authority page and a high CTR page.
I firmly believe that 3-5% is a perfectly acceptable CTR for an ecom-oriented site - on an average
I'm sorry Marcia, that qualification doesn't make "average CTR" any more relevant. It's still a useless statistic when measured across different sites.
I'd be interested to know what you would consider to be a normal, healthy CTR?
I'm glad for the opportunity AdSense gives us, and if it's within a reasonable range I'm happy, as long as those checks get mailed.
