Major changes to AdSense

Pricing structure and ad relevance

[markus007]

Unless adsense is sending out a april fools joke, what do people think of the changes? Every site has a unique pricing model?

For example, a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras.

[edited by: markus007 at 8:08 pm (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[martinibuster]

It seems AdSense is going to lower the value of the ad if it's on an informational site, and raise the price of the ad if it's on a Product Ratings or Review website.

[jonknee]

Seems like it could go either way for my site, but if they serve better ads, it could only be a good thing.

[rainmakerpsi]

This email is not very helpfull. Has the change been made? Or is going to be made soon? Clearly there is nothing we can do about it. Does not look like it will help click threw profits all that much. Maybe ASA can drop by and provide some DETAILED information.

[loanuniverse]

I thought markus was creating his own April's fool joke, but it is real and is in the form of an email...

<paraphrase>........New AdWords pricing
model will automatically adjust the price of clicks based on their expected value to the advertiser.? Taking into account the keywords or concepts that triggered the ad.......

Too early to tell how it will affect publishers, hopefully not everyone will be adversely affected.

[edited by: loanuniverse at 9:15 pm (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[zorafex]

Has this gone in to affect yet? Today, I noticed a huge increase in payout EPC versus yesterday..

[peterdaly]

Check you email people. Sounds like this went out to all AnSense publishers.

I wish I knew if this was already in affect. I hope it has been implemented for a few days based on my recent performace.

ASA?

[jbgilbert]

Clear as mud! Only time will tell what the email from Google actually means...

Got a few more thousand changes this week Google?

[rainmakerpsi]

I'm almost hoping for the April Fools, "we were just messing with everyone today", you can forget about all email and goofy PR.

[figment88]

I have never read so much gobbledygook that I had not personally wrote.

I think the translation might be that not only are we not going to tell you payout rate or specific epc, but from now on we are not even going to know ourself.

[dazzlindonna]

hmmm... i haven't yet received this email. but it doesn't sound like it will be a good thing for us. hope i get the email soon so i can see for myself what all it says.

[icedowl]

I haven't received such an email -- yet.

[rainmakerpsi]

maybe if we put the email threw Google Translations we will get some Sense out of it.

[Chndru]

>>not only are we not going to tell you payout rate or specific epc, but from now on we are not even going to know ourself.

LOL, figment88

[jackti]

so, how do you imagine they will set the "worth" of each site? by manually reviewing them, or by some automated calculation somehow?

[edited by: jackti at 9:01 pm (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[varya]

The email says two things.

1. They're "enhancing our targeting technology" which is supposed to not only figure out the content of the page, but ascertain the relevance of various concepts found on the page. This is supposed to result in better targeted ads and higher ctr.

2. They're changing the payout structure. CPC, for the advertiser, will flux, depending on Google's estimated value of the lead for the advertiser. They give an example that clicks from the same ad for a digital camera will cost more on a web page reviewing digital cameras than it will on a page about photography tips. It seems that the more targeted your content is to the ad, the more the ad will cost, and the more you will make as a publisher.

I sure hope that their decision to base CPC on perceived conversion potential is based on some actual research, and not just on advertiser perception (which may or may not be accurate) that certain types of content generates less worthy leads.

[simonuk]

Hmm, maybe better payouts if the site is a review site?

I can see this coming soon on pages...

Welcome REVIEW to REVIEW my REVIEW homepage REVIEW

Please make sure REVIEW you check outREVIEW my new pages REVIEW which I uploaded today.

:-)

Simon.

[europeforvisitors]

2. They're changing the payout structure.

Not exactly: They're introducing variable ad rates, with the system apparently determining what a click is worth in any given context. (In other words, the cost to the advertiser may vary, and the earnings for the publisher may vary as a result, but that doesn't mean the payout formula is changing.)

[alika]

How do you guys think the Adwords advertisers will factor into these changes? Will it be controlled on their end when "calculating the expected value, including the keywords or concepts that triggered the ad?" Or will it simply be algo

Like, will the Adwords advertiser be able to say -- " I will pay more for this click if the click comes from this page, blah blah blah." Will this provide the needed control advertisers have been asking for from Adsense?

Hmmm ... interesting developments. Questions, questions and lots of questions

[loanuniverse]

I don't know EFV, they are throwing another factor into the formula. To me this changes the formula.

[bluelook]

I could be happy, because I have a review site, but I´m not... competition will rise even more...
I wasn´t expecting this :/

[cpnmm]

To me this looks like they are saying that the more your content matches the exact ads the more you will be paid.

ie photography is a 40% match for 'digital cameras' and 'canon digital camera review' is an 80% match. Therefore if the page is better matched the same digital camera ads appear but will pay better.

This makes sense to me - I have a lot of pages where very loosely related articles are serving the same ads as highly related pages. You should earn more on the more highly related ads as they will convert better for the advertiser.

[europeforvisitors]

I don't know EFV, they are throwing another factor into the formula. To me this changes the formula.

It changes total incoming revenues for Google and the publisher (and, as a result, the publisher's earnings), but it doesn't alter the payout formula. There's been so much paranoia on the "payout" issue that we need to be careful about the wording we use. Otherwise, some publishers are going to get the mistaken idea that Google is varying the revenue split instead of the ad rates.

[Symbios]

Well it is April 1st, although I've used addwords and top ranking on Google Serps goes to the highest bidder, adsense was a good way to generate some extra cash for many webmasters and seemed like a no brainer win for everyone, this is certainly a new twist and I'll be watching my adsense revenue closely, if it drops I'll be replacing it with something else.

[Mario]

I hate to say it but it doesn't look like any of us will be experiencing a rise in earnings with this new payment structure.

Seems like they're short-changing us adsense-publishers and trying to fob us off with supposedly higher CTR rates. Like how are they going to achieve that? We have more control of CTR than they do.

[europeforvisitors]

I hate to say it but it doesn't look like any of us will be experiencing a rise in earnings with this new payment structure.

That's hard to say. If conversion tracking comes into play, some publishers could benefit. At any rate, it shouldn't be too long before the results of the change begin showing up in our Google reports.

[dvduval]

It seems to follow the traditional method for presenting bad news in a business letter:
1. Start out by telling them something good (Increased Relevance, Higher Click Thru)
2. Then give the bad news (Less Money)

Hopefully, Google values their customers enough not to make too big of a profit grab.

For one thing, we all know that Yahoo will roll out a competing product soon, and Google will have to be careful.

[Mario]

EFV you don't seem to be making sense. Of course the payment structure has changed.

[alika]

Well, do I hear publishers rolling out product review sites now to benefit from this change?

[freeflight2]

the "Review sites will get paid more than informational sites" argument makes no sense to me: I'd rate visitors clicking on an ad on a page describing e.g. the last steps before purchasing a home much higher than visitors using a home-loan review site, etc.