Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Revenue used to average approx $80 p/day while it now got to the point of about 1/2 of this p/day (+- a few dollars). and the worst part.......it just keep dropping while my traffic patterns are exactly as they were since the beginning of this year.
CTR is about the same also (3%+-).
It is getting to the point that I’m considering to start taking the ads off my pages......the revenue is starting to look like....mmmm how to put it, insignificant.
Anyone else experiencing their Adsense revenue slowly but surly being reduced to a sore joke per day?
[edited by: Max_mb at 1:43 pm (utc) on June 12, 2004]
While some reporting a good swing others reporting the exact opposite.
I'm going to start updating my pages and change all the ads to the new format (image included). I'm hopeful it might improve the overhaul picture my end... EPC used to bring a smile on my face, would be interesting to see if the new format can do that again.
I honestly have NO idea what to expect any more.
We added around 90,000 pages of fresh travel content
and I noticed on the channel data that the earnings come from that sector.
I tired **** on another website we have and CTR and EPC was so low that we removed Adsonar after 2 days.
After day one I can see why you dropped it, but I'm still gonna give it a little more time. My biggest problem has been a skyscraper with the one quigo ad until you refresh and then get relevant ads.
OTOH
My IP, along with any others I want, is filtered out (not by default). I can click to my hearts content.
Since they don't have much ads for my locality I get national ads related to the pages content. When Google doesn't have ads from the locality related to the page I either get the same ads as the home page and many others in the site, good national ads :), or content related ads from another locality :(. These are the pages I plan to keep quigo on while testing them sporadically on some more popular pages.
When I get page after page with the same adsense ads, I can switch some to quigo and get some variety, although I have seen some repetition.
If nothing else its another basket.
I am also considering their advertising side for a trial
I changed all Adsense code on my pages to the new (image) code.
My daily revenue dropped by a further 15% for toady (this however may be related to akami’s recent dns problems).
Will wait to see how it all pans out by Monday. I will be dropping Adsense from my pages if I can see no improvement by then.
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Max_mb
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[edited by: Jenstar at 3:24 pm (utc) on June 15, 2004]
[edit reason] No promotional posts, TOS #20 [/edit]
We used to have the 728x90 and 120x600 banners but we changed it on most pages now to 336x280.
It works great and several channels we run have now a very high CTR and the EPC is ok.
Traffic up, CTR up, and EPC is slightly up. But I am busting my hump.
KOB
Only one channel was down, and it was only slightly down.
MQ
[edited by: shopnow117 at 7:53 am (utc) on July 15, 2004]
Working on sites regardless on what impacts AS along the way.
Messing things up, correcting, adding pages, even new sites with new AS ads, all in flow.
How in the world could I tell if AS performance is stable, declining, improving?
Amount, positioning, targeting across static and dynamic pages varies all the time.
So, yes, overall I make more every month. Do I care about all details of that impact at any of the ****,xxx pages?
I rather spend time trying to do the right thing for my users. Again: increasing constantly, why bother!
Be careful, some of the people here are hyping. They are so stupid that they are in denial. Get a grip and face the reality that the Google CTR is no longer the same as it was few months ago.
My July CTR is within a tenth of a point of my CTR in January, March, and May (the three months that I checked just now). And no, I'm not stupid or in denial--I'm looking at real numbers, and I'm not making general conclusions based on personal experience.
There can be a lot of reasons why a site's CTR is down, such as:
1) Seasonality. (On a travel site, for example, the "look to book" ratio is likely to be worse in midwinter than it is in spring or early summer.)
2) A static audience. (Unless you have a constant flow of new visitors, CTR is likely to decline because the same users are seeing the same ads day after day.)
3) Changes in advertisers. (Some ads and advertisers are more compelling than others, and if the best ads in a genre stop running because advertisers have used up their budgets or are no longer running content ads, clickthrough rates may suffer.)
It is possible that changes at Google may affect CTR (e.g., the algorithm used for matching ads to pages), but such changes will affect different sites in different ways.
In general, having a large site with many different subtopics will help to minimize the effect of changes in algorithms, advertisers, and other factors that are beyond the publisher's control. It's like the difference between having shares in an indexed mutual fund and having all your money in one stock.
I'll agree with the original poster, AdSense income is fast become irrelevant - at least for me.
Nice to hear that some are experiencing a rise in revenues.
The smartest thing AdSense could do would be to make their program completely transparent (think open-source), so we would all know where we stand.
The smartest thing AdSense could do would be to make their program completely transparent (think open-source), so we would all know where we stand.
I work with and advocate open source software, but I think that doing what you describe would be a huge mistake. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how such a move would benefit Google and its shareholders.
A lot of publishers have been registering their displeasure with how Google seems to be taking a bigger piece of the AdSense pie. This may or may not be the case, but a transparent formula would show which is true.
While I was thinking more in terms of the AdSense program rather than Google's share price, the market does not like uncertainty. Grumbling among AdSense publishers could create an atmosphere of distrust or at least nervousness among shareholders.
Anyways, that was my $.02
Grumbling among AdSense publishers could create an atmosphere of distrust or at least nervousness among shareholders.
There must be tens of thousands of AdSense publishers by now, the network obviously is still growing, and the revenues collected by AdSense (and payments to AdSense publishers) are in the millions of dollars. In that context, the grumblings of a few dozen (or even a few score) anonymous publishers on a handful of online forums aren't very significant.
I also go nutty and watch this each day!
I think its a good move to look at it monthly - I would sleep then!
I agree that Google should state upfront what percentage cut they are giving the publishers. I can understand why they wouldn't. If they ever change their mind and reduce the percentages, the backlash would be huge.
But otoh, if there was a set percentage and they didn't change that, people would grumble less. What affiliate program that pays you per click does not tell you what percentage they give you?
I agree that Google should state upfront what percentage cut they are giving the publishers. I can understand why they wouldn't. If they ever change their mind and reduce the percentages, the backlash would be huge. But otoh, if there was a set percentage and they didn't change that, people would grumble less. What affiliate program that pays you per click does not tell you what percentage they give you?
This has been discussed endlessly in other threads, so I'll simply point out that:
1) Google would be foolish to disclose its payout formula, since that would make it easier for future competitors to offer better terms to publishers in high-profit categories (or even to handpicked publishers).
2) Google doesn't market AdSense to publishers on the basis of a percentage split. It's selling the idea of "earn incremental income from your site." Anyone can try AdSense, see if the revenues are worthwhile, and bail out at any time. The real measure of whether AdSense belongs on your site isn't what percentage you're getting; it's what you're earning in effective CPM and bottom-line revenues.
3) By keeping its payout formula or algorithm secret, Google can adjust the formula to meet its short- and long-term objectives.
4) By not disclosing its payout formula, Google avoids having to respond to endless complaints and kibitzing from publishers who have their own ideas about how they should be paid.
1) Google would be foolish to disclose its payout formula, since that would make it easier for future competitors to offer better terms to publishers in high-profit categories (or even to handpicked publishers).
1) Amazon would be foolish to disclose its payout formula, since that would make it easier for future competitors to offer better terms to affiliates in high-profit categories (or even to handpicked publishers).
Is amazon foolish for disclosing their payout? When they offer 5% Barnes and Noble could offer 6% but people are not likely to switch only for that. Both Adsense and Amazon's affiliate program have a lot of things that make it attractive besides the payout rate. For one, with 200,000 advertisers, Google is hard to beat. For two, their context sensitive spider.
2) Google doesn't market AdSense to publishers on the basis of a percentage split. It's selling the idea of "earn incremental income from your site." Anyone can try AdSense, see if the revenues are worthwhile, and bail out at any time. The real measure of whether AdSense belongs on your site isn't what percentage you're getting; it's what you're earning in effective CPM and bottom-line revenues.
2) Amazon doesn't market their affiliate program to affiliates on the basis of a percentage split. It's selling the idea of "earn incremental income from your site." Anyone can try Amazon's Aff Program, see if the revenues are worthwhile, and bail out at any time. The real measure of whether Amazon's Aff Program belongs on your site isn't what percentage you're getting; it's what you're earning in effective CPM and bottom-line revenues.
3) By keeping its payout formula or algorithm secret, Google can adjust the formula to meet its short- and long-term objectives.
3) By keeping its payout formula or algorithm secret, Amazon can adjust the formula to meet its short- and long-term objectives.
This is true of any affiliate program. Google is the only company that gets away with telling you nothing.
4) By not disclosing its payout formula, Google avoids having to respond to endless complaints and kibitzing from publishers who have their own ideas about how they should be paid.
4) By not disclosing its payout formula, Google avoids having to respond to endless complaints and kibitzing from publishers who have their own ideas about how they should be paid.
Besides the fact that this 6 page thread is evidence that Google will face endless complaints no matter what they do, I think people can accept what they know better than knowing nothing. This uncertainty is worse.
I can't imagine any other company operating this way. But their payout is relatively decent and that's why people stick with it.
Put your CPM through your spreadsheets and compare with the long term statistical overall average along with your other stats [ctr, epc].
Then real trends begin to emerge. CPM rules as far as I'm concerned. That's how much you earn $wise per 1,000 impressions. Notice Google finally included it recently because it's one of the best metrics.
Mine?
In comparison with other graphs, a little over 13 months later since day one, CTR drops slowly [* reason below], EPC slowly increases, net result?
A minor, slowly steadying, yet increasing CPM. And NO, I don't change things on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.
Average CPM has no violent variations over a whole month, while day to day variations [+/- 25%] may with no seeming justification, rhyme or reason.
[*reason]
Actually, a perceived reason. I run a site which is bookmarked extensively, used as an encyclopaedia if you like. Folks return and return. The conventional wisdom is that AdSense Ad's have no impact on these folks.
In fact, originally, [do your own sums] my CTR went up from the early initial months to a high of +80% then today are around 80% of the original.
For the mathematically challenged:
Originally in the settled months - 100 [make that 2%, 3%, 4% whatever - I can't comment under TOS]
Later expansion - 180
Now, today - 80
