Smart Pricing - page or site based?

are you valued per page or the whole site or account

[howiejs]

I have never seen a clear answer / opinion on the below:

Is smart pricing:

Page based? (every page w/ in the site is judged on its own merit)

Site based? (a discount is applied across the full domain once the whole site is "judged")

Account based? (multiple domains are discounted once the overall account has been "judged")

[europeforvisitors]

Google isn't saying, but it could easily be (and probably should be) a combination of all three.

[loanuniverse]

Everyone knows that it is:

50% page based
40% site based
5% account based
5% gremlin based

/waits for Chriskud to mention the fact that I don't work for Google and that there is no way I could know.... ;)

Seriously, it would make more sense to rely mostly on page/site than on account

[europeforvisitors]

Seriously, it would make more sense to rely mostly on page/site than on account

True, but account could play a role as a QC safeguard.

Also, we mustn't forget that smart pricing is only one determinant of what the publisher receives (as opposed to what the advertiser pays). Google's payout formula also plays a role, and there's no reason to believe that it's a simple percentage split.

[howiejs]

It would make sense to fix google's split with the publisher (and change it over time to meet their numbers . . . ) and then use smart pricing to discount from there

Otherwise you have to things running / discounting at the same time. . .

[loanuniverse]

True, but account could play a role as a QC safeguard.

Agreed, but unfortunately I no longer think that Google has QC in its front-burner.

[ownerrim]

not with the advent of ad-blogger-sense. quality doesn't even seem to be a factor whatsoever.

[loanuniverse]

ownerrim: I am not against Blog sites showing adsense. I think a lot of them are very topical and that contextual advertising will work well in some.

Now.... DomainPark and Scrapper sites.... that is another story.

[ownerrim]

loanuniverse, I'm not really against blogs either. I am just not sure that it's good for the program. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression that a fair number of users regularly visit several blogs, kind of like keeping up with sitcoms. It seems to me that these surfers may occasionally click ads out of simple curiousity with no intention WHATSOEVER of converting a sale. True, this happens to some degree on all publisher sites, but a publisher's site that is actually found in an organic search would seem to have a greater likelihood of "finding" a prospective buyer. I know I know, this is the same argument used by advertisers who turn off the content network. But think about it, if you're an advertiser who feels iffy about the content network, blogger sites carrying ads and evaporating your budget might be the straw that broke the camel's back....Or maybe not. Maybe we should just trust google?

[ownerrim]

I really have to wonder, though, what the dividing line for quality is going to be with adsense. A few days ago, I was reading a thread or two about "speculations" that google might, oneday, distinguish between higher quality sites and lesser quality sites. It doesn't seem that will be the case, in light of the blogging thing. Nothing against blogs, I think they're great. But I'm sure from an advertiser's perspective, ads shown on sites that are found in an organic search are more worthy than billybob's barbeque recipe blog. Then again, that sounds like a productive blog.

[loanuniverse]

They might or they might not separate the content network in pieces. Frankly, people like EFV make a very good case for doing so in order to go after an untapped market. However, the fact that they might have to sacrifice some of the existing profits would probably have to be given up to capture "possible" future gains might not sit well with the strategic planners at the Plex. /I seriously hope someone there is planning.

are more worthy than billybob's barbeque recipe blog...

Depends on wether or not billybob just mentioned the product by name on his latest recipe for "Texas three alarm grilled chicken". Who knows people might just try that "hot sauce".

It is all about specifics. In general, I have found it true that generalizations are often flawed.

[ownerrim]

agreed. difficult to rely on generalizations. and impossible to know the mind of go...google

[europeforvisitors]

It is all about specifics. In general, I have found it true that generalizations are often flawed.

I agree, and in any case, blogs are just another content format. They range from "my daily diary" to professional-quality editorial sites. I've seen some excellent special-interest blogs that would perform very well for advertisers--just as I've seen pages on big news/entertainment/portal sites that were ill-suited to contextual advertising.