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CTR100. Brief Summary Of AdSense CTR
AdSense CTR stands for Click-Through Rate, and represents the number of times an ad is clicked compared to the number of times an Ad Block is displayed.
An Ad Block is a block of 1 or more ads. Regardless of how many individual ads are shown per block, each Ad Block counts as 1 impression.
It is important to note that AdSense CTR is based per Ad Block impression, not per page view. If you are serving 2 Ad Blocks on a page, every time that single page is loaded it will count as 2 impressions.
CTR is calculated as follows:
(Clicks / Ad Block Impressions) * 100 = CTR%
1 Page with 2 Ad Blocks, loaded 100 times and generating 5 clicks can be calculated as follows:
(5 Clicks / (100 page views x 2 Ad Blocks)) * 100 = CTR of 2.5%
CTR200. CTR Do's
It is important to note that every site (and page) will have a different CTR... and there are many, many factors that shape CTR. This section points out what all effects CTR, which should aid you in improving your site and earnings.
CTR201. Pay Attention To CTR
CTR is one ingredient to your overall earnings... but often goes overlooked in comparison to others. Where it ranks on that list varies.
Assuming everything else stayed constant, doubling your traffic, doubling your EPC (Earnings Per Click), or doubling your CTR would double your earnings. If you have 1,000,000 daily visitors, it may be far easier to double your CTR than it is to double your traffic. Evaluate and see if your efforts might be better used focusing more time on improving CTR.
Pay attention to CTR, it matters.
CTR202. Evaluate Your CTR
There are so many factor that shape your CTR it's going to be really hard to pinpoint just where it stands. However there are a few questions you can ask yourself to help in evaluating your CTR.
- Who is my average visitor & what their session like?
A site with repeat visitors is going to typically experience a lower CTR than a site that gets a new set of visitors every day. Those repeat visitors generally know what they want, where it is and become "blind" to some of the adverts.
If every visitor is surfing 10 pages on your site & every visitor clicks an ad... your CTR is only going to be 10%, and aside from getting them to click on more than 1 ad, you've pretty much maxed out.
- Where is AdSense located on my page?
The closer to your content the is, the more visitors will notice it, and the more visitors will click on an ad. Examine how you typically view a page & the path your eyes follow... have you placed ad blocks in that path on your own pages? How close to the content the ad block is also aids ad-relevancy.
- How many ad blocks are on my page?
Remember, CTR is calculated by impressions, not page views. Using the example above: If every visitor is surfing 10 pages on your site & every visitor clicks an ad... your CTR is only going to be 10%,.. however if each page has 3 ad blocks, your CTR is only going to be 3.3%. You've still got every visitor click on an ad but your CTR is dramatically lower... don't necessarily judge CTR by it's cover.
As you can see from just 3 questions how CTR can be virtually maxed out, yet be dramatically different. If you don't already know, inform yourself about your site & your site's visitors.
CTR203. Evaluate Your Content
How relevant the ads are can play a major role in CTR, so you want your content to be as useful to mediabot (AdSense's spider) as it is to your visitors.
CTR204. Evaluate Your Layout/Design
Do your best to place your ad block in the path the eye follows.
CTR205. Evaluate Your Ad Blocks
Size, color, border/no border can also play major roles in CTR. Understand what works best for your site.
CTR206. Calculate Other CTR's
In addition to AdSense's CTR, understanding what your visitor's CTR is, what you CTR per traffic source is, etc, can also help you dramatically. If visitors from PPC listings have a CTR of 10% -vs- a 3% CTR from SERPs visitors, the it would be wise to focus on getting more PPC traffic in most cases.
CTR300. CTR Dont's
CTR301. Don't Compare CTR
This happens most often when CTR is discussed. As you can see through everything in this post, comparing CTR is typically a complete waste of time unless you are comparing virtually identical sites.
CTR302. Don't Freak Out Over A Low CTR
Have a CTR of 0.5%? Don't freak out about it until you have evaluated it & everything else about your site & visitors. I could easily live off my AdSense earnings from my 0.3% CTR site.
CTR400. Tips To Increase CTR
CTR401. Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone
[webmasterworld.com...]
Excellent advice that you should read if you haven't already done so. It's focus is not CTR, but many of the tips in the post can aid in establishing a good CTR.
CTR402. Experiment With Different Ad Blocks
Different color combinations, sizes, etc work better than others. Try the blocks with & without borders. The key here is to experiment, find what works, and experiment a little more with what works.
[webmasterworld.com...]
CTR403. Try Site Design/Layout Changes
Mallu simplified his pages & had great results: [webmasterworld.com...]
CTR404. Integrate AdSense With Content
On one of my sites, I have a "title bar" span the content area, sided by a skyscraper ad block. The bar that "ads by google" appears on seamless integrates right within that title bar... AdSense looks likes it's actually supposed to be there.
Another trick in article is to place an ad block right within the article & have the text wrap around it.
[webmasterworld.com...]
CTR405. Tweak Your Content
Don't keyword spam, but populate your pages with keywords. To reference Brett's article again, "Use the keyword once in title, once in description tag, once in a heading, once in the url, once in bold, once in italic, once high on the page, and hit the density between 5 and 20% (don't fret about it)."
CTR406. Get "Fresh" Visitors
WHile you obviously don't want to rid yourself of repeat visitors, try to find ways to attract new, fresh visitors to your site... they are much more apt to click on ads.
CTR500. Other CTR Tips
You want easy-to-read advertising placed prominently on your web pages so that it doesn't look like advertising.
1 - Take Google's recommended format (336x280)
2 - Remove all distractions (i.e. borders, etc.)
3 - Adust contrast to best black on white
4 - Use web standard blue hue on link
5 - Soften contrast on advertiser URL
6 - Place ad block above your page headline
7 - Align to left side (Use no borders!)
8 - Don't use any other ads on page
Results: Excellent!
Note: This is exactly what Google says to do if you read between the lines and think outside the box format.
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Undead Hunters advice:
[webmasterworld.com...]
Have you tried removing all of the skyscrapers, and showing just the top few ads? Say, just 3 or 4 ads?
We tested this recently. Removed 2 ad banners, replaced with just 1 on a different part of the page. We're getting *double* the click-thru rate, and we have about the same daily payment as before. I expect it will go up during the year as well.
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[webmasterworld.com...]
CTR600. F.A.Q.
CTR601. So What Is A Good Starting CTR?
Don't worry about it... simply take what you are getting now & try to improve it.
CTR602. What Caused My CTR Increase/Decrease?
- A change in ads/ad inventory
- A change in traffic?
- Who knows?
If you've read this entire page, you'll realize that there are so many things that can alter your CTR.
CTR603. My CTR Increased, Should I Worry?
In the vast majority of cases, no. Going from 1% to 5% overnight may be increasing your CTR & income five-fold... but it's relatively common. Now, iIf it went from 5% to 30%, yeah you should probably email Google & start trying to track the reason.
You want easy-to-read advertising placed prominently on your web pages so that it doesn't look like advertising.
I wonder how advertisers feel about that, especially since they're paying every time some clueless user clicks on an ad because he thinks it's a navigation link. Edited to add: A boost in CTR that results from manipulation of the ad layout could lead to lower conversion rates, higher "smart pricing" discounts for advertisers, and lower EPC for the publisher.
FWIW, my AdSense clickthrough rate went up after I made the AdSense ads stand out even more from the page.
