Forum Moderators: martinibuster
My epc seems to be around 5 cents ($0.05)
On checking with adwords, the same keyphrase ( topic of that section), the value is around $5 per click.
What could be the issue? the epc is (so) low. its about 1/100 of what google asks for the click.
Also - does it make a diffrence if you main site is a little diffrent from the top with low epc? ( for example, if there is a site about cars and we have a section about how to avoid accidents etc ... )
I have the strange situation, that a page where I expected high paying real estate ads has a lower EPC than other pages from me.
Think on the other side. There are many people thinking how to place low CPC ads.
I get dog training ads on a page about Amtrak management. Wouldn't everyone be happier if you could figure out what was causing this and disable it?
surprised somone hasn't done this yet and published it actually.....
someone should run a test. Run adwords ads, allow adsense and then have a friend click on your own ad in your site in adsense. Track the ip's and we'll know the difference.
Been there done that. I was able to confirm after 2 months of controlled testing that google doesn't pass on to the advertisers anywhere near the entire amount of the "smart pricing" discounts. The shareholders must be pleased.
1. You're being overoptimistic. Last time I looked at the AdSense bidding tool it was deliberately designed to obscure what anyone was actually bidding, plus I've heard complaints from advertisers that it is fairly inaccurate anyway.
2. Maybe ads are not being targeted to your page based on the specific phrase you checked. There can be a huge variation between the most obvious generic search phrase and the numerous variations on it that are possible.
3. As Paris says, the highest bidders may not be running their campaigns on content sites due to fraud or perceived risk of fraud.
4. For the high-value topic areas, there are a lot of bidders who scoop up as many clicks as possible at the minimum, then fill their pages with more AdSense ads. Personally I ban those sites, not just because they're trying to rip me off but because they're useless to any surfer.
Been there done that. I was able to confirm after 2 months of controlled testing that google doesn't pass on to the advertisers anywhere near the entire amount of the "smart pricing" discounts. The shareholders must be pleased.
By definition, a "smart pricing" discount is a discount from the advertiser's bid. So, if an advertiser sees a 10% reduction from the nominal bid, that's the "smart pricing" discount.
It's possible that the publisher's share of the click payment is discounted by more than the "smart pricing" discount in such cases. (In other words, it's possible that an advertiser might get 10% off the nominal bid and the publisher's share might be reduced by 15%, but that wouldn't mean the advertiser wasn't getting the full "smart pricing" discount.)
In short, we need to differentiate between "smart pricing" discounts and net publisher compensation, because Google has never claimed to offer a straight percentage split to publishers.
By definition, a "smart pricing" discount is a discount from the advertiser's bid. So, if an advertiser sees a 10% reduction from the nominal bid, that's the "smart pricing" discount.
In my controlled test, I was both the advertiser and the publisher. I know exactly how much I paid for each click as the advertiser and how much I received for that same click as the publisher.
As smart pricing kicked in every few weeks what I paid for each click as the advertiser dropped, but the amount I received for that click as the publisher dropped by an additional 20% on average. Draw your own conclusions.
Sometimes claims don't match the facts.
2. And then many of the Adwords Advertisers (including our company) bid at about 60% of CPCs for Content Ads, because it doesn't convert as much as Search traffic for us.
3. Only part of the advertisers participate in the Content ads.
4. On top of that, there is a smart pricing that gives discount for advertisers.
5. And most of all, the visitors to your site doesn't click the most expensive ad all the time. The ads rotate and they can click any ad on your site. Sometimes high CPC ones and sometimes low CPC ones.
If you consider all of the above, you will not be surprised how much you will get from Google.
My guess is that you will get paid about 20-25% of what Advertisers (#3-4 position) pay for the search traffic. (of course, Depending on the industry and competitiveness, it will vary.) At least for our company, that's how much we pay (40-60%) in a relatively competitive industry.
I think you should use fine-grained channels to figure out your real EPC per page. Then monitor the EPC as you get more visitors through Adwords.
