CTR of 55 %

What should I do?

[globay]

Hi, I have been using Google Adsense on a number sites since it launched almost two years ago. One of my sites consist of an index page with little to no content and very few internal links. Its main purpose was to distribute PageRank to the subcategories of the page each with a few thousand pages. Thus almost all search engine hits came to the optimized subcategories with content.

Now I was lucky and somehow managed to get in the second spot in MSN for a very competetive 35,000,000 restults term. Unfortunately only my index page with the category links is displayed.

Yesterday I changed the Skyscraper Ad at the left to a large rectangle, and put it above the links, beneath the h1 text. When I checked my stats today, I had a CTR of 55 %.

What should I do? Is it against the Adsense ToS to have Adsense on a the index.htm page when it is only a small link list?

Thanks,

globay

[Powdork]

The first thing you should do is replace your publisher id with mine. Then remove those other links.
Or you could add some more content below the fold. It shouldn't hurt too much as long as scrolling down to read it won't pull the adsense completely out of the window.

[globay]

The first thing you should do is replace your publisher id with mine.

Done! ;-)

I emailed Google to check if my site currently complies with the terms, would hate to be banned right now. If needed, I will add content to the index page.

[Sobriquet]

55% is wow.

i cud touch only 17% once with top position on MSN for my main key phrase.

make hay while sun shines

[Zygoot]

In my opinion most MSN search users are less experienced users who may hardly see the difference between your site menu and Google Adsense.

That your index page has no real content might be a problem for Google. If you want to be absolutely safe than you can send Google an e-mail stating that you found a site of you having a very high CTR and that you find it a bit strange. You may also put a little bit content on the index page like a short description what users will find on your website.

I think 55% CTR can be genuine in this case, but smart pricing might hit you badly within some time.

[driris]

I think 55% CTR can be genuine in this case, but smart pricing might hit you badly within some time

whats the relaion of CTR with smart pricing?

i have also another question about smart pricing.

is smart pricing different for different channels?

[Zygoot]

>whats the relaion of CTR with smart pricing?

I assume that the biggest part of the visitors on his site click on the ads because they believe it is part of the menu. That kind of clicks are less likely to convert well so I think it might cause lower EPC.

[Sapphire]

It see how this could look like fraud to them - either they might think the ads looking like the menu are meant to fool visitors into clicking, or the lack of content might make them think it's a site "built around" AdSense.

I think adding content, and maybe distinguishing the AdSense from the menu links (if possible?) would convince them otherwise. Probably also lower your CTR, LOL. Ah, well.

[mike schmitz]

If you think 55% is going to be great - think again.

As your CTR goes higher, Google lowers the CPC you get per click.

Trust me.

M

[ken_b]

As your CTR goes higher, Google lowers the CPC you get per click.

That may be some publishers experience, but my experience tells me that it is not always the case.

[mike schmitz]

I wouldn't say it is the case as your CTR goes up a bit - but for sure when you get beyond 20-25%. I don't think Google would penalize you for going from .2% to 2%.

I think its just the way they devalue clicks from sites that obviously have no good content or the user was tricked in going there.

M

[gmac17]

i disagree.

my highest ctr page also has my highest epc.

[mike schmitz]

ya but is it over 30%? what i am talking about is high CTR if you read the previous posts. not good CTR or even great CTR. Im talking about pages where the CTR is over 20-30%. i guarantee google devalues clicks from pages where the CTR is over 20%.

maybe you get a good EPC on your highest CTR page since the topic is different. but did you mention that? no, lets compares apples to apples.

m

[Powdork]

It occurs to me that Google could check this by alternating ads on the page. Pages that have a CTR that fluctuates noticeably with changes in ads could be said to be AdSensitive whereas pages whose CTR does not fluctuate with changes in ads could be said to be AdinSensitive. Clicks from pages with higher AdinSensitivity could be said to have less relevance since people click at the same rate regardless of the ads shown.
I have no reason to believe Google does this, but it is very scalable and it is determined by changing variables completely within their control. So it seems like a good idea.

[globay]

I haven't heard anything from Google yet, but as you predicted, the CPC on the frontpage went down 25% in two days, the CPC on all other pages remained the same though.

It occurs to me that Google could check this by alternating ads on the page.

Excellent idea. I would think Google is implementing this at least as part of an algorithm checking for ad-sensitivity.