What percentage of the cost per click is paid out to the publisher?

[Blue Gravity]

I was just wondering, what percentage of the cost per click is paid out to the publisher? I remember hearing it was 30%, but with recent changes, I am starting to think it's more. Anyone know for sure?

[OptiRex]

Ooooooooooh...methinks this is going to be one of "those" threads...

[hunderdown]

Using different methods, some people have concluded we get 50%, others 75%. I'm inclined to think it varies. But I don't think the percentage is important. What is important is what you earn on the bottom line.

[Never_again]

I was just wondering, what percentage of the cost per click is paid out to the publisher?

Only Google knows the answer to your question and they aren't saying.

[shortbus1662]

I believe that we will never know this answer for this reason:

Us not knowing allows them to manipulate the percentages in their favor when in need of a positive financial outlook for their investors.

Things aren't going well? Decrease Adsense Payouts!

But hey, I don't care! My CPM with Adsense is higher than it would be with anything else, and THAT KEEPS ME HAPPY!

[lwhistler]

I use both Adwords and Adsense. With Adwords minimum bid is $0.05 and with Adsense lowest click for me has been $0.03

So I assume publisher gets 60% and see no reason why higher paid clicks would be less or more.

[anton23]

AdWords minimum bid was 0.05$, now it is 0.01. So you can expect receiving less than a cent in some special keywords...

[europeforvisitors]

The overall publishers' share is about 70% (according to Google's most recent quarterly earnings report), but it's unlikely that Google's revenue-sharing formula is a simple across-the-board percentage split.

[anton23]

Actually the algo seems to be as obscure as the rest of google algos. If a person clicks on your ads from NY, its more worth than from other parts of the world. Furthermore, the calculation seems to include such information as how much the person looks at the site, where s/he link were used, etc. You can spend your time trying to guess or writing more content (something that works for sure)

[FromRocky]

I have been using AdSense for the last two years and for the first time last month; I got one click, which was paid, at the maximum possible under the program. It comes from a channel, which has a high conversion rate (based on my affiliate sale data) and produces an average EPC of less than $1.00 with 1 or 2 AdSense clicks a day. Now, I got a click worth of a month earning from this channel. It was a surprise and unbelievable. If the smart pricing is not a factor for this channel, the payout is over 66%.

[Visi]

Never enough:)

[photo200]

Google knows.

[abbeyvet]

If a person clicks on your ads from NY, its more worth than from other parts of the world.

Huh?

[europeforvisitors]

If a person clicks on your ads from NY, its more worth than from other parts of the world.

I guess everything costs more in New York City. :-)

[linuxguy]

Does publishers outside the USA get a lower cut?

[pocoloco]

"If a person clicks on your ads from NY, its more worth than from other parts of the world "
>what if he clicks from Zurich?

[econman]

Whatever the current percentage (my personal guess is an average of 70% based on intuition and the published financial numbers) it is likely to trend up a bit if recent announcements and trials intensify, and we start to see more competition from Y! and/or MSN and/or IAC, etc.

[Never_again]

(my personal guess is an average of 70% based on intuition and the published financial numbers)

I suspect your "guess" is correct, but as you noted, it is an average and average numbers have little relevance to a specific website or page. It tell me nothing about what share I'm getting -- not that I even think about it much.

[sailorjwd]

I vote for all normal publishers get the same percent and agree with EFV on the number (within 1/2 a percent anyway :)

[spaceylacie]

Hmmm... All this time I've thought that it was a set 65/35 in the publisher's favor. I don't ever read "have they lowered our payout" threads... I guess that's why I've been in the dark this whole time. I don't remember where I got the figure.

Well... I'm off to go bury my head back in the sand.

[Visi]

As I have noted before the 70+% comes from the raw payouts vs costs as published. includes many items including premium publishing contracts. New for the latest quarter is some large equipment costs and depreciation and some financing of new programs (all thoise google beta's) are also paid out in this cost. Found that somewhat interesting reading. Bottom line is that although the percentages have stayed about the same there are more costs associated with the increase in traffic. My estimate has been lowered from a previous 70% to about 55% or slightly less at this time. Am amazed at the increase of administrative costs in the last detailed reports.

[hunderdown]

Am amazed at the increase of administrative costs in the last detailed reports.

What would you attribute that to? Perhaps Google has increased the size of their fraud squad?

[tfraymond]

A strange question relating to this -- bear with me. I have a site with a detailed biography of Charlie Chaplin ([clown-ministry.com ] if anybody cares to look) that ranks well on Google (#6 for 'Charlie Chaplin', #1 for 'Charlie Chaplin biography') - using AdWords, I see that the minimum bid is $1.00, but my site generates less than 10% of that via AdSense per click -- is there something I'm doing wrong, or is that simply what I should expect? Based on the info posted in this topic, I would have expected anywhere from 40 to 60 cents per click.

[spaceylacie]

I doubt people are bidding on "Charlie Chaplin" in order to run ads on the page you mentioned. In fact, I'm over 99.9% sure of it. I do know a couple of things!

[FromRocky]

Based on the info posted in this topic, I would have expected anywhere from 40 to 60 cents per click.

The minimum bid for any keyword or phrase is very dynamic and will be changed if it was bidded in different time or under different account, campagne or ad group. The minum bid for Charlie Chaplin in one of my ad groups is $0.1. Thus, you might get about 6 cents or less if my ad was clicked on your site.

[spaceylacie]

Oh darn, I guess I don't know anything. ;-(

[Dantol]

I was just wondering, what percentage of the cost per click is paid out to the publisher? I remember hearing it was 30%, but with recent changes, I am starting to think it's more. Anyone know for sure?

It's more like 70% or so. That's my best bet.

[anton23]

Smart pricing, def.: being smart enough to not let you know why, when and how much...