Katrina's effect on AdWords/AdSense

[shorebreak]

Does anyone have an opinion on what effect, if any, Hurricane Katrina will have on paid search (and affiliate marketing for that matter)?

[surfer67]

Well, traffic may be down if the majority of your traffic is U.S traffic. Alot of people must be glued to their tv sets ever since the storm hit.

[developerz]

Do people still watch TV?

[incrediBILL]

The answer to this question is quite simple if you've been paying attention to the growing gas crisis.

There are places actually running out of gasoline and jet fuel in multiple states which will impact product shipments, which will impact ecommerce, which will trickle down and impact AdWords and in turn AdSense.

The question that remains to be seen is how much impact, if any, and for how long.

[Atomic]

If you have a site that pushes New Orleans vacations you could find your traffic and sales are unusually low.

[jdvjdv]

Couldn't help laughing at what you said, Atomic. Not that it's a laughing matter, of course.

[Swebbie]

For what it's worth, the vast majority of my sites' traffic is from the U.S. and I've not seen any noticeable changes since the hurricane. I'd point out that many people now get their news and such from their computers, so for every person not surfing there may be another who is surfing more. Who knows.

[spaceylacie]

incrediBILL, a good advertiser in the Adsense network, that I know of because they run ads on my sites, sells downloads. Times are changing and the ads we run will change as well. Instead of shipping regular books, ebooks may become more popular... Change isn't always bad.

Katrina might help sites with message forums, it's something that everyone is talking about.

[aeiouy]

I noticed today especially traffic has been light. I think people who browse during the day are checking news sites and such.

[topr8]

i had some unusually good days immediately after the london bombings (i'm uk based)

i think because people were online MORE due to looking at news websites and so on, and while they were online they were doing other things too, like shopping or browsing non news websites - this applied esp to office hours :)

- unfortunately we also make bricks and mortar sales esp to tourists and that market has crashed over the summer for us!

[europeforvisitors]

I noticed today especially traffic has been light. I think people who browse during the day are checking news sites and such.

The U.S. Labor Day weekend is probably an even bigger reason. (A lot of people take off early, using their vacation days to extend their weekend at the cabin or the beach.)

[incrediBILL]

The U.S. Labor Day weekend is probably an even bigger reason. (A lot of people take off early, using their vacation days to extend their weekend at the cabin or the beach.)

A few vacation destinations were just wiped off the map, so those people are staying home.

A bunch of flights are also being cancelled due routing problems and fuel supplies mentioned above so I'm not sure what in the heck is going to result.

However, unless the entire economy and infrastructure collapses tomorrow I should be landing in Miami sometime Saturday :)

[FromRocky]

Shorebreak! That's the reason why

Katrina's effect on AdWords/AdSense

[Laker]

I'd point out that many people now get their news and such from their computers, so for every person not surfing there may be another who is surfing more. Who knows.

umm... advertisers who advertise both on tv and the 'net?

[Erku]

Is traffic usually down during this week?

[moneyraker]

My worst Monday the past 6 months happened last Monday, which is the height of the disaster coverage on TV. Coincidence? I hope not. Otherwise I'd be in trouble every Monday.

[asp4bunnies]

If you have a site that pushes New Orleans vacations you could find your traffic and sales are unusually low.

If you have a site that pushes crowbars and firearms in the New Orleans area, you could find your traffic and sales are unusually high.