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Anybody else seeing an increase in "Partial Ad Panels"?

(In some areas) Demand may be outstripping supply.

         

androidtech

12:57 am on Oct 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



[Defined: A partial ad panel is a panel which can fit a certain number of ads, but instead displays less than the maximum it can't show. For example, 3 ads in a leaderboard dislay.]

On some ad pages, which for the longest time were quite profitable, we are starting to see quite a few partial ad panels and a corresponding drop in revenues. On other ad pages (different topical content), things are stable.

I think what another poster said a while back may be starting to happen already, albeit only in certain topical areas not all.

Either due to the increase in of webmasters becoming AdSense publishers, or a decrease in AdWords customers, the demand (for ads) is starting to outstrip the supply (of ads). Perhaps the Google IPO will raise advertiser awareness and restore the "breeding pool".

For those web pages we are now starting to look around for alternates. (Absolutely no ill will towards Google, bless their souls for providing us with AdSense, just an economic decision.) Current candidates are SearchFeed and RevenuePilot, perhaps AdSonar when it's ready. Any other crowd favorites?

thx

Blue_Fin

3:01 am on Oct 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Absolutely! We had never had a partial ad panel (to the best of my knowledge) until 2 or 3 days ago. Also, about the same time AdWords broad matching began about 10 days ago, our ads became less targeted. I emailed Google last week about the targeting issues and provided the URLs of the pages where it is happening, and they responded they would look into it. There has been a slight improvement in the targeting and no further response from Google.

It is absolutely having a negative impact on our CTR and earnings.

Earlier today, I was on the website of one of the members here and I was concentrating on one page of his site. Every time I refreshed the page, I would get a different number of ads on his Leaderboard. Sometimes 1, sometimes 2, sometimes 3 and sometimes the full 4. This tells me it's some type of technical problem, not a lack of ad supply. On my site, when the panel hasn't been full, it's been 3. We also use Leaderboards.

<snip>

[edited by: Jenstar at 3:53 am (utc) on Oct. 28, 2003]
[edit reason] Removed as per TOS/charter [/edit]

androidtech

3:16 am on Oct 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Blue_fin,

Slightly OT but, I think it's time I and maybe others start hanging out at the equivalent AdWords forum(s) to see if maybe we can glean some more insight from the supplier side.

Anybody know where to find that forum(s)?

thx

Blue_Fin

3:20 am on Oct 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Click on Forums Index at the top of your screen so you'll see where all of the forums are.

If anyone hasn't figured me out by now, I'm of the view that it's best to find things on your own, with a little help. ;)

loanuniverse

3:25 am on Oct 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Sometimes 1, sometimes 2, sometimes 3 and sometimes the full 4. This tells me it's some type of technical problem, not a lack of ad supply.

Interesting... this suggests that there might be a built in time out that kicks in. I mean the ads are there, but the server has to compute the number of impressions that each campaign should be being shown in order to achieve the advertiser's budget and there might come a time when it says *enough, I am only serving three this time around* And just like the type of adserving software that you can put in your site {ie:Phpadsnew} there must be an event every few minutes to calculate the way it is going to serve for the next period.

See this is why I like this whole thing, can you guys imagine how complicated the whole setup must be? I just got a headache trying to figure it out.

androidtech

3:38 am on Oct 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Blue_fin,

My question was meant to expand the area of possible sources for AdWords discussion groups; as in, what other forums beyond Webmaster World might be of interest. There are a lot of forums you won't find even with the help of Google Groups.

For example, a terrific set of forums to keep on top of everything from alternate webmaster revenues, through scumware and even PHP, is the Amazon affiliate forums. Had I not become an Amazon affiliate and tried to use Amazon Web Services, I would never have known to go there.

I appreciate the desire to pop the occasional RTFM response but sometimes I feel it's non-productive.

thx

Jenstar

3:45 am on Oct 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Every time I refreshed the page, I would get a different number of ads on his Leaderboard. Sometimes 1, sometimes 2, sometimes 3 and sometimes the full 4. This tells me it's some type of technical problem, not a lack of ad supply.

This is how they do it, its not a glitch. Adwords attempts to distribute ads evenly throughout the day. If an ad has a budget of $20/day but could actually spend $60/day, Adwords will try and evenly distribute those ads throughout the day, so the entire daily budget isn't burned through in the morning.

From the Adwords FAQ:

If your daily budget is set lower than the recommended amount, we spread the delivery of your ad throughout the day in order to stay within your budget.

And sometimes there just aren't a high enough number of ads to fill up leaderboards everytime.

This explains why sometimes you might see only one ad in a leaderboard, yet see a full compliment of 4 ads the next time around.

Also, don't forget we are in the last week of the month. Advertisers often lower their CPC or pause their campaigns, to get ready for the beginning of the month when many people get paid and are ready to spend ;)