Can't make sense of my adsense.

Sudden drop in income

[wolfadeus]

Hi there,

I know it is somewhat stupid to panic, but I can't make sense of my adsense results from the last couple of days;

I usually get some 50 unique visitors a day, some 500 page impressions and that equals to about 10 to 20 clicks and finally some 2 dollars.

For some days I still get my normal visitors, impressions and clicks, but income is down to some 50 cent.

Do I get bad ads these days? Don't understand this...

Thanks for explanations! W.

[Green_Grass]

Wild flucctuations are part and parcel of adsense. I suggest work on a 15 day average..

As many seniors will tell you:

Your sample size is too small to hazard a guess..

It could be smart pricing ..

Advertisers may be bidding low for relevant keywords..

etc etc ...

Wait for a few days and then panic..;-)

[Green_Grass]

Hey I forgot ..

Filter out the MFA 's .. They may have invaded your pages ...:-)

[wolfadeus]

Thank you! What are MFAs?

[sunset_blvd]

MFA = Made For Adsense.
These are sites that have no content, just a bunch of keywords and lots of ads on them. They promote through AdWords, bidding very low, and generate revenue from AdSense.

[wolfadeus]

Oh, I see - indeed, there's a whole bunch of them that took some keyphrases from my website and display them together with a link.

Do I need to block them on my adsense account? Why do they harm me? It's a free link, I thought.

[Green_Grass]

Block all MFA 's using the competitive ad filter in the adsense a/c. Most MFA 's pay 1- 3 cents a click as they have no real product or service to sell ..They are playing upon the adwords / adsense arbitrage possibility.

Do read threads on MFA's on this forum to get more information . There are many of them.

[berto]

Why do they harm me? It's a free link, I thought.

MFAs

1. Tend to lower your CTR.
2. Encourage "ad blindness".
3. Make your site look scummy.
4. Alienate your visitors.

[humblebeginnings]

MFAs
1. Tend to lower your CTR.
2. Encourage "ad blindness".
3. Make your site look scummy.
4. Alienate your visitors.

Wow, that's a lotta speculation.
Could you come up with some evidence for that?

[martinibuster]

A drop of $1.50 isn't that much and seems within a reasonable range to me. With such a tiny amount of traffic, a small drop will look gigantic, that's all.

Expending energy seeking ads to block is like doing a comb-over with three strands of hair.

Sounds like your real problem is your traffic or niche, or perhaps both. Aim higher.

[wolfadeus]

Thanks for the advice, I will try to keep an eye on the ads - there was a misunderstanding, I think; so MFAs are websites that advertise on my site through adsense, right?

First I thought it's these sites that use some quotes from keyword-rich pages to get high rankings in google with no actual content.

Martinibuster: I agree and already work on a different site for which I did a bit more marketing in advance.

[david_uk]

I agree that the rises and falls we see in Adsense are huge, and quite honestly that's normal. I usually refer to life with Adsense as a roller coaster. Most of the daily variances are huge, and the advice to look at the longer term is good advice. I usually look at the month by month figures, but keep an eye on what's happening day by day / month to date. But if it's risen or fallen I don't get excited or worry!

Regarding MFA's, it's difficult to state that the problem is MFA's when other natural variances might be as much to blame. However, they really do no good to any site, so I'd be inclined to weed the worst offenders out slowly. Also, having too many ad blocks on a page, and removing ad blocks that are unproductive are worth experimenting with.