Adsense EPC dropped another 10% last month

Based on broad-based web site

[JohnKelly]

After compiling the numbers, it appears that the average Adsense earnings per click (EPC) dropped another 10% in the month of December, compared to November's average.

January's EPC so far looks even worse - a 15% drop from December. This is around a 50% drop from last summer's EPC.

The site in question is a search directory, covering nearly every topic imaginable, so it is not isolated to a single industry or a few advertisers dropping their PPC bids.

I rather doubt that advertisers across the board are dropping their bids en masse - so one could presume that Google is gradually reducing the payout over time.

Sadly, it appears that Adsense is headed towards irrelevancy - where the payout is so small the sites won't bother with putting the ads up.

I don't accept the notion that we should just be happy with what Google gives us. This is a business relationship, and as such the question should be raised. Why in many instances are the payouts apparently dropping?

[Mario]

I too have a directory site and thought the same thing myself. But after rejigging the location adsense and designing the box to look like the rest of my site I'm seeing a huge improvement.

[jim_w]

For my space, there are not many advertisers for my 2 keywords, G stopped serving the ads that are most relevant because they are highly competitive and may have a higher payout. I don’t think that G is dropping the % they pay out directly, but they are not serving the ads with a higher payout. I am pulling the ads when my account gets high enough that I can get a check. Their ads, their rules, you can either use them or drop them and put in ads from another source that has a higher payout.

[jomaxx]

John, EVEN IF your numbers apply across the spectrum of AdSense advertisers/publishers, your conclusion is not warranted. There are lots of other possibilities, e.g.:

1. Bids are dropping on average
2. There is a trend towards publishers removing their AdWords campaigns from content sites
3. Advertisers are evolving in their approach to AdSense, possibly running more broad but low-bid campaigns
4. It's a side-effect of the fine-tuning of Google's matching algorithm
5. Google is limiting the serving of ads which are either high-bid or are in areas subject to fraudulent clicks - maybe to protect advertisers, maybe just to keep the easy money to themselves

Personally I think #2 is definitely a factor of unknown magnitude, and there has been at least one major change with #4. FWIW, I haven't observed a drop in my subject area and AdSense is in no danger of becoming irrelevant to me.

[europeforvisitors]

My current EPC is about 30% of what it was at its peak last summer, but I don't know that I can ascribe the drop to any change in Google's payout formula. Traditionally, my traffic and revenues decline after the summer vacation season, and I'd expect advertiser bids to be lower during the off-season (which, for my European travel topic, begins in September and slows down steadily as winter approaches).

The bottom line is of greater importance to me, and my revenues have been growing steadily since the weekend after Christmas. I'm on track to earn more this month from AdSense than ever before, even though traffic hasn't yet climbed back to peak summer levels.

One problem for a directory site (or any general-interest site) may be the lack of on-target backup or default ads for pages that can't be matched to keyword-targeted ads. Many of us have found, over time, that Google has done a pretty job of supplying broad-topic ads on such pages. In other words, if I have a site on baked goods and there are no Google ads for the keyphrase "french crumb crullers," Google will display an ad for doughnuts, breakfast pastries, or other baked goods on my French Crumb Crullers page. Since my audience is interested in baked goods, readers may well be tempted to buy those other products. (And why not? No aficionado of baked goods can live by French crumb crullers alone.)

"Theming" may not yet exist in the Google search index, but it does seem to exist with AdSense. In my opinion, the publishers who do best with AdSense are likely to be niche publishers whose sites are diversified within a "theme" context. Having some diversity of content will protect publishers from losing revenues if one advertiser (say, a French crumb crullers advertiser) pulls out or temporarily uses up its budget, while the theme will help Google display relevant backup or default ads when keyword-targeted ads aren't available.

[loanuniverse]

For what is worth My stats:

All time high EPC: Middle October
Current EPC: About 32% lower than all time high
Noticeable Deterioration started: Beginning December / End November
Comments: No significant deterioration noted since then

I would guess Florida update hit me, not only in the number of surfers, but how the surfers are getting to the site. The ones that remain are looking for X, but it is those looking for Y and arriving to the Y pages that have the good EPC.

[cpals]

I'm not sure if it's just advertisers dropping out, but my EPC has dropped significantly since January.

What I would normally get on X number of clicks now is getting 50-75% less $$ from the same number of clicks. It's very strange. Maybe the advertisers in my field aren't seeing a big enough payoff?

[whats up skip]

Don't forget currency changes. The US$ is worth significantly less now than one year ago. This will impact on many sites, depending on where their target is and where the advertisers are based.

Our US$ earnings are growing a little, but we have lost a heap because the Australian dollar is now much stronger in US$ terms.

[Sunflux]

I keep an Excel spreadsheet where I calculate daily EPCs, for the few months I've been with Adsense. The average daily EPC *HAS* gone down from my best month (the month I joined), the worst being December. So far, January is looking better than December, but still 14% lower than October.

However, actual revenue is currently much higher than October, simply because the site is busier and I've put Adsense in more areas. To me, all that truly matters is the bottom line. Of course, I'd love to have my current clicks at October's rate, but regardless I'm still very satisfied with how AdSense has been performing.

Especially compared to my previous trials at various ad companies, who end up paying - quite literally - next to nothing.