Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Since it is obvious that we want people to click on our ads in order to earn money, I have been taking the money earned divided by the number of clicks to get the figure of earnings per click, which is what I am assuming is what people are talking about when they say EPC.
However, when studying this downward trend and playing around with where I place my ads, I have started calculating earnings differently than I was before.
Is it better to have a higher eCPM OR a higher CTR?
Since I'm unsure of how eCPM is calculated, I don't know which is more important. Because if you take the eCPM figure, divide it by 1000 impressions, then in turn take that figure and multiply it by the number of impressions of that ad, you get the earnings figure. So, my question is does the CTR matter? If so, what does it do for us?
For example, (not my real information), if I have an ad with the following two examples:
2000 impressions 7% CTR $11.00 eCPM = $22.00
100 impressions 20% CTR $35.00 eCPM = $3.50
In the above example I have earned much more money from the lower CTR and lower eCPM due to the larger amount of impressions. So technically, even if the above example was:
2000 impressions 1% CTR $11.00 eCPM = $22.00 (same amount of money earned, but hardly any clicks).
So, seemingly it does not matter if your CTR is high or low, you earn money based on your eCPM and impressions.
Of course we all want a high click through rate, but for what reason?
My earnings are way down this month and especially this week. With ad placements in different places, I notice that the ad that gets the most clicks, (no matter where it is placed), has a wide variety as far as eCPM and CTR.
What is strange to me, (and yes, I know it varies greatly), is that when I place the 728x90 at the top of my pages below navigation, where it is most attractive as far as looks of my site, the CTR and eCPM is low.
What has gotten the most clicks is when the ads are in the left column above my left navigation using a wide skyscraper. Does not look nearly as attractive as it moves my navigation column way down the page, however, it gets the most clicks.
I've looked at all the AdSense help pages and I do not really see a simple answer to this basic question:
Which will earn you more money? Higher eCPM or higher CTR?
Which will earn you more money? Higher eCPM or higher CTR?
Ultimately your earnings are calculated by multiplying together 3 numbers:
1. Impressions/pageviews. You have a LOT of control over this, by building and promoting your website.
2. CTR. You have some control over this. Play around and see what works on your site. In general I suggest you place ad blocks for the highest CTR, keeping away from anything that's deceptive or intrusive.
3. CPC. You don't have too much control over this. Chasing "expensive" clicks is a dead end, IMO. There is one strategy worth trying out, filtering out advertisers who appear to bid very low amounts -- especially websites that only make money by showing more AdSense ads.
Is CPC and EPC the same thing? I've seen both terms mentioned in this forum, so just want to make sure I am on the right track.
CPC is a term used by an advertiser to describe their cost per click. That is, how much it costs the advertiser each time an ad is clicked.
EPC is a term used by publishers to describe their earnings per click. That is, how much Adsense is paying them each time an ad is clicked.
The difference between CPC (what the advertiser pays) and EPC (what the publisher gets) is the amount that Google gets to keep for providing their services.
