Tracking adsense

One hour it's x and the next it's x-5?

[my2cents]

I use a program that tracks adsense statistics every 30 minutes and have noticed erratic behavior throughout the day.

One of the items being tracked is the amount earned. At 3:00pm it may be $30 and 30 clicks and at 4:00pm it may be at $25 for 35 clicks.

Does anyone have any idea of what is going?

* These are examples and not real data :)

[Visit Thailand]

Google stats I believe are delayed on both sides of the coin from impressions to clicks so it is very difficult to analyse.

Changes may well happen through a day as different markets around the world wake up and go to sleep.

I used to check stats frequently now try and check them just once a week.

[level80]

There's the option on ads for geo-targeting (eg only users of a particular country see the ad). So if the high paying ads for your site are geo-targetted to American visitors - when most Americans are asleep you'll be getting the lower paid ads.

[billegal]

If I understand you, the stats can go down later in the day. I've never seen that. I'd guess it's some sort of fraud filter that's kicking in.

[europeforvisitors]

I'd guess it's some sort of fraud filter that's kicking in.

Based on my experience and other posts on this board, I'm almost certain that the numbers in the online reporting tool are unaudited figures, and that invalid clicks are never deducted from the posted totals (even though they're deducted from the publisher's pay).

I believe the most likely explanation for up-and-down report numbers is a time lag when updated figures are copied across multiple servers. You might hit an updated server one time and a server that's still showing old results the next time you look. (This doesn't happen too often, but it does happen now and then.)

[my2cents]

A way to track what Google believes to be fraud and the associated value.

Yes, the fraud filter would make sense. If this is the case, then I now have a way to track the number of fraudulent clicks Google believes occurred on my site. Cross-referencing this with my logs should show me the offenders.

I should also be able to get an idea of what those fraudulent clicks were worth.

I would love to see a filter on their end rather than worry about the dreaded letter that everyone talks about here.

[richmondsteve]

my2cents wrote:

Yes, the fraud filter would make sense. If this is the case, then I now have a way to track the number of fraudulent clicks Google believes occurred on my site. Cross-referencing this with my logs should show me the offenders.

I should also be able to get an idea of what those fraudulent clicks were worth.

If this in fact this reporting behavior is an indication of fraud, keep in mind that fraudulent activity may not show up in your logs and even if it does it may be difficult to detect. Fradulent activity which is spread across many IP addresses, which consists of repeated right-clicks from a page on your site or consists of loading an AdSense URL with your AdSense ID from somewhere other than an AdSense ad block on one of your pages will be difficult to impossible to detect.

[my2cents]

In reply to europeforvisitors:

I would agree with you except that the clicks and amount may grow for a few hours, then both drop and seem to start growing from that point forward.

In reply to richmondsteve:

I see your point.

Although I could take the times that the fraud filter kicks in and compare them to my website log files. If I see an IP address that has visited during these times over many days, I might get an idea of the person causing this deviation.

[richmondsteve]

my2cents wrote:

I see your point.

Although I could take the times that the fraud filter kicks in and compare them to my website log files. If I see an IP address that has visited during these times over many days, I might get an idea of the person causing this deviation.

True - you might. I can't argue with that. I'm just playing devil's advocate though - even if you knew there were fraudulent clicks I think they'll be hard to detect, especially if your site is high-traffic and the fraud isn't blatant - meaning many clicks of your web pages from the same IP over a short period. If I go to your site and right-click an AdSense ad once per minute for an hour you'll only see one page view from my IP in your web server logs. If I do it from a bot on 50 servers and/or computers I've hacked the attack will be spread across 50 different IPs. I'm not trying to tell you not to investigate, but these are things you need to be aware of it you do.

[my2cents]

If I do it from a bot on 50 servers and/or computers

I think though, that most users are not as creative as you would be when trying to generate fraudulent clicks. Creating a bot to use multiple servers and executing an ad is not a trivial task.

I understand you’re playing the devil’s advocate, no problem. It is better to try than not try at all. Do nothing and your outcome is guaranteed.

[richmondsteve]

my2cents, we're on the same page. Sometimes I play devil's advocate here because I want readers to understand the possiblities. For the record, I'm not involved in fraudulent activity, but a number of clients have had their sites attacked by distributed systems so it's always a possibility, though it obviously takes more expertise, resources and dedication to pull off than clicking repeatedly from one's browser.

[zomega42]

My stats never actually go down through the course of the day, but I have noticed something odd. My daily clickthrough percentage is very high early in the day, then ends up mediocre at the end of the day.

E.g., for example say at noon I have 1000 impressions with 70 clicks, and by midnight I have 10K impressions but only 150 clicks.

Maybe Google just updates clickthroughs faster than they update impressions?

[jonknee]

My earnings have never gone down. I notice about a 2-3 hour lag though. Looking at earnings with a magnifying glass will make you go nuts. Zoom out to month by month views and relax a little :).