Forum Moderators: martinibuster
For example, a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras.
[edited by: markus007 at 8:08 pm (utc) on April 1, 2004]
I AM interested in that data, thank you. Many of the posts I've seen have not mentioned any backround about their sites, page rank or otherwise.
I have 3 websites myself. The oldest is near or over 500 pages and has been online since 3/2000; PR is 5/10. My next newest has been online since 11/2000, has ~20 pages and is PR 7/10. My third has been online since 2/2002, has ~12 pages and is PR 3/10. All are growing with more content added as time allows.
The largest and oldest gets the most traffic and the most clicks.
I'm not sure if mentioning their topics is allowed so I'll omit that information.
Do you think this new 'formula' is sound? Is it silly as sites containing 'review' getting higher rates? Or is it someone from Google looking at sample AdWords campaign conversion rates and marking the account into the click welfare program?
I'd guess that they did a lot of statistical analysis before coming up with whatever formula they're using. My main concern is that, if they used conversion tracking, they may have defined "conversion" too narrowly. Conversion tracking may work for e-commerce sites, but defining a conversion as a "businss action" (a sale, a newsletter subscription, a registration, etc.) may not be appropriate in cases where the results of an inquiry can't be recorded because the advertiser hasn't set up an appropriate tracking mechanism.
I have 3 websites myself.
How have your sites been faring icedowl?
That kind of fluctuation is completely normal, and has been observed many times before this change went into effect. It probably has nothing to do with Google's payout rate. Different ads are worth different amounts of money. If you have 10 clicks on a high-paying ad followed by a day with 10 clicks on a low-paying ad, you'll see the kind of behavior you're talking about.
Are you tracking your clicks? That would give you better information about what's going on.
150,000 visitors per day. EPC down almost 90%, ads same, CTR same. Very unhappy, and looking elsewhere. Will definitely be approaching adsense advertisers directly.
Congrats, If I got that on my site I think I could retire by June.
What kind of site is it? How does the traffic get there? What is the page rank? Any info would be helpful in addition to your impressive daily uniques.
The questions are to help us find if there is any pattern to the sites with large drops in CTR.
We've had a 4% drop in CTR that's been holding at exactly 4% less than the usual norm and started during the changeover. EPC is also down to the point we are actively keying up to replace AdSense.
Did the targeting algo change along with the variable payout?
Also, I'm surprised that there hasn't been a bigger noise made over the variable payout scheme. I can't think of any other pay-per-text or per-impression company that does this. Tiered Percentage of revenue, based on a known published quantifiable table, sure. But not "whatever we decide today to pay you today".
Sure, Google has the right to do whatever it pleases. I've just never seen it before, that's all. I'm sure the people at (the other major competitive pay-per-text company that I can't mention because it will get bleeped) are popping champagne bottles right now. Hell I bet they have this very thread as a RSS feed displayed on a wall-mounted plasma display.
Face it everybody. It's not a conspiracy or evil plan. It's just the sad truth that Google is becoming a big company and a big company by any other name, is a big company.
Thanks.
So far..
I do think, probably, a lot of people are overreacting, it's really too early to tell how this will go and, if a lot more advertisers come on board, it should result in more variety of ads, which, should lead to more CT's...
Just my $.02 and I'm pretty new to this forum and Adsense so take with grain of salt or whatever seasoning you prefer..
Shortz
My site delivers about 75,000 impressions per day to Google. For the 2.7 days in April so far, compared to March, my CTR is down 19%, EPC is down 25%, and earnings (CPM, only fair way to calculate this) are down 40%.
Yesterday's payout was the absolute lowest EVER. The last time I had a number even close to that, I delievered only 25% of the impressions I did yesterday. And that day still earned 20% more than yesterday!
I think one of my main problems is that Google's new algo has MISTARGETED my site under a new keyword group that has NOTHING to do with my content. So, for "content specific but not page targeted" ads, it keeps giving me totally USELESS ads.
My EPC and earnings are still down over 80% day 3 of the "adjustment".
I have a small site with a sum total of less than 1400 words. Online for about 8 years. PR6, about 400 or 500 backlinks. Saw a jump around April 1, but looks pretty normal today. Between 1 to 2K impressions/day.
Also, I'm surprised that there hasn't been a bigger noise made over the variable payout scheme. I can't think of any other pay-per-text or per-impression company that does this. Tiered Percentage of revenue, based on a known published quantifiable table, sure. But not "whatever we decide today to pay you today".
Unless I've misunderstood Google's e-mails, this isn't a variable payout scheme, it's a variable pricing scheme.
Would you like a new friend?
:)
Smaller, niche sites may benefit.
Does that seem about right based on what's been reported in this thread?
Looks to me like large sites with lots of pages and traffic are the ones hit hard here.
Smaller, niche sites may benefit.Does that seem about right based on what's been reported in this thread?
That's what I'm seeing. Quite a few of the reported large drops have been from people with tens of thousands of backlinks and impressions per day. I think one poster mentioned something like 150,000 daily impressions. It seems like sites with those kinds of numbers are seeing the biggest hits.
I don't think its as easy as big traffic=big CTR drop, there are probably other factors. My guess is that there are some heavy trafficed sites that are better weathering the storm. (And some that are getting caught in the middle)
There appear to be some patterns starting to emerge, for what it's worth at the early stage in the game. (which is not a lot I guess... need to look at the data over months to really get an idea)
The changes have not had a major impact and, if anything, seem to have improved performance to some extent. Niche specific sites probably will fare better with this change since they are more targeted. Larger, more general sites are probably the ones that will be affected most.
I was excited to first read the email, since my sites are REVIEW sites, but alas, I have seen a drop along with just about everyone else.
Google did a nice job on the PR spin to us. The translation of their email is basically "We are lowering AdSense payouts to publishers and charges to advertisers. Have a nice day!".
Since the changes there hasn't been a single day where I have made over $1,000.
Ahh... please take this with the humor intended but... waah.. ;-)
I'd KILL for a 1/10 of that! I'm sure a lot of us would.. but, I feel your pain.. :)
Looks to me like large sites with lots of pages and traffic are the ones hit hard here
About a million pages here, EPC is the same, CTR climbed 40%.
It would be nice to hear from some advertisors. Are Adwords users seeing some big savings, increased traffic, better conversion. From what I have heard looking around so far, the answer is "no change"... If not where is all that money going?
I don't think the people in the adwords forums are the ones to ask, they are mostly small fish.
Not good, not happy.
It would be nice to hear from some advertisors. Are Adwords users seeing some big savings, increased traffic, better conversion. From what I have heard looking around so far, the answer is "no change"... If not where is all that money going?
*cough*Google's pockets*cough*
