Forum Moderators: martinibuster
This month Google added a revised method of calculating the price of ads based on the "effectiveness" of the ad.
Here's an excerpt:
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How smart pricing works
We are constantly analyzing data across our network, and if our data shows that a click is less likely to turn into business results (e.g. online sale, registration, phone call, newsletter sign-up), we may reduce the price you pay for that click. You may notice a reduction in the cost of clicks from content sites.
We take into account many factors such as what keywords or concepts triggered the ad, as well as the type of site on which the ad was served. 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.
Google saves you time and hassle by estimating the value of clicks and adjusting prices on an ongoing basis. With improved smart pricing, you should automatically get greater value for clicks from ad impressions across our network, all with no change in how you bid.
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So it appears that our EPC will be way down from before unless we deliver more EFFECTIVE clicks. Now what I do not understand is how that is measured. I can understand how they measure click-throughs (we get as much as 3% on some days, but usually 1.8%), but how are they deciding what the visitor does once they get to a site? They do not have a way to track a purchase without a tracking code for each specific vendor. We use AdWords and we know of no such tracking code. Seems kinda like guessing and a lot of assumptions based on some marketing guru's idea of what can deliver more effective business leads and not one ounce of imperical measurment.
It all boils down to whether the revenue from AdSense justifies running an "Ads by Google" box on your pages. It's a simple matter of dollars and cents.
Uncertainty is also an issue. Many people are risk averse, and might prefer a fixed and reliable $10/day to something which averages more but varies unpredictably in both short and long-term time frames.
Uncertainty is also an issue. Many people are risk averse, and might prefer a fixed and reliable $10/day to something which averages more but varies unpredictably in both short and long-term time frames.
True, and such people obviously aren't a good fit for an ad network that pays by the click. I don't think Google will mourn their departure, though. No ad network, affiliate program, etc. is going to be right for everyone.
Well i don't know how come a product review watching people be more intrested in buying?
Well google is trying lot of new things and if they keep trying this way, publishers would leave the network.
Also they have rolled back once as few days back they increased the cpc, now i think they will again roll back if publishers don't get the money they desire.
now the only thing that is good about google adsense is the higher click thru! otherwise many other networks are having click rate of 10 cents or more.
hope the better time is yet to come
dhaliwal
you said it right that a network can't be good for everyone.
but i don't think it would be a good network if it gives you a ride of roller coaster.
people do enjoy roller coasters, but business can't handle them nicely.
lol
you said it right that a network can't be good for everyone.
but i don't think it would be a good network if it gives you a ride of roller coaster.
people do enjoy roller coasters, but business can't handle them nicely.
lol
shouldn't google change the name?
Google Adsense >> Google Roller Coaster
The quality of the traffic, the quality of the ad etc are variables. Some of them are variables outside of Google's control just as the activity of visitors to your site are out of your control.
Irrespective of all that your earnings are based on one major arbitary figure i.e. the value Google attaches to a click from your site. At any point they can consider it more - or less - valuable and thus drastically affecting what you earn.
True, and such people obviously aren't a good fit for an ad network that pays by the click
EFV, with respect, just because people want a relatively steady income that is no reason for them to be unsuitable for a PPC network. I think the issue here is more about the dramatic changes in income that aren't as a result of market conditions but as a result of Google's "click value guessing" algo.
Danny's post referred to someone who wanted a "fixed and reliable $10 a day." I don't think any ad network can deliver that.
I agree that Google's "click value guessing" algorithm leaves something to be desired, although I haven't seen dramatic daily fluctuations on my site. Instead, I've seen consistently lower revenues (about 1/3 for April) due to a combination of lower EPC and lower CTR, with the latter presumably being a result of mistargeting and rotation of ad groups by topic.
As for the suggestion in D's post that publishers should leave AdSense, I'm sure that many publishers will do so if and when something better comes along. The problem right now is that no serious competitors to AdSense exist, and unfortunately, that isn't likely to change in the immediate future.
Should I expect theses types of variances?
I am new to Adsense and have seen my earning per click on one day be as high as $1.43 and then the next day go down to $0.35, each day having the same amount of traffic and the same CTR.
Is your site highly focused on one topic? If so, tha might explain the variation. A site that attracts ads for a limited number of keywords or keyphrases is likely to have more fluctation than a site with many different subtopics, just because the ad pool (and bids) can shrink or expand dramatically if a major advertiser hits its budget limit, pulls out of AdSense, etc.
To use a hypothetical example, a site devoted to doughnuts may take a big revenue hit if doughnuts-to-your-door.com drops out for a few days, but a site devoted to baked goods in general won't be as affected because it's still getting ads for cakes, pies, croissants, breads, etc. (That's one reason why editorial diversity can be good for revenues!)
How many clicks you receive per day may also be a factor. The smaller the number of clicks, the more effect individual clicks will have on your daily average.
On my own site, I see very little day-to-day variation in EPC, probably because I've got hundreds of subtopics under my overall "umbrella theme." So, if houseboats-in-scapa-flow.co.uk or rollerblade-tours-in-rouen.com stops advertising for a week or so, the effect is masked by the continuing presence of other ads on other topics.
This is a great forum!
The things that (tend to) protect you from large swings are [1] having a broad range of topics covered, [2] having a deep selection of ads that are being targeted to your site, and [3] having a statistically significant number of impressions and clickthroughs each day. If you don't have tens of thousands of impressions and hundreds of clicks in a day, you can expect sizeable swings simply due to random fluctuation.
