Forum Moderators: martinibuster
What has happened?
That can be the cause if you have high volume.
The facts about smart pricing
[adsense.blogspot.com...]
When is Google going to get rid of the scourge, like banning IPs from known violators, or checking the actual landing sites? It's killing this business.
I just got through killing off about 12 more MFAs from my site with the competitive ad filter, but I'm sure more will be back tomorrow. It's disgusting.
Thanks for the reminder about MFA infestation!
My CPC had been steadily decreasing as well, however, I had been a bit complacent in regard to routine "weeding". In a casual review, the ads seemed to be appropriate enough but after "digging" down with the preview tool it was obvious that there was a LOT to be "pruned"!
Hopefully adding a couple dozen new MFA's to the filter will show some CPC improvement.
Chapman
But the thing is I know for a fact that MFAs are not being clicked on my site. I use a tracking script that shows exactly what ads were clicked and they are not of the MFA persuasion. So how can Google justify the crummy 10c clicks they are handing me out.
I am all about ready to rip them off my site. This year has been my Google nightmare. Never again will I put so much trust in a company, never.
it's pushing up bid prices on the search side of the fence only, because it's not applicable to publishers... for us, the minimum adwords bid price was lowered to $.01 per click, several months ago... see if you can figure out why google did that.
i eliminated nearly all mfa's over two months ago, by filling up the filter and increasing the page value to the point where it's too expensive for mfa's to compete... but my monthly epc average has still been on a very slow decline this year.
dualfragment, 3-4 days isn't long enuf to determine trends, and it's really helpful if you have long-term data to compare it with.
What has happened?
It could be any of several factors, alone or in combination:
- Seasonal demand, especially if you get a lot of small advertisers who shut down the home office and go on vacation with their families in August.
- Smart pricing.
- A non-seasonal change in advertiser demand for keywords on your topic(s).
- Changes in the AdSense targeting algorithm that work to your disadvantage.
for us, the minimum adwords bid price was lowered to $.01 per click, several months ago... see if you can figure out why google did that.
Easy: To fill inventory for keywords or keyphrases that don't attract higher bids. From Google's point of view, it makes more sense to deliver low-bid ads than to deliver PSAs or cut over to publishers' alternative ads. (And remember, a penny per click is a minimum. If your pages are about reasonably competitive topics and your traffic converts well for advertisers, it won't matter if the minimum bid is a penny, a nickel, or a dime.)
I had just recently put several more channels on my adsense account. Maybe as mentioned in another thread this placed my site on Smart Pricing.
Whatever it is, I don't like it.
no, because google already created a faux "low-bid" alternative with those dirt-cheap site-targeted cpm ads... and they even had to lower the minimum bid for site-targeted ads waaay down, to $.25 per thou, to get advertisers to use it.
google lowered the content bid pricing drastically, to $.01, because they split up the content and search bidding, and they knew that advertisers would of course want to opt out of our content network entirely, with all of it's mfa's and click fraud issues.
no, because google already created a faux "low-bid" alternative with those dirt-cheap site-targeted cpm ads... and they even had to lower the minimum bid for site-targeted ads waaay down, to $.25 per thou, to get advertisers to use it.
There are two things wrong with that logic:
1) Site targeting and contextual keyword targeting serve different purposes and work in different ways. One isn't a substitute for the other.
2) Just because the minimum is low doesn't mean advertisers can target desirable sites for that minimum figure. (Well, they can try, but they'll get few if any impressions.)
google lowered the content bid pricing drastically, to $.01, because they split up the content and search bidding, and they knew that advertisers would of course want to opt out of our content network entirely, with all of it's mfa's and click fraud issues.
Again, low minimums are irrelevant if you've got a site on a reasonably commercial topic and your clicks convert for advertisers. Low minimums obviously help to fill inventory on gmail, portal pages, general-interest forums, etc., but they aren't an issue for many (and perhaps most) of us. Publishers who are earning exceedingly low rates per click may want to question whether AdSense is right for their sites--and whether their sites are right for AdSense. For some of those publishers, traditional banner networks may pay better and be less frustrating.
Danimal, you seem to believe that lower minimums are evidence of a shrinking advertiser pool. I'd maintain that you've got it backwards: Google lowered the minimums to expand the advertiser pool, not to keep existing advertisers from leaving.
Of course, the expansion of the advertiser pool (and of low-bid ad inventory) may be contributing to a greater spread between the "haves" and "have nots" on the publisher side. But, if that's the case, it isn't a sign that the program isn't working--it just means publishers who once would have received PSAs or had a cutover to alternative ads are now getting more low-paying ads instead.
no, it's about advertiser options for spending the least amount of money... because you failed to mention the dirt-cheap cpm alternative.
>>>Just because the minimum is low doesn't mean advertisers can target desirable sites for that minimum figure.<<<
not relevant to this thread or my question, which is, "why the minimum adwords bid price was lowered to $.01 per click".
remember, dualfragment posted: "each click is worth 1 cent or less", and he wants to know why the google payout is so lousy.
the answer is: google had to drastically slash the minimum content bid to $.01, because of the inferiority of our publisher network vs. the search network... that gutted price reflects the value that some advertisers are receiving, thanks in part to google allowing mfa's and too much click fraud.
If you honestly believe that all AdSense publishers are getting penny-per-click ads (or penny-per-click EPCs), you need to read this forum more carefully.
only on the content side of the fence, and they are doing it to prevent advertisers from leaving the content network for the search network.
what is the minimum bid on the google search network?
again, that is not relevant... dualfragment posted: "each click is worth 1 cent or less".
he's not asking about your other publishers.
I'd guess that most publishers aren't seeing any evidence of lower minimums. For example, my own average EPC is many, many times the minimum, and I knowingly cover many topics that have little likelihood of performing well with AdSense.
Here's a page that may be helpful in understanding why AdSense click prices and earnings per click vary from low to high:
[investopedia.com...]
no guesswork here, dualfragment posted: "each click is worth 1 cent or less".
his clicks are worthless because google lowered the content bid from $.05 to $.01, mostly because they allowed mfa's and click fraud to reduce the value of advertising on the content network.
efv, you haven't told us what the minimum bid is on the search network.
>>>>I'd guess that most publishers aren't seeing any evidence of lower minimums.<<<no guesswork here, dualfragment posted: "each click is worth 1 cent or less".
So you're saying one poster's unhappy experience is representative of most publishers? Can you prove that?
his clicks are worthless because google lowered the content bid from $.05 to $.01
If that were true, everybody's clicks would be next to worthless. (Which isn't the case.)
mostly because they allowed mfa's and click fraud to reduce the value of advertising on the content network.
It isn't that simple. Junk sites may generate referrals that convert poorly, but so do quality sites whose audiences (and therefore whose clicks) don't perform well for advertisers. That's why smart pricing was introduced: to achieve equilibrium between price and value for clicks from different types of sites and content.
efv, you haven't told us what the minimum bid is on the search network.
As little as a penny a click, according to Google. (I assume you're aware of the new "quality score" system that determines minimum bids on the search network.)
Still, the question is irrelevant because (a) we aren't talking about the search network, we're talking about AdSense publishers; and (b) minimums matter only to those who are affected by the minimums.
Is this just a coincidence or do channels somehow play in to smart pricing?
not relevant... he didn't ask about most publishers.
>>>If that were true, everybody's clicks would be next to worthless.<<<
he didn't ask what everyone else was earning.
>>>That's why smart pricing was introduced<<<
no, smart pricing did not gut the minimum bid from $.05 to $.01... some of his clicks are now worth only one-fifth of what they used to be worth, because google split up content and search.
that's why the search network is relevant to this thread.
I removed all my channels and immediately my amount given per click went back up to normal levels.Is this just a coincidence or do channels somehow play in to smart pricing?
Dualfragment, how exactly did were you calculating your EPC before? AdSense doesn't show an amount per click--you have to calculate itself by dividing revenues by clicks--so I'm not quite sure what you're saying here. In any case, it's nice to hear that your EPC is at normal levels.
I wrote down the total number of clicks and total cost then, and I was getting 1 cent or LESS per each click.
After removing my channels, I calculated the difference yesterday and today and I'm seeing normal average click levels of around $0.10.
