Forum Moderators: martinibuster
What had seemed to be abundantly clear for several months was that my overall EPC average for AdSense hours 12-24 was around half that of hours 1-12.
I had suspected for quite some time that US/Canadian/etc advertisers were paying a lot less CPC. To test my hypotheseis as best I could I decided to try an AdWords campaign direct solely at the US and Canada using the exact same words as a campaign directed solely at Europe, Middle East and India for a couple of months ending today.
Fortunately the same trade words are used both sides of the Atlantic and there are no "z's" or "s's" with which to contend.
Firstly the CPC for USA/Canada has remained at half that of Europe/etc.
Secondly, the results, as best I can analyse them with the metrics given us by AdSense, is exactly as I had assumed before the experiment that my earnings are, indeed, 50% less for 12-24 and, interestingly enough, with more or less the same amount of clicks however the CTR is lower which, I believe, is the usual trend.
Obviously these metrics only apply to my specialised construction products however does anyone else see similar statistics?
Do you have a site that is completely the opposite?
I'm not too sure what message this gives me other than maybe AdWorders in Europe/etc are possibly deriving better results from their advertising campaigns than US/Canadian AdWorders are doing?
Maybe I ought to direct this question to the AdWords forum for opinions?
I would guess the daily budget runs on G time.
Is it possible that the early part of the day sees more high paying Ads
Whilst this is an oft-quoted "idea" remember that I had two focussed AdWords campaigns for two distinct geographical areas using the same keywords and the cost for one zone is literally half that for the other.
I'm guessing that my European/etc advertisers only focus on the European/etc zones and possibly turn off their more expensive campaigns at about 21~22.00 GMT when traditionally the European/etc traffic tends to decline dramatically and then turn their campaigns on the next morning when they arrive at work.
Maybe they do the same as I tried and simply focus their campaigns to their own geographical zones and possibly the ads being shown overnight are simply the lower paying/MFAs/ etc?
I have no proof of this however I am seeing quite a few of these advertisers at a conference this next week and I intend asking them just how they manage their AdWords campaigns since they are plainly successful judging by how much they are spending on my sites and other sites within the industry otherwise they wouldn't do it.
what industry are your websites about?
Specialised construction products for projects and domestic use also to DIY multiple outlets.
The one thing I have specifically noticed is that the UK advertisers seem to be much more active nationally than their US/Canadian counterparts.
Obviously this could simply be the smaller geographical area involved since a retailer in the UK could easily cover half of the country from one location without too much hassle whereas a retailer based in the Eastern US, unless they had multiple locations, perhaps wouldn't be interested whatsoever in going any further than maybe their own State, and in some cases I have seen some which will only supply within their own county or adjoining areas.
My products are HEAVY, they do not lend themselves to courier and post office deliveries, freighting them around costs serious money.
Maybe I'm answering my own questions here?
Possibly the AdWords are that much cheaper because no one is advertising the product widely in the USA/Canada simply because of the freight expense?
I've reported this about year ago and called it "conspiracy theory".
My only explanation was that we got what we got,
not CPC. In that case during the day we getting SOME amount in the beginning of the day and the rest of the day is just trying to fake us to make us think we getting paid per click.
No one supported this theory. I'm still think it is more or less true.
Due to the way Adwords works with daily budgets there will *always* be more advertisers from a certain country at the start of their day, then at the end. This drives up the CPC at the start.
How do the imp levels for US phrases compare with the other campaigns?
The European/etc has a slightly higher CTR than the USA and, maybe surprisngly, they generated more or less the same amount of total impressions and within a point or two for the same keywords.
The more I consider the transport issue within the USA/Canada, the more I am convinced I have found my answer to the conundrum since any US advertiser targetting specific geographical areas would, I believe(?), derive a lower CPC and especially so if they were not in the major population areas.
Does anyone have information regarding this?
Optirex I see a few possible flaws in your test.
There are plenty of flaws since we simply do not have enough tools at our disposal to conduct the test fully however I did write that I targetted the campaigns specifically at two geographical areas to try and avoid cross-contamination of ad results as best possible.
The thing is that at the end of the test the experiment returned the results that I had already suspected...the bumpy, feely test:-)
The early in the day ads are higher, then as they get clicked on their budgets used, the ads get lower.
I believe it is time to try and de-bunk this myth!
I do not know who started this idea however at the time it was a reasonable explanation however I feel my metrics demonstrate that advertisers are much more clever than "Let's chuck a $100 a day at it and see what happens!" and don't forget that advertisers can switch their campaigns on and off at a click.
If you re-read through my original post you will see that the Eurozone EPCs are paying double the USzone EPCs.
What if, in my trade, the advertisers decide that they do not want to go outside of a geographical zone of, say, 100 miles radius?
What if they decide that they do not want to display ads in all countries, or even counties/states, but their own?
Would this lead to a situation whereby in the Eurozone where the cities are closer together that they would end up paying more for targetted ads than a similar advertiser in the USzone who would prefer to target only New York, or Dallas, or Phoenix or Los Angeles?
If they do not have multiple outlets in those cities what would be the point of advertising in those regions?
This brings my back to the question in my last post and perhaps I ought to really ask the AdWords forum this:
The more I consider the transport issue within the USA/Canada, the more I am convinced I have found my answer to the conundrum since any US advertiser targetting specific geographical areas would, I believe(?), derive a lower CPC and especially so if they were not in the major population areas.
Please bear in mind my trade products are heavy, they are not DVDs, books or airline tickets, the average retail purchase is probably about one tonne in weight (2,000+ lbs) minimum.
