Click values are changing throughout the day

...individual clicks, tracked by channels

[NoLimits]

I have a couple new start-up sites that are recieving 1-2 clicks per day on average, so it is extremely easy to track how much each click is paying individually. For the last week I have seen an alarming trend that I have never experienced in a few years of running AdSense on my sites. The value of a click may show up as .74 early on in the day - but the next day, its value can be different. I am not imagining this, it is happening.

Today for example... early this morning I was disappointed to see a .02 click on one site (the only click for the day on that site). Now that individual click is showing up as .04 with no new clicks to skew things. Has anyone else been seeing this?

[DamonHD]

Hi,

My clicks have historically varied from (say) 1c to ~$10, oh that it were more of the latter, and each click has to be "next" to at least two others, so yes you'll see variation be adjacent clicks!

More pertinently, I actually vary my bid prices with AW ad scheduling through the day on some campaigns, reducing my bid either when I think that I can get the ad shown for less, or, more often, when I want the traffic less because my servers are already busy. My bidding pattern is probably the reverse of many UK/EU/US bidders, but I've been able to flatten out my visitors/hour graph quite nicely! B^>

Rgds

Damon

[NoLimits]

I'm not referring to adjacent clicks, I am referring to one specific click. The value of a (1) specific click will reflect as .10 for example sake at 8AM. With no additional clicks, the value of that one click is changing to say .13, or .4 - not adjacent clicks.

I have been seeing this in channels where I have only 1 click for the entire day. The value of that specific click is changing in some instances at some point in the day.

[toomer]

Are you tracking the clicks with enough detail that you know *which* ads are being clicked each time? Remember, AdSense will put ads on your site that it thinks will "maximize your revenue". That could mean that they're joing to put Ad #1 up as a place that sells iPods which would probably pay well, and could put Ad #2 right next to it as "Top 8 Sites about iPod" which probably only pays pennies.

So why would google put up an ad that pays pennies? Because it thinks that it gets clicked often enough to be on par with the ad that pays significantly more per click ... i.e.: out of 100 impressions you might get 1 click at 10c for the first ad vs. 10 clicks at 1c for the second. AdSense would likely display those side-by-side, as it sees them as paying out equally for you per 100 or 1000 visitors.

Personally, I wish AdSense did *not* do this for me ... but they do.

[DamonHD]

Hi NoLimits,

Now I see what you're saying...

Sure there was no CPM ad shown that would bring revenue but no click?

Did you get "un-smart-priced" for one click, eg maybe after it converted for the advertiser?

Did you get another click's revenue but the click itself was delayed in the stats?

Rgds

Damon

[dollarshort]

Since that clickfraud article came out on businessweek my earnings have been all over the place, I guess it spooked many advertisers. Thats the whole idea, these print companies are loosing advertising budgets to google adwords, now its payback.