Forum Moderators: martinibuster
if you can't define "revenue drop", you'll never be able to figure out what the problem is.
was the traffic down? epc down? etc.
For movement I thought it was because of TF ads...
My niche is travel, so now I see very little "Mom and Pops Tours" and just Expedia, Orbitz, etc.
I'm just crossing my fingers that this passes like everything else has.
Otherwise, I had the opposite experience: November was up over 50% compared to October.
but what about the epc? it's the single most important metric that you have... adsense doesn't pay you by ecpm, so it's a worthless number for troubleshooting problems like this.
if the average monthly epc is constant, but your traffic is down(as you indicated), then you know that you'll need to drive more quality traffic to your site.
on the other hand, if adsense has cut your average monthly epc, you'll have to really scramble to figure out how to fix things.
so has your average epc dropped along with the lower number of impressions?
if adsense has cut your average monthly epc, you'll have to really scramble to figure out how to fix things.
like how? some folks suffered EPC cuts beginning NOV 9... effect of QS for content?
but what about the epc? it's the single most important metric that you have...
The single most important metric that you have is total monthly earnings.
EPC doesn't pay the rent or the mortgage. Neither does eCPM, though the latter does make it possible to compare different revenue streams on an equal footing.
some things are out of our hands to some degree, but you would start by looking at:
1) has the source of your traffic changed recently?
2) are there more or less advertisers in your sector to drive up the bidding, possibly because it's seasonal? what subject matter(aka relevant keyword combos) can you use to bring more advertisers to the same page?
3) more mfa's or less mfa's? do you filter 'em?
4) if you believe in the qs, what can you change to improve your pages? fewer ads per page, take it off of some pages completely, etc.
>>>The single most important metric that you have is total monthly earnings.<<<
not a personal attack, efv, but you have recently posted out here about suffering through a 30% drop in epc, starting last september.
per those posts, i believe that happened because you do not understand the importance of implementing adsense with the goal of maximizing epc.
perhaps the particular travel sector you are in is quiet, but xmas travel has been red-hot this fall, starting in september... i've read articles on how a lot of resort destinations started selling out months ago, and of course this is probably the busiest season in america for airline travel?
if i was into travel, i'd be looking to target the trends ahead of time, if that is possible?
The single most important metric that you have is total monthly earnings.
That may be what matters most, but I think there are 3 distinct measures. that produce these total earnings. that help to understand what is producing particular effects. These are:
1. Traffic - affected by SERPS ranking, Adwords performance etc.
2. Click Through Rate - affected by the page layout, ad targeting, etc.
3. Earnings per click - affected by the "quality" of the adverts the page content attracts and smartpricing.
Traffic*CTR*EPC = total earnings.
eCPM is good for comparisons - but it is a consequence of the data not a cause of it.
[edited by: Pengi at 7:15 pm (utc) on Dec. 3, 2006]
4) if you believe in the qs, what can you change to improve your pages? fewer ads per page, take it off of some pages completely, etc.
I must have missed the creation and use of QS within adsense. When did that start, Danimal?
not a personal attack, efv, but you have recently posted out here about suffering through a 30% drop in epc, starting last september.per those posts, i believe that happened because you do not understand the importance of implementing adsense with the goal of maximizing epc.
I want to comment on this because it's probably true that our adsense earnings have also dropped about 30% from, let's say last year.
As with EFV, I run sites built for visitors and not EPC. Both of us earn money from multiple sources, and don't depend only on adsense. Both of us have somewhat authoritative sites, and both of us rely on natural SERP traffic, which comes from building for visitors.
So, let's consider there are different kinds of sites and business models.
I (and the case is the same with EFV) COULD indeed increase CTR and EPC, by shifting our sites to do so. I choose not to do so, or spend the time experimenting, because a) I'm building sites for visitors and b) if I increase CTR, I'm going to lose the opportunity to earn money in other ways by having people click out of my site. In my case, on the CTR side, we INTENTIONALLY moved some of the ads on some of the sites so they would get lower CTR, BUT so we would increase our product sales (which is what actually happened).
I can't afford, reputation wise, to increase CTR and EPC by making it look like my sites are there only to push large blocks of adsense ads.
My guess is google is either playing profits god.... and raking in more money to inflate their profits to keep stocks up... for year end. Or they feel they deserve more money per cpm...
On another note.... maybe advertisers have ran out of november money, but you would think that christmas shopping effect would take effect.
(ps if you don't like christmas too bad I'm not saying holiday shopping)
we never made that claim.
rbacal, if you are coming out here to start your petty bickering up again, i will once again put your posts in my kill filter.
>>>I can't afford, reputation wise, to increase CTR and EPC by making it look like my sites are there only to push large blocks of adsense ads.<<<
wrong, the adsense support website clearly states that ctr and epc are not related... and fyi, optimizing for epc typically involves removing adsense blocks/pages entirely, not deliberately attempting to lower the ctr by moving blocks around, as you put it.
i am currently working with 5 ad agencies on my sites right now, my adsense epc rose drastically this fall, and in november my overall site revenue was the best that it has ever been... and yes, i have a big variety of products for sale as well.
[edited by: Scurramunga at 2:39 am (utc) on Dec. 4, 2006]
4) if you believe in the qs, what can you change to improve your pages? fewer ads per page, take it off of some pages completely, etc.
COuld you expand on this? Since we're talking about adsense, what's the importance of looking at QS, and what do you do with it?
I'm sure you have some point in mind. What is it?
COuld you expand on this? Since we're talking about adsense, what's the importance of looking at QS, and what do you do with it?I'm sure you have some point in mind. What is it?
I'd like to know too because I'm stumped. All I know is since Nov 9 (supposedly the time of QS) I found my EPC down by 33% and the sudden emergence of low paying affiliate type ads (not MFAs)
When ecpc takes a tumble the only solution left open is to reduce supply by removing ads.
Does it really work that way? Do you mean reducing Ad blocks or removing altogether from low-performing pages?
I didn't see a noticeable change in AdSense stats at that time, but it's possible some advertisers saw their minimum bids jump ridiculously high, and scaled back their spending or stopped using AdSense altogether. There were a few anecdotes about that, but I don't know how widespread it was.
