Smartpricing?

All theories welcome

[ElvisFan]

OK!? I know - I know this subject has been trashed to death on this forum - however, after all the been said and done I would appreciate any and all theories - no matter how outrageous.

Why can I go for months without being smartpriced - then bam! This month my earnings are down 50% - despite higher traffic and higher clicks?

Has anyone got their head around this smartpricing algo but most of all how to avoid being hit!

[KenB]

I found that my entire account got smart priced downward when I added AdSense ads to a forum I run. A short time after removing the ads from the forum I was smart priced back up. To me this means that one poorly performing site can cause an entire account to be smart priced downward even for other good performing sites on the same account. To me this isn't very "smart" but it seems to be the way it is.

Also there seems to be some circumstantial evidence that a badly performing AdWords advertiser consistently appearing on one's AdSense ads can have a negative impact on AdSense smart pricing. While I doubt we can prove this one way or another, it seems entirely plausible and I'm a fan of using the competitive ad filter to weed out junky ads.

Unfortunately most of what we figure out about smart pricing will be anecdotal observations (which is the way Google likes to keep it), so observations like mine may or may not be correct.

[rbacal]

A short time after removing the ads from the forum I was smart priced back up.

Got a question for you, since I'm (like most) trying to get handle on Spricing. Do you have any idea of the percentage of your total ads that were from the forum before they were removed?

Both percentage of ad units and page views would be great if you could share them.

TNX

[KenB]

I don't have exact numbers but the forum only accounted for a couple percent (or less) of my total AdSense impressions. I was losing three times more money from being down valued by smart pricing than I was earning from the forum.

[Hobbs]

all theories - no matter how outrageous

Google has a high speed connection to God, and through it knows more about you more than you know about yourself, SmartPricing is just one of the enigmas that humanity will never fully understand, it's one of God's manifestations of randomness yet deliberate distribution of wealth on earth.

[jchampliaud]

"Has anyone got their head around this smartpricing algo"

No. Only Google knows that one.

[andrewshim]

all theories - no matter how outrageous

Google has a high speed connection to God, and through it knows more about you more than you know about yourself, SmartPricing is just one of the enigmas that humanity will never fully understand, it's one of God's manifestations of randomness yet deliberate distribution of wealth on earth.

Google employs staff who are blindfolded and they randomly click on a list of websites to smartprice.

But back on topic... I really believe if you reach a certain earnings level or EPC that is NOT within a given range for your niche/site/site-age/blah-blah... it triggers smartpricing... so it seems to me the only way to go is VOLUME/more traffic... but then what do I know... I've been spriced (thanks for the new word rbacal) recently and I don't know why.

[Hobbs]

:-) Actually Andrew I'll remind you of this:

If you feel someone is pulling on your (.earnings.) and its not you, you are being smartrpiced.

[whitenoise]

But back on topic... I really believe if you reach a certain earnings level or EPC that is NOT within a given range for your niche/site/site-age/blah-blah... it triggers smartpricing

I think that might be in some part quite true. All of last month saw record earnings everyday, way out of the normal range for my website. This was due to heavy promotion of my sites niche in the general media (by third parties). Come 1st December and I'm hit hard with a 50% drop in earnings (but the same traffic). Maybe I reached this so-called limit, and Google decided that the funs over and hit me with smart pricing...

[andrewshim]

:-) Actually Andrew I'll remind you of this:
If you feel someone is pulling on your (.earnings.) and its not you, you are being smartrpiced.

yeah hobbs... I remember... but you can't say that when there are youngsters around!
;)

[ElvisFan]

So beside praying to G*d and hoping for any Christmas goodwill from google - I decided have taken up the option of removing all ads from my low generating sites. Pie in the sky - here's hoping Santa will beam his light upon me. Keep you posted.

Love the sense of humour all around - thanks, you made my day.

[hunderdown]

EF, start with the worst-performing sites/channels. Remove ads from one, allow a couple of weeks for things to adjust, and if the result is positive, try the next. Stop when you do something that doesn't give good results....