Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Then a couple of members started reporting a change in serp positions on Dec 7 :
[webmasterworld.com...]
Funny because my site also fell to #10 from a solid #3 on Dec 7. Suddenly, I noticed my ecpm/epc jump this past 2 days. It's as though the fall in serp rank un-tripped a filter of some sort and my epc has gone back to where it used to be six months ago.
I wonder if the theory mentioned in this thread is valid :
[webmasterworld.com...]
Perhaps in G's algo, they estimate how much your serp rank will affect your traffic and adjust your epc accordingly. I'm probably wrong and it's probably too early to come to any conclusion but does anyone notice any such correlation?
Let me give an example from my own personal sites. I have two sites in a certain niche. One is relatively new and one is older. They both have basically the same ads showing on the site. The older site has about 4x eCPM as the other site, even though they show virtually the same ads. The newer site has started to go up in page impressions, but at the same time, my earnings have stayed the same.
The above leads me to believe they try to cap what they think each site is "worth".
I think that google use an algorithm to determine what they believe your site should be making at any given time, and then they use smartpricing to make sure you actually are at or near that amount.The above leads me to believe they try to cap what they think each site is "worth".
I think so too. If you cross a given threshold (traffic/earnings) smart pricing will be triggered to bring you back in line with what they consider to be your site's "worth". This would explain why six months ago when I hit a high (with multiple high-paying clicks), my EPC began to slide after that.
What do you think the threshold is? I have to say I don't agree with you. But others have said the samething.
You may find dwindling returns when visitors increase mostly due to advertisers budgets and googles likely desire to give lots of ads a shot at being seen, or other factors.
I've had up to 30,000 pages views a day and now I'm well under 10000 and I never see a cap.
I think that many people have found more high-value clicks in the 1st half of the (google) day, followed by a dwindling CPM in the 2nd half.
I often see the same thing.
There are more factors than I can count affecting your earnings Andrew, taking one (serps traffic) and basing a theory around it is just too limiting.
Google does monitor our earnings, but for quality control (click fraud) reasons, not distribution of wealth.
There isn't any threshold cap.
I'd like to think so too. I'm just "theorizing"... trying to understand why
moving up serps = decreasing ecpm
and
moving down serps = increased ecpm
for me at least. YMMV. Then again could be just one big coincidence.
I think that many people have found more high-value clicks in the 1st half of the (google) day, followed by a dwindling CPM in the 2nd half.
I notice this too but I don't remember having seen this effect in years past. My eCPM and CTR seem to trend in tandem during the day. Slightly higher CTR earlier in the day when I'm earning higher eCPM. Then as the day continues both decline.
I was under the impression that this is evidence of a decreased advertiser pool. Presentation of the "better more clickable" ads being exhausted long before the day has finished. Like I said above, 12 months ago I don't remember this effect taking place. I think it is evidence of fewer advertisers participating on the content side in my niche.
The one with 4 times the traffic gets the HIGHEST eCPM. The other gets about 1/2 that.
Both sites are many years old, both sites get a decent amount of traffic. No real difference except that the site with the highest eCPM is about 5 years older then the other.
Another element that has been noted by online retailers for years is that being lower in the SERPs can result in higher quality traffic, people who are by definition more motivated because their research has taken them way below the "above the fold" hits on page 1.
I do believe there's a very short-term dampening effect, in that slow days generally have above-average EPC and busy days usually have below-average EPC. But a cap simply doesn't make any sense. If person A is experiencing a cap and can't get past $100 a month, how did person B ever get to $1,000 a month, or $10,000?
Another element that has been noted by online retailers for years is that being lower in the SERPs can result in higher quality traffic, people who are by definition more motivated because their research has taken them way below the "above the fold" hits on page 1.
That is what I thought of as soon as I read the first post. When you are #1, you get the "I feel lucky" crowd. Above the fold you have the lazy searchers. Beyond that point, you tend to get the serious researchers and buyers only.
Smart pricing is supposed to take care of the difference in quality.
I bet traffic that comes in on the long-tail converts better for the advertisers as well. I gave up on worrying where I rank for the big keywords years ago.
When you are #1, you get the "I feel lucky" crowd.
Very true. I've intentionally let some of my pages drop in the serps avoid these types of searchers.
If this were true, my second site, same theme, original content, would get better eCPM, but it does not, it only gets about half of what the better positioned site gets.
Very true. I've intentionally let some of my pages drop in the serps avoid these types of searchers.
I do notice that my homepage (where I concentrate my SEO efforts) at #3 gets low-paying clicks compared to internal pages (ranking anywhere from page #1 to page #xx and SEO'd for long-tail searches) which are really good.
If this were true, my second site, same theme, original content, would get better eCPM, but it does not, it only gets about half of what the better positioned site gets.
It all depends on what keywords it hits on, and what your sector is. Nothing in AdSense seems to be true in all cases.
So I don't put a lot of value in this theory...
It isn't a global theory for all Adsense users. It is a tactic that works from some keywords that generate a lot of non converting traffic. I don't think anyone in this thread has suggested that it applies to all terms for all sites in every situation.
With most affiliate programs, there is usually no penalty for nonconverting traffic and more is almost always better as conversions can be something of a number game. But this is not always true with Adsense because of smart pricing.
There are more factors than I can count affecting your earnings Andrew, taking one (serps traffic) and basing a theory around it is just too limiting.
I know. Just "theorizing" on one aspect.
A chef cannot cook a hundred dishes all at once by himself. He needs to concentrate on a couple at any one time... and I have to admit Adsense is one HUMONGOUS banquet!
when I have spike in traffic (almost double traffic that day) my earnings are about the same as day before, but when my traffic stabilizes to this bigger amount for few days, then earnings jump by double too.
so serps don't trigger it I think...
I think
LOL! Adsense makes us all think a lot!
