Link Unit vs Ad Unit CTR

Ad Fatigue

[Forest Dweller]

I have one link unit on each page of my site. The link units are showing a 7% CTR. I have ad units on each page, too, and they are all showing a very low CTR ... under 1%. If you average the link units and ad units together, though, the overall CTR for my site is about 3% and I think that's about average according to Google.

Is this normal? I suppose it's different for each site.

I've been getting the same ads from the same advertisers over and over again for months. I know I'm getting tired of looking at them and I'm sure my visitors are, too. The ads seem to be almost targeted too well. I get a lot of ads for sites that publish the same type of thing I do. I'm in the process of replacing some of the Adsense ads with affiliate ads just to see something different for a change.

Do you have any advice about how to fight ad fatigue?

[koan]

It does seem that if your ad unit is doing so much better (7% is great), it's because of the diversification of topics / advertisers it brings.

You can try the CPA (referrals) ads and switch your regular ads with referrals every now and then randomly. Or any other source of ads (CPM, etc). That way, at least you'll be doing something against ad blindness.

Worse comes worse, you can always block one advertiser in your competitive filters for a week or two and see what happens.

[Forest Dweller]

Yes, thank you. I think that's very practical advice. I've never really experimented with the ads, but it's time to try. I'll start with just a change or two so I can clearly see what works and what does not. And I'll take good notes.