AdSense Olympics Lull

Noticed a Drop in Traffic?

[surfer67]

Have you noticed a drop in traffic that last couple of days due to the Olympics? I also remember a drop in traffic during the 2004 games.

[andrewshim]

Seems so. Traffic down since Friday (opening ceremony) and don't even mention earnings... bleh...

[signor_john]

I've seen a very slight drop in traffic over the past few weeks (just a few percentage points), but I don't know that it's related to the Olympics: The same thing happened last year, and August is a big vacation month for a lot of people.

[vincevincevince]

With all the major sporting things I find that traffic remains fairly steady; my suspicion is that just as many people go online due to their favourite shows being replaced by sports they don't follow as are pulled offline to watch sports.

[mainspot]

Same here, traffic along with CTR was drop since olympic kick started.

[Reno_Chris]

I've also seen a drop, but its hard to say what percentage is just folks out on vacations, or doing other outdoor activities and away from the computer and what percentage is due to specifically to the olympics.

[koan]

I'm seeing a substantial drop too, just like last year at roughly the same time, so it's seasonal. The olympics might have something to do with it, but it's probably a tiny effect.

I expect a continuous decrease of eCPM until september 1st, where it shoots right back.

I'll be worried if it doesn't improve in september. Meanwhile, I should probably follow advertisers and take a vacation too ;)

[Atomic]

My traffic is 200% of last year's traffic at this time.

[andrewshim]

Meanwhile, I should probably follow advertisers and take a vacation too

I AM on vacation. Adsense watching is what I do on vacation. Doesn't everybody? ;-]

My traffic is 200% of last year's traffic at this time.

thanks for rubbing it in Atomic.... ;) ;) ;)

[andrewshim]

I'm seeing a substantial drop too, just like last year at roughly the same time, so it's seasonal.

Can't say that for myself. Last year, Googlebot went on vacation. Well actually what happened was my webhost tweaked their security knob up and accidentally blocked Googlebot. So last year I was "de-indexed" for about 2 months coz Google thought I didn't exist anymore. Sheesh...

[Atomic]

thanks for rubbing it in Atomic.... ;) ;) ;)

If it makes you feel any better, my income is down substantially.

[ember]

Glad it's not just me. August has been very slow. I've assumed it is the Olympics and last minute vacations. Just two more weeks until September ;O)

[netmeg]

I'm way down, as I expected I would be - it's after fireworks season, and pre-haunted houses.

I need to think of a good niche that's August-specific.

[signor_john]

I need to think of a good niche that's August-specific.

Air-conditioner repairs?

[netmeg]

Heh, yea, maybe. Or "Swimming Pools on a Budget" or some such.

[HuskyPup]

I'm seeing metrics all over the place however I was expecting it since my entire European widget industry closes for 3 weeks during August and quite a few US widget producers do likewise.

My target is not to be more than 16.67% down for the month.

[andrewshim]

Heh, yea, maybe. Or "Swimming Pools on a Budget" or some such.

I'm noticing a bounce-back yesterday and today. Maybe everyone is happy that Phelps has gotten his eight goals and have come back clicking.

I find the coindidence amusing since my site is nowhere near related to sports or swimming. Traffic gone when the swim meets start, then back again when swimming is over. If it's NOT a co-incidence, then maybe I can include "primarily interested in sports (swimming specifically)" in my visitor demographics description.

Come to think of it, if my visitors ARE swim freaks, maybe I should slap some affiliate ads selling Speedo or Michael Phelps endorsed swimgear.

Or how about iPod Nanos with Phelps' playlist pre-loaded?

... then again, should I expect the "post-good-news-here-and-see-your-ecpm-tank-the-next-day" jinx to hit after posting this!

[edited by: andrewshim at 4:44 pm (utc) on Aug. 18, 2008]

[signor_john]

Come to think of it, if my visitors ARE swim freaks, maybe I should slap some affiliate ads selling Speedo or Michael Phelps endorsed swimgear.

If you're selling Speedos, you'd better include affiliate ads for weight-loss and male-enhancement products, too. :-)

[andrewshim]

male-enhancement products,

wonder if they have ecpm enhancement pills? Just think about it...

"never worry again about your flacid eCPM... just one pill for rock solid performance!"

[netmeg]

viagROI.

(ork ork)

[signor_john]

OK, nutmeg, you win. :-)

[netmeg]

NETmeg, thank you very much.

[icedowl]

...and the lull goes on.

[signor_john]

NETmeg, thank you very much.

Sorry. I'm a man of poor eyesight and a spicy disposition.

[andrewshim]

I'm a man of poor eyesight and a spicy disposition.

and after a viagROI, I'm a man of poor disposition with spicy eyesight. mmmmmmmm....

[Khensu]

Andrew your just a salty dog.

I actually had my GF enter almost all the athletes names into a special adwords campaign in July, plus about 10 websites created for the olympics. Basically I was able to negate the lull beyond which is an already worst month of the year for me.

Nice thing is that Labor day is early so all the Sheep will be back at their school desks & work cubicles surfing the web. So much for the bahh, bahhed summer.

[johndav]

Traffic, CTR and CPM very low for the last 10 days....about 20% drop on almost 80% of our sites...

[vordmeister]

According to an ISP forum I frequent there's another problem with the Olympics. People are viewing videos of the Olympics online and apparently it's showing up routing bottlenecks.

I know there's a bottleneck between me and the server I'm in the process of moving from, but lately there has been a lot of packet loss.

So possibly it's not people viewing the Olympics instead of your site, it's the people that are viewing the Olympics that stop everyone else getting to your site.

[netmeg]

Nice thing is that Labor day is early so all the Sheep will be back at their school desks & work cubicles surfing the web. So much for the bahh, bahhed summer.

Blah to that. First football game here is August 30th, where it will be hotter than a ... well, I probably can't use the word here.

I'm definitely seeing a lull in traffic; I launched a few new sites a while ago, and suddenly I have top ten ranking in Yahoo for some super competitive keywords in the financial area, but I guess nobody's using Yahoo anymore - bupkis for traffic; can't blame that on Google. And they haven't climbed very high in Google SERPS yet either. Pass me some o' that ViagROI over here, please...

[Lame_Wolf]

For me, i've had about 1000 a day increase in visitors. :)