Trying to Track Metrics // AdSense & Analytics

Which Metrics to Track?

[Emmaline]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. The company I work for runs websites with the primary goal of making money off the Google AdSense ads placed on the site.

I'm wondering what sort of metrics I can track for this kind of website. My experience has always been with content-focused sites, for clients who are interested in attracting, keeping and having return users to their site with no monetary goal, per se. This site is generally more interested in using SEO to get users to the site and then having them click on an ad and leaving the site.

I have no idea what sort of standard metrics one would be tracking for this kind of site. I've looked all over and can't seem to find a discussion group, blog, or expert who has discussed this.

Help?

Thanks!

[Emmaline]

...Really? No one?

I'm on my own, eh?

[elsewhen]

there are all sorts of things you might track, like ctr over time, ecpm over time... but i think for a site that is trying to maximize revenue, total revenue per visitor might be the most important.

remember, however, if you push too hard with ad placement and number of ad units, you might be turning off your users. and while they might click on an ad, they might not be likely to return (thereby hurting future revenues), and if your site its heavily laden with ads, webmasters might not be too willing to link to you. this will hurt your site's ranking in the future.

at the end of the day, there are many ways to optimize your revenue, but you still have to make a decision about how aggressive you want to go. there are several intangibles that will not show up in your analytics data.