CTR and traffic down the crapper

Double bonus!

[johnnie]

What's going on? Is everybody leaving the internet or something? Both CTR and traffic are tanking, even though my rankings are unchanged. Even social bookmarking traffic is way below average, so something big's going on. To add t the 'fun', my CTR is way below average as well; people seem to be less interested in my -unchanged- ad inventory.

I know I may be asking the obvious, but is this normal so close before the holidays?

[HuskyPup]

I know I may be asking the obvious, but is this normal so close before the holidays?

According to both my AdSense records and my own tracking analysis for several years this is more or less normal...for me!

FWIW many businesses in Europe are closing today until January 5th, I know of some that closed last week and, of course, there are those in the motor industry that have even longer close-downs on both sides of the Atlantic.

January 2009 will be interesting!

[JerryOdom]

I had my worst day of the month by far yesterday. However today things seem to be rebounding so I can't say.

[signor_john]

From now until early January, users will be exposed to Christmas, New Year's, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Epiphany, winter university breaks, business shutdowns, football Bowl Games, holiday parties, post-Christmas ski trips, and visits to Grandma's house.

In the 20 or so years that I've been online, December has always been slow. And in my sector, at least, there's always a huge leap in traffic and revenue immediately after New Year's. (Sometimes even on New Year's Day.)

[dataguy]

CPM has been normal for me up until this week, now every day is bringing record lows. I hope this isn't the start of online advertisers ending their Christmas advertising... if it is, January will be a bleak month.

[purplecape]

signor_john, a very good summary of the multiple distractions at this time of the year.

To think that some people actually spend days at a stretch away from the Internet! Don't they know they are supposed to be online, visiting our sites and clicking (selectively, of course) on our ads?

[OnlyToday]

My sector is heavy on typical gift items but also shopping for things used year around. In the years past I've seen strong numbers after Christmas and in January, I've always guessed it was people spending their gift cards online (not necessarily making the purchase online but doing the footwork). Also people check around to see what others paid for the gifts they received and may be shopping for returns.

This year I'm apprehensive about business after the holidays, but then I'm always apprehensive about business. This year IS different though, we know that.

edited for clarity

[edited by: OnlyToday at 8:47 pm (utc) on Dec. 19, 2008]

[johnnie]

'My' niche is in a specific type of amenities that tends to attract seasonal traffic. They are however items that have year-round demand and so I would expect volume to at least stay steady. On the other hand, there is definately no way they are going to be put under somebody's christmas tree... Guess people have different priorities now. The holidays are not good for everybody ;)

[markis00]

click through rate and eCPM way down....still getting same number of impressions...read previous posts and hoping it stabilizes after January....

every year on Adsense for me has meant more money at Christmas not less...I understand peoples ideaology and mode of thinking but this is irregular for me to be getting a worse paycheque at Christmas time. Maybe Adsense should had sent us those gifts to compensate after all.