Stats Stuck Saturday 4-25-09 - Issue Resolved

ASA: Stats Issue Resolved

[AdSenseAdvisor]

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System: The following 11 messages were cut out of thread at: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google_adsense/3899181.htm [webmasterworld.com] by martinibuster - 2:04 pm on April 25, 2009 (utc -8)

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(Let's see if me and incrediBILL post at the same time again...)

I've just heard from our engineers that they should have the issue resolved in the next few hours. It'll take longer for your stats from this morning to catch up though, so you might want to make the most of your Saturday and wait until later to try checking your reports again. I'm sorry about the delay.

why is it not possible to post this stats-delays directly to our account? everytime this happens I have to check webmasterworld or other forums to look if everyone has this problem or just me!

Thanks HuhuFruFru, I've passed your feedback along.

[azlinda]

My CTR on AdSense Search has always been three times higher than it has been yesterday and today. I could count on that. Something funny is going on at Google for sure.

[VedranKovac]

Yesterday was my worst day since 8/2006. 3/2009 was my best month, yet my traffic is stable and steady. Go figure. Then, there is a discrepancy between urchin and AS impressions - yes, there are a couple of theories why this may be happening but still it's difficult to operate and react when I am not having an understanding of some of the core drivers of my business.

[newborn]

Ok officially today and yesterday were dramatically terrible!
I just disabled the User Based interest thing in my account. I can bet my bottom dollar that this was part of the problem.

Either that or something in adwords has gone awry!

[eeek]

I just disabled the User Based interest thing in my account. I can bet my bottom dollar that this was part of the problem.

I'm seeing PSA problems tonight. In addition on pages that define alternate ads instead of PSAs I'm getting blank areas instead of the alternates. Sigh.

[azlinda]

I believe the interest-based choice should be in the competitive ad filter, but I cannot find it there. I want to turn it off too. I've found that most of the ads in there are not things that my visitors would be interested in.

[Lame_Wolf]

I believe the interest-based choice should be in the competitive ad filter, but I cannot find it there.

adsense set up >> My account >> Interest-based Ads Preference

[WordsnCollision]

"I just disabled the User Based interest thing in my account. I can bet my bottom dollar that this was part of the problem."

Please keep us advised on the results!

[frakilk]

I have had the Interest-based advertising disabled since pretty much the beginning and I have seen lousy days. I don't think it makes a difference.

[m0thman]

I seem to be out of sync here. My Saturday was ok (ish), but my Sunday was dead in the water, lowest for about a year and today is looking to end up the same. Strangely though, Friday was very, very good. This craziness is most unsettling.

[mysticalsock]

As far as I know they've only rolled out Interest-based ads to a few selected publishers at the moment.

[Dave_Hybrid]

I still cannot believe how many people think disabling interest based ads gets them out of the system.

It works like this, as a user browses ALL adsense using websites data is collected, so when they hit your site that data on interests has all ready been collected and interest ads will show.

By opting out all you are doing is stopping your site from being used for the collection of data NOT for the display of interest based ads.

If you do not want interest ads showing on your site you need 100% of the adsense sites your traffic visits to opt out also, which is impossible.

[Dave_Hybrid]

Not to mention why would Google do this to lose money? Your bottom line is their bottom line. If it doesn't work they will be the first to know and drop the idea.

[frakilk]

By opting out all you are doing is stopping your site from being used for the collection of data NOT for the display of interest based ads.

Hmmm I beg to differ. The options in the account are:
- Show ads based on user interest categories
- Do not show ads based on user interest categories

Sounds clear to me.

[londrum]

hmmm. i'm wondering if that wording has changed. because i was under the same impression as dave_hydrid.

[ken_b]

Hmmm I beg to differ. The options in the account are:
- Show ads based on user interest categories
- Do not show ads based on user interest categories

But the AdSense Help [google.com] page says:

You can opt out of showing ads that are based on user interest categories (e.g. 'sports enthusiasts'). In turn, Google will not use visitation information from your sites to help create interest categories. However,

you cannot opt out

of showing ads to users based on their previous interactions with the advertiser, such as visits to an advertiser's website.

bolding added

It's just marketing spin to say "previous interactions" isn't the same as "interest based" in this case.

And remember, the "interest based ads" are based on the computer, not the human user.

So if Bob visits the online diamond shop and then his wife sees ads for anniversary diamond rings when she visits the grocery delivery site, well Bob had better have bought that diamond Anniversary ring for his wife, and not for his mistress. :)

[frakilk]

Never saw that before. Thanks ken_b. Apologies Dave.

ASA, could you possibly clarify it a bit more for us?

[Erku]

are the stats stuck or the earnings are never-seen-below low levels despite same traffic?

[HuskyPup]

are the stats stuck or the earnings are never-seen-below low levels despite same traffic?

Hmmm...it looks like I'm in uncharted territory, my EPC is holding however CTR is very low. My feeling is that they've changed something click related again and now we're suffering the pain of it.

Then again maybe no one wants my widget ads even though the ones I see are absolutely as normal!

This is easily heading for my worst month of 2009, I'm estimating some 20% down from January-March, at what point do I decide to remove the code?

If G were open with us and admitted however much traffic and CTR levels were down then I could live with it and take what's there, however total silence combined with unexplained downtimes and obvious data losses makes me feel very uneasy about their integrity.

[newborn]

I second that... not to mention that opting out this morning has resulted in a 30% increase in earnings over yesterdays earnings .... and it is just 1/2 of the day gone.

And its not the weekend blues my network has a good mix of sites that keep daily earnings at a respectable level.

[jmccormac]

Looks like the stats are borked again.

Regards...jmcc

[mysticalsock]

If G were open with us and admitted however much traffic and CTR levels were down then I could live with it and take what's there, however total silence combined with unexplained downtimes and obvious data losses makes me feel very uneasy about their integrity.

Totally agree!

[cristi451]

hear, hear!

[adamxcl]

I was invited to be in the interest based program. It is starting with only a few premium advertisers and publishers. I don't think it should be hitting us all yet.

[snowrunner]

I think the interest based deal will be better for the sites that don't really have well targeted content on the page so G can serve up ads that *may* get clicked on.

I opted out though cause I'm sure someone seeing golf ads on my interior design site will be less than pleased and may find it abit creepy...they may even think I am the one doing this!

Now I see that you *really* can't opt out..? Jeez.

And I too am also pretty concerned with lowering CTRs and earnings though I rank very well for alot of my pages.
I keep thinking that there must be less advertisers now but the targeting seems to be ok when I do random checks.

Just don't know what to think and would also love more input from G.

[mysticalsock]

Perhaps a moderator could split some of the posts from this topic into a new thread called "Google we want to know what's happening"

[jmccormac]

Wonder what today's excuse is? We really need more information from Google.

Regards...jmcc

[HuskyPup]

When I finished last night I thought it was going to be another really low day however this morning I had a very pleasant surprise...a completely normal 2009 Page Impressions, EPC, CTR earnings' day.

There must have been a lot of blocked tubes from the weekend or, I'm beginning to wonder, are weekends just becoming really bad for me? It seems strange after so many years of 65-80% of weekend averages to suddenly reduce to 50%.

Surely G could clarify whether they too are seeing reduced traffic/earnings to put our minds at rest? After all, they do have the overall metrics and it would surely dispel a lot of speculation if they are seeing similar.