Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I am one of those people that have seen their earnings plummet since the onset of May. For some reason my CTR halved practically overnight. It has not recovered since. The ad inventory is unchanged, as are the ad colors. I am getting many new visitors (~80%), and traffic is beter than it has even been.
What is going on here? Is adsense goofing up on me?
Everything is exactly same as before (I absolutely didn't change anything, and traffic is better than ever), but CTR halved overnight.
SO WEIRD!
For some reason my CTR halved practically overnight.
That's a pretty big drop. It might be helpful if you'd share some basic information, such as:
1) Type of site (editorial content site, forum, e-commerce site, or...?).
2) Number and placment of AdSense ad units.
3) Topic (in a general way--e.g., "finance," "automotive," "B2B").
4) Type of traffic (mostly new visitors, mostly repeat visitors, or lots of both?).
5) Have there been any other changes of note in the past fet weeks, such as your page design or search referrals and rankings?
We'll all be guessing even if you do supply more information, but at least we'll be making educated guesses.
I am getting many new visitors (~80%), and traffic is beter
These two things could account for a pretty big prortion of the drop in CTR.
By traffic do you mean unique visitors, include repeat visitors, or do you mean an increase in page views?
A spike in repeat traffic can easily lead to a drop in CTR. An increase in page views per visit can do the same thing.
And has there been any change in the source of the traffic?
Sometimes a switch in traffic sources can be hard to spot because you might not be looking for it. A drop from one source and an increase from another can mask the change. So if those new visitors are from a new source, even if they are from a spike in the serps for some longtail term, it can make a huge difference quickly.
1) Type of site (editorial content site, forum, e-commerce site, or...?).
2) Number and placment of AdSense ad units.
3) Topic (in a general way--e.g., "finance," "automotive," "B2B").
4) Type of traffic (mostly new visitors, mostly repeat visitors, or lots of both?).
5) Have there been any other changes of note in the past fet weeks, such as your page design or search referrals and rankings?
INCREASE IN TRAFFIC: There may only so many higher-paying contextual ads to go around, and if your traffic increases faster than the supply of good ads, you may be getting a higher percentage of lower-paying or less relevant CPC ads, or a higher percentage of lower-paying CPM ads.
INCREASE IN "LONG-TAIL" TRAFFIC SPECIFICALLY: You said rankings have dropped a bit for your major keyword but have soared across the long tail. In theory, at least, this could mean lower average earnings per click, because a two- or three-word phrase like "chocolate iced doughnuts" probably doesn't fetch as much as a keyword like "doughnuts." (You didn't say anything about EPC, and you said that earnings went down before the rankings shift, so maybe this possibility isn't relevant.)
I should however wait and see how this will hold up. I'll keep you posted.
BEWARE OF GOOGLE THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF
BEWARE OF GOOGLE THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF
It sounds like Google is trying to protect its advertisers from being ripped off. That may not be good news for you (and it's obviously annoying if you've done nothing wrong), but Google may have legitimate reasons for its decision, such as an unusually high number of clicks that aren't converting or are seen as unlikely to convert for advertisers. And as Johnnie says, you'll probably be paid the monies that are owed you as long as Google doesn't have reason to suspect click fraud.
Google is hard up for money
No they're not!
Nonetheless sorry to here of your predicament and good luck.
