Forum Moderators: martinibuster
If so, when did you start noticing the drops in clicks?
Mine are down about 20-30 percent from last year, even though traffic to my site has increased slightly.
Thank you.
For just one example, that might happen at the end of the month when an ad budget runs out.
Traffic sources can also make a big difference in CTR. Get a pile of traffic from some social media sites, forums, etc and you might well end up with a bunch of visitors who are unlikely to click on ads.
On a long term drop in CTR, I'd look at any changes I might have made on the site. I'd also look at my organic SE traffic to see if the referring search terms had changed much.
I can pinpoint the exact day my click-rate dropped. A dramatic drop, imho.
I had my site totally redesigned by a competent web developer. In addition, a Google Adsense team member looked at the ad layout, gave input and advice and basically gave it a thumbs up.
The CTR significantly dropped precisely one day after the launch of the redesigned site. March 18th. It sticks out in my stats like a sore thumb.
I was warned to expect a drop in income and traffic after the site redesign. But the click rate just doesn't make sense to me (I'm actually getting slightly more per click than last year and my traffic is about +/- 10% higher than last year).
Because of the drop in clicks, my income for July will be down 24% from last year. Ouch.
I'm not a web designer or developer, just a person who writes about a subject I love. I'm totally dependent on others to do even the most minor things at my site.
I guess there is nothing I can really do. From a monetary standpoint, I'm sorry I had the site redesigned now.
On the brighter side, average earnings per click for July, 2009 are up a whopping 57% over last July, so eCPM--the number that really matters, along with total earnings--is down only 5.5% compared to the same month last year. If I had to guess, I'd say that readers are less quick to click than they were in 2008 (probably because of the economy), forcing advertisers to compete more aggressively for leads.
Not a good summer. Maybe it will pick up in the fall.
Very interesting.
In my case, AdSense ads are located in the best spots. Other than a very few associate ads, most of the space on my site goes to AdSense. And, the best performing ones are often below the fold with above the fold ads a close second.
greatstart, as I mentioned, my traffic has increased and is about 10% higher than this time last year.
HMMM, I just thought of something.
Because most of the ad sizes were smaller in my previous site layout, it showed very few display ads. Now display ads show more than text ads.
Could this be the problem?
I see many people in these forums asking if their income is down, but my question is if your click rate is down?
Is it bouncing around. Reasons?
a) Reducing click area made a HUGE impact. If it represented "value for money" for Advertisers then that change was very good.
b) Ad blindness? A legitimate recurring factor.
c) Introducing flash / graphic ads which may not fit well with your site's audience.
D-U-M-B
If so, do you attribute it to the bad economy?
Absolutely not. Convincing Americans and Brits with their dumbed down laissez-faire ecomomies that the world has ended may be more than somewhat harder.
Google ads in the right-hand corner of my site (above the fold) on a number of category pages don't display for long times, and then may a few hours later; then they don't display again.
My web developer in a different country than I can't see the ads either though the ad code is in the page source.
I have not exceeded the number of Google ads allowed on a page, so this is not the problem.
I just emailed my contact at Google, but if anyone here has suggestions I'd appreciate it.
I hope there is a solution, as the unrealistically large drop in income is really hard to take especially when I know it need not be this way.
Thank you.
If ads don't display, there is nothing to click on.
There is a problem on Google's end with the feeding of ads at my site.
1) Economy.
2) Adsense blindness.
We know for certain, because we have not changed ("optimized") ad layout or content for some time now; the last significant change happened long before the economic crisis began.
Before the economic crisis, CTR was steadily but very slowly declining. It seemed to have settled between 1.0% to 1.2% and became quite solid. We attribute Adsense blindness (and changes on Google's way to count clicks) to this decrease.
This changed in September/October 2008 dramatically. Quiute abruptly CTR declined further, to 0.7% to 0.8%; since then, we never reached the former 1.0% to 1.2% again. We think that the economy is the cause. We can pinpoint the beginning of the decrease, and we have confirmation from our 3rd party click-tracker that was 100% in line with the reductions the Google account was displaying.
(Note: While CTR reductions appear to be caused by the economy, we think that the eCPM changes we are experiencing might not only be caused by the economy. Here, we believe that Google is taking an additional portion of the pie, just because "they can". Intransparency is beautiful, isn't it?)
Here, we believe that Google is taking an additional portion of the pie, just because "they can".
If that's the case, AdSense CPC must be skyrocketing, at least for the publishers whose net earnings per click have climbed by more than 50 per cent since this time last year.
Is that Google taking part of the pie?
I realize there are other reasons why people may be clicking less on ads. But I'm now convinced that Google has a technical problem with ads showing at my site, perhaps other sites as well.
And never recovered. I ended up restoring the old design. CTR shot right back up
I find that mind boggling. I don't doubt what you say but it seems ludicrous.
publishers whose net earnings per click have climbed by more than 50 per cent since this time last year
I'm sure there must be some but I'm certainly not among them.
My situation is probably a bit different from others as I just changed the design of my site from a static html site to a dynamic CMS based site. It looks great and is infinitely better for human visitors, but apparently not good for Adsense.
Now I have to decide whether to stomache the 60% drop in income and stick with the new design, or revert back to the old site which earned much better. I am not a fan of Google right now. It shouldn't have to be like this.
I'm not a web designer or developer...
You don't have to be - I'm certainly not.
There was a thread a while back about the ages of many of the regulars on this board. Many of us were out of high school/college long before any type of computer education was common - and that certainly includes any web design instruction.
I suggest acquiring some type of WYSIWYG software and take control of your site yourself. It will open a lot of doors for you.
FarmBoy
March CTR 2%
Now CTR 4%
Sept CTR Hoping for 6% or better
Totally recession.
Can't click on an ad and buy something if you anint got no money!
Can't click on an ad and buy something if you ain't got no money!
That's very, very true, but you can still click on the ad to browse.
It's kind of like walking into a department store and not buying anything.
Who walks into a department store without the intent of buying? People researching a product have the intent to buy. I suspect there are many people without intention of buying because they can't pay their mortgage, are unemployed, and have children to clothe and feed. They have bigger worries than browsing Macy's to see how much sweaters are selling for these days.
Why would anyone choose to spend their spare time walking the aisles of a department store when they have no money to buy anything? Not only is that a waste of time being there, it's a waste of money to drive there.
Why would an unemployed person surviving on unemployment benefits browse? These people are losing their homes. I'm currently on the east coast of the U.S. and everywhere I drive, literally every block I drive through I see FOR SALE signs. This is the same back in the SF Bay Area. Every block I drive there are FOR SALE signs. I've never seen anything like this in the nearly half century I've been alive. That is A LOT of people losing their homes. They have children to feed. Many are facing the prospect of their unemployment benfits running out. How are they going to make ends meet?
Why would they be browsing, especially when there is no intent, much less the means, to buy?
As mentioned, right-hand column Google ads are not displaying for eight of the 48 main categories.
I will start another thread to focus on the technical aspects of this problem. Hopefully, I can get some advice so the ads will display as they are on all other pages.
Nonsensical as it is, the spirit of Yogi's quote still rings true. Things ain't what they used to be in AdSense land either.
[edited by: Play_Bach at 12:14 pm (utc) on Aug. 2, 2009]
I've also seen duplicate copies of my home page show up in the Google serps, could this have something to do with it? I understand this is a common problem with CMS, but still haven't found the correct way to resolve it.
Has anyone found a good solution for this. I tried using a 301 redirect to root (/) but it creates a continuous loop and the site doesn't function properly. I've also read that Google is aware of the issue and doesn't penalize sites for it, but I can't imagine it's a good thing either.
Why would they be browsing, especially when there is no intent, much less the means, to buy?
If that's the case then shouldn't page views be down, rather than CTR? It's kind of like saying, why are they on my site at all if they can't afford the goods?
I tried using a 301 redirect to root (/) but it creates a continuous loop and the site doesn't function properly.
You might want to check your code for that in the Apache forum and get some help there. The looping shouldn't happen.
I started my site about six years ago using WYSIWYG software, FrontPage. As my site grew in size beyond anything I ever imagined, it became unmanageable. So someone recommended a Content Management System and I paid for the site to be redeveloped. We decided on Coranto, but it was a bloody nightmare. I was miserable for two years, then had it redeveloped in WordPress.
I have spent thousands of dollars for each redevelopment, not to mention thousands of hours I personally put in moving hundreds of pages of content and thousands of graphics into these CMS systems. I survived this arduous process two times.
I have not kept up with the ways of the web, in fact I never really knew that much about them because I could accomplish what I need back then with FrontPage and my very limited understanding of HTML. I know nothing about CSS or any other web stuff.
I don't want to be a web manager or developer. All I want to do is write content about a subject I love. I am more than willing to pay a competent web developer for work when needed.
I live in a house and can take care of basic things, but I don't know how to build it or fix internal workings when they go wrong. That's how it is with my website.
I am too old to start learning web stuff. But I would like to continue to make a reasonable amount of money for my efforts. I have been doing this long enough to know there will be fluctuations in monthly income, but what's happening at my site now is most likely preventable and I find it unacceptable. It needs to be fixed.
My goal is to simply to find out what may be at the root of the problem now that it has been discovered. I am hoping there is a solution that my web developer can fix.
Not neccessarily. Think it through. Here's an example: DIY home repair niche.
