problem with Adsense CTR ?

[eniac]

Hello,
my website's CTR was about 2.5%-3.5% for 3-4 months.
But,
1.78% september 5
1.63% september 6
1.06% september 7
1.34% september 8
1.23% september 9
0.46% september 10

Is there anybody experiencing the same problem?
I did not change anything on my website. Why is CTR decreasing?

Thanks

[PotteryCentre]

just to compare notes

my stats
2.03% september 5
2.21% september 6
1.74% september 7
2.36% september 8
2.20% september 9
2.06% september 10 (on going)

[koan]

Maybe one popular advertiser stopped a major ad campaign?

[ember]

My CTR dropped by 50% on September 1st and has not recovered. Thought it was the holiday weekend (U.S.), but now I do not know.....

[farmboy]

FYI, you guys might want to read the AdSense Terms & Conditions, especially number 7(b)


FarmBoy

[HuskyPup]

Something definitely happened on the 10th and today, 11th, things have gone totally pear-shaped for me.

[TamanRoyal]

9-10 was disaster.
9-11 looks like clickdump from yesterday, anyone?

[eniac]

it is still very bad in CTR :(

When did 336x280 Style change? ( for all web browsers )

[netmeg]

My CTR is way up, over last month and last year.

[shallow]

What is a good/average ctr anyway?

CTR has never been high at my site. It dropped even more, by about 1%, when my site was moved to WordPress a year and a half ago. Income dropped by 15-20%.

I hired a consultant and the recommended changes were made. The CTR increased again by about 1% and income returned to pre-WordPress levels. One of the recommendations was to center the leaderboard ad.

About three weeks ago, I added a small graphic in the leaderboard area; the graphic is on the left and the leaderboard is now positioned more to the right. It looks nice visually, but once again, CTR dropped; most days lower than it's ever been.

But this time income has remained the same or is a bit higher. I'm not sure if the increase is because advertisers are paying more now that the summer season is over (most of my site visitors are from the U.S.).

My question was to be if I should be concerned about the drop in CTR again. However, after reading this thread, perhaps there are other reasons than my adding the graphic next to the Leaderboard.

Any thoughts?

Thank you!

[BillyS]

FYI, you guys might want to read the AdSense Terms & Conditions, especially number 7(b)


FarmBoy

Right FarmBoy, clearly breaking those T&Cs.

And there is a way to talk about this topic without breaking the rules.

[eniac]

I think Leaderboard is not good with graphics. Many sites use it as text only.
If your ctr suddenly decreased, and you made changes afterwards, then back to date when it was good. And just wait and see for a week or so

[Lame_Wolf]

Many sites use it as text only.

Where did you get this info from ? Or is it just opinion ?

[shallow]

I think Leaderboard is not good with graphics. Many sites use it as text only.

You misunderstood. I have a small graphic next to the Leaderboard.

I have the Leaderboard set to Graphics and Text, which is recommended by Google.

[Scurramunga]

I have been seeing dramatic drops in CTR this year. My ctr is now about 60-70% below on what it averaged previously.

[I won't post my figures because it is against TOS]

[HuskyPup]

I think Leaderboard is not good with graphics.

I have some fantastic customised widget graphic ads that seem to pay extremely well.

[filbiz]

At first I thought there were some smart pricing going on when my CTR dropped on the Sept 10th and 11th up to now but it went back to normal yesterday but today the CTR dropped again. My traffic also went down a little bit on those days I mentioned and my hunch is, there is a little hiccup because my new post which I published on Sept 8 it was cached in the Google index but I can't view it because "it was not found" according to the search notification. I was only able to view it yesterday when I tried to see the indexed page again. So my theory is there was a delay in caching maybe because of the Google Instant release.

Traffic and CTR went normal again yesterday but now my CTR dropped again with the normal traffic. I catch one of my blog's ads having a very small font but when I refresh the page it went to my original setting, a medium size verdana font. Maybe it occurred three times on my different blogs. Do you think there is a glitch or some experiments going on?

[eniac]

I really have no idea why adsense behaves like that.

My CTR is still = Old Ctr / 8

I hope it will be good again soon

[HuskyPup]

The 10th and 11th were very odd days, the 12th was my lowest Page Impression day in ages but was ok with EPC and earnings, had this anything to do with Instant? Anyway, I seem to be back on track now with both Monday and Tuesday back to normal days.

[eniac]

Dear google, Please hear our voices. Many people suffer from whatever you did recently :(

[JasonDX]

Something definitely happened on the 10th and today, 11th, things have gone totally pear-shaped for me.

Well, it's 9/11. Maybe Bin Laden is in on it.

[Lame_Wolf]

Dear google, Please hear our voices. Many people suffer from whatever you did recently

A few people complaining in this forum doesn't make it "many people"

Some here - me included - are seeing an increase. No suffering here.

[eniac]

here is not english class!

[Lame_Wolf]

here is not english class!

My reply has NOTHING to do with an "English class"

You are making a claims that "many people" are seeing some kind of problem.

Count how many people have complained, then find out how many people have an Adsense account. And even then, how many people who have an Adsense account come here ?

Your earnings will go up as well as down. Get over it.

[BillyS]

Agree with Lame_Wolf - we've got our ups and downs, but the long term trend is pretty positive. I've yet to find a better program.

[nippi]

lamewolf. You are being unfair. Your "I've got no problem so you do don't position, is unhelpful. CTR dropping in the last 6 months for many publihers is being reported all over the web, if not so much here for some reason

eniac - might I suggest the following.


- Your website(s) are likely in a totally different category to Lame_Wolf.

- high earning categories such as finance websites do well with Google Certified Ad Networks, other sites may do poorly.

I suffered a 50% drop in ctr when Google Certified Ad Networks came in, took me ages to work out the problem. Found it, turned them off, ctr and income recovered.

Try turning Google Certified Ad Networks OFF.

Not saying this is your cureall, but plenty of people have suffered huge drops in ctr in the last 6-12 months, and this is one way that some people have fixed it.

[Lame_Wolf]

lamewolf. You are being unfair. Your "I've got no problem so you do don't position, is unhelpful.

Not unfair at all. I am not the type to beat around the bush, either.

All I am saying is, that adsense goes up and down. That's life. Shoot, I get bad days too, but take it on the chin.

In fact, my reply was very helpful. There are many reasons why money can drop. Have you looked at the world lately ? Recession, floods, seasons, etc.

People donate to causes are not donating or spending as much as they did. People are still losing jobs, so won't be looking to buy so much. The seasons can alter things too.

And what works for one site, doesn't for another.

Some will win, some will lose.

(BTW, I am not a big earner but happy with what I get).

[nippi]

OK, not unfair, just poor reasoning.

I am in Australia, and most of my sites are Australian. There is no recession here, in fact, our economy is booming. Virtually no unemployment, house prices are soaring as are incomes.

Yet adsense ctr dropped by 50% overnight earlier this year.

It would be foolish to put this down to a world wide economic phenomena and I didn't ever buy this argument. In my case it was GCAN.

Also in my case.... allowing image ads again has increased my income. Ye olde text blending? People are onto it I reckon and they know google ads, are ads. The ones who click on them these days... they usually know this. Many image ads these days are movie like and draw attention and I am finding them working for me.

Yes. Adsense goes up and down. But a pattern of dropping CTR is better dealt with early, than simply taking the that's life approach.

Not wishing to thumb my nose, but I'm a medium earner, with 5 staff working on adsense projects. We watch every rise and fall very carefully and chase reasons for them. This is not a sideline or a game for us, its our jobs.

[Lame_Wolf]

I am in Australia, and most of my sites are Australian.

But are your visitors ? and all of your adword customers ?

I had over a 50% drop April 1st last year. Lasted months. This was long before 3rd party adverts (which I have had turned off since the start).

Millions of $ have been given to Pakistan alone. That's millions that are not being spent elsewhere.

Okay, you're in Australia, but there's that beautiful rock called New Zealand not far from you. Just had an earthquake recently. That will affect things too.

The donations I receive are 90% down this month.

I only earn 1-2k a month with adsense.

Another reason could be the amount of crappy sites that are in it just for the money. I've seen an increase of sites that either have no real content, written by Johnny Weissmuller in his Tarzan era, flooded with adverts, and offer nothing/little to the visitor.

Clicks is one thing. Clicks that convert is another, and they seem to pay better.

[nippi]

92% of my visitors are Australian and as a result, so are my advertisers. I make almost nothing during the Australian night.

i run Australian specific business directories and target google.com.au.