Fallacy of AdSense Failing

insignificant sample size of complaints

[incrediBILL]

People are constantly saying AdSense is failing, going down the toilet, and of course everyone claims absolutely everyone is having these problems. The only thing is "everyone" is just the limited finite group of usual complainers constantly complaining which assumes the AdSense universe is only comprised of all of their complaining peers.

Have you ever wondered about the thousands or most likely millions of AdSense publishers out there that you never, ever, hear complain about AdSense?

We have people from WebmasterWorld like Markus Frind who make so much stink'n money [webmasterworld.com] you're more likely to read about them in a magazine article [inc.com] than bellyaching in a forum. I personally know a site making upwards of $50k/mo. but they won't be online chatting about whether it's going up or down either because it's chump change to them. Then you have a bunch of people that slapped up some website just to subsidize paying for mama's weekly box-o-smokes, bubbas beer, or someone thrilled they added anything to their income and just happy to see the extra money.

There's lots of people making money, but ask yourself why aren't they discussing AdSense?

Where are all the so-called AdSense gurus, why aren't they speaking out?

My guess is the AdSense gurus figured out long ago that the minute you tell someone how you're making money, a bunch of wannabes try to duplicate your site instead of doing their own thing. Some simply try to scrape the site to hopefully get a slice of that pie, buy knock off typo domains, anything and everything just to cut into someone else's income, therefore the common sense thing to do is simply keep your mouth shut. Who needs the grief of more competition when they try to simple help the community by showing them how to make an AdSense success story.

That's why I don't think you'll see those stories anymore, they're out there all over the place and they're keeping their mouths shut because of the sheer competitive nature of the internet.

The time for show-and-tell is long over.

[Lame_Wolf]

@Lame_Wolf

Good point...and what exactly is the goal of this thread?

Just read incrediBILL's posts, and it should become clear. :)

[map1]

there are some simple steps towards the big revenues and traffic,
follow the google webmaster guidelines, unique and fresh content,expand your targets, use part of your revenues to employ people, a single person is not enough for high traffic websites.

[cwnet]

Right!

OP says "show and tell is long over" and we all agree.

Again, what is the intend of this thread?

I understand that moderators need to start a thread once in a while to keep this forum alive but I am sure incrediBILL can come up with something better than this nonsense.

"If AdSense wanted a better reputation they wouldn't permit AdSense ads on any free web service of any sort which tends to attract people looking for webmaster welfare but Google wants just as much money as everyone else so all bets are off."

IncrediBILL's Random Rants: [incredibill.blogspot.com...]

[incrediBILL]

tell us why YOU do not share your secrets for sucess?

I think I've shared most, if not all, except my niche.

Start reading my threads starting from about 2005-2006 and you might learn something.

Besides, you don't have to know where King Solomon's Mines are in order to learn how to dig for your own gold and find your own mines. What good does it do for you to actually see King Solomon's Mines because at the end of the day that mine still belongs to King Solomon. However, they practically provide complete mining instructions, sometimes including maps to the gold, if you attend PubCon, you could even become a millionaire! [blog.seorevolution.com]. Much of the information most people need to succeed is available on WebmasterWorld yet people ignore it until someone puts it in a pretty PowerPoint.

What's the big deal of PubCon you might ask?

It's no sobfest of the AdSense downtrodden, it's networking with other positive people that know how to make money, AdSense or otherwise, that'll share information for others do the same. One or two perfect tips can turn into online gold within weeks if you listen and implement what you learn. [blog.seorevolution.com] Which is also true about the AdSense and Google SEO forums, but you have to read it and actually implement it before it'll work.

You don't even have to go to PubCon just to get a little networking help. I know some from this forum, myself and martinibuster included, have given people AdSense/SEO tune-up advice that asked for it in the past. Lately people seem afraid to ask for help or think there's nothing anyone can do to help their situation. However, not all sites and niches are created equally, some are what they are, already maximizing their potential. In such a situation some just keep tilling the same sandy soil while others get smart and move off to more fertile fields and start fresh.

What's stopping you?

Afraid to ask for help?

Stuck in a bad niche or bad site and afraid to move on?

Just don't know which way to go?

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and do something about it.

[netmeg]

The point of this item is to function as a small counteract to the overwhelming bitchfest in this forum about AdSense. Some of it justified, some not. Some of us have been doing well with it all along. That doesn't mean it's perfect, and we don't hesitate to bring it up when it isn't. But some of us are clear-headed enough to see it for what it is. And isn't.

Now, if I might ask, if you've dumped your AdSense and you're so successful with your direct advertising, then why are YOU here acting all spiky in the AdSense forum? Not that you don't have a right to be here, but if things are going so well, I wouldn't think our travails would be of much interest to you.

[coachm]

I think to have an intelligent conversation about adsense there needs to be a context, which always gets lost. Truth is that most people will earn nothing with their websites. Nothing on Twitter. Nothing on Facebook. Nothing on Affiliates....and so on.

And the majority of people will earn very little on adsense.

Perhaps the reason why the successes don't post is that...uh, they....uh...have better things to do than argue with people like Husky Pup about glitches, getting shafted and so on (and I only use him as an example because he posted on this thread, he's certainly part of the ongoing discussions and has a right to be).

Personally, I have more useful things to do than to argue with people, although I DO read the sections here that are more oriented towards helping and learning than arguing, but then again, I don't have much to add to those sections, so I just learn.

[indyank]

coachm, why don't you coach me on how you do it? :)

[robdwoods]

We might be getting slightly off topic but I have to agree with @incrediBILL. I have no affiliation with Pubcon but it's a fantastic show for networking and I've never failed to get great info from that networking on various topics including PPC. People are generally more forthcoming in a one on one conversation than in a public forum. If you see me at Pubcon Austin on a couple of weeks, introduce yourself. :o)

[SlyGuy]

As with anything in this world, the information is out there and in here (WebmasterWorld). The information is free - it only takes your time and determination to find it.

I tend to use my time researching, reading and measuring results. It's a much better use of my time than complaining and arguing. Stop waiting for someone to spoonfeed you the answer.

Want some free advice? Stop blaming Google for your woes and start figuring out how you can improve your website.

The AdSense Gurus are around - and in most cases - doing better than ever ;)

[Key_Master]

Some of us don't speak up because, quite frankly, we're not having the same issues others are having. Yes, there are good days and bad days but at the end of the quarter everything seems to even out. If there was a problem, I'd be kicking myself into gear to find out what I've done wrong or need to improve upon and then work hard to rectify the situation.

Also AdSense isn't the only game in town. If you can't monetize your site without AdSense (and do so successfully), then you are doing something wrong. Never put all of your eggs into one basket.

[iamlost]

I rarely respond to others' AdSense problems because I hate offering general solutions to specific problems. And I really am only confident speaking to what works for my sites in my niches.

Why? Because I know that there are niche differences: differences in advertisers: budgets, targets (including where in the sales cycle)... differences in visitors: demographics, referring origin, intent...

Over the last five or so years my traffic overall has more than tripled, while AdSense revenue has remained fairly static. But I am thrilled. Why? Because AdSense has gone from being 100% of ad revenue to about a third and from being on over 90% of pages to perhaps 20%.

A funny thing happened on the way to direct advertising: the remaining AdSense ads actually performed better. Much, much better. Why?

I believe it is in large part that I have become better at matching visitors to ads. Better at analytics, at attracting the visitor demographic breakouts most likely to find AdSense of value (for my niches), at traffic funnelling, at many things well beyond the usual advice when adding AdSense.

I am no guru, certainly not an expert; simply carefully read the posts here and elsewhere parsing carefully for actionable information, tested and analysed and tried again.

AdSense has been a solid revenue source for 7-years. While I do caution about Google, especially the all the revenue/traffic/data eggs in one basket fable, and do restrict crawling and indexing, I certainly consider AdSense to be a generally beneficial relationship. Having a near universal default revenue stream available is a good thing.

[Rockyou]

I understand that moderators need to start a thread once in a while to keep this forum alive but I am sure incrediBILL can come up with something better than this nonsense.

cwnet, incredibill is helping other people who are just giving away hope & showing them there is always a way. If you feel all this nonsense, then why don't you give something that make sense or shut your mouth.

[YieldBuild]

I believe AdSense is the strongest global ad network and it's taking share. AdSense still performs best in highly contextual environments with deep advertisers, but they are becoming better in low contextual environments with the addition of doubleclick exchange and invite media. We typically see major ad networks deliver about $1 in the US with a few exceptions that get up in the $1.50 range with some scale, but they don't come close to AdSense.

[HuskyPup]

@coachm...hmmm, should I say thank you?

Anyway, this post is geting quite long now and it's very obvious who the AdSense fanboys are simply because they seemingly have never had an unexplained slap-down from Google.

IF, IF, IF Google had ever written to me once and explained why my earnings were going to be halved overnight with a valid reason, fine, they have NEVER written to me ONCE about anything except a response with a canned message when I had told them about a click attack a few years ago.

Every AdSense Penny I have ever earned they have paid me, there has never been any query about that therefore why do these sudden cuts in earnings happen to some publishers overnight, continue for a while and then suddenly seemingly go back to normal a few weeks later?

These are flicks of switches or turns of knobs, nothing more, nothing less...yep, call them algo updates IF you want to believe it.

[coachm]

Husky, your response shows exactly why many of the pros simply can't be bothered anymore on these topics. I can't believe an adult business person is still at a stage where he divides up the world into "Adsense fanboys" and the "others".

I've said this before. If you ask the wrong questions, you waste your time. The right questions have to do with how one can do better business wise, and NOT, ohmygod why does google hate me, or what glitch is it this time, or all that stuff none of us can know or control.

You've been saying the same stuff for like 4 years, and heck, if it makes you feel good, ok with me. I don't have to read it. But if you wonder why the pros have, by and large moved on or just pop in, there ya go.

Oh. People like Netmeg and Incredibill and certainly others are really worth listening to, because they don't spend their time on trying to answer questions only God knows the answers to. They are the pros and I'm glad they've stuck around.

Doesn't it get tiring pointing it upwind all the time? Beware the...rising damp.

PS. I believe, quite strongly, actually, that the systems Google works with are so complex, THEY don't know the results or impact any action they take will have. They do TOT, test-observe-test and I think that accounts for a lot of the weirdnesses.

[incrediBILL]

IF Google had ever written to me once and explained why my earnings were going to be halved overnight with a valid reason, fine, they have NEVER written to me ONCE

If it's just a blip for a day or two, it's not statistically significantly to even bother asking about because world events, weather, advertiser budgets, and other things can easily account for random fluctuations.

However, if you lost 50% for over a week, did you write to AdSense and ask if there was a problem with your site or their algo?

I do.

More often than not they can either point to an issue for me to fix or find a recent change had unexpected results.

However, you'll never know if you don't ask and sitting around waiting for them to contact you, as we're a small insignificant blip on their very big radar, is a waste of time.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease, not the whiny wheel.

The right questions have to do with how one can do better business wise, and NOT, ohmygod why does google hate me, or what glitch is it this time, or all that stuff none of us can know or control.

Exactly. When people just sit around and let continuously declining AdSense revenue destroy their business when there are lots of alternative ways to monetize a site, then maybe it's time to find a different business.

[alika]

seemingly have never had an unexplained slap-down from Google.

I've experienced that. Lost 80% of Adsense revenue when Google penalized my site. It took me awhile to figure out that it was a traffic penalty for over-generous linking. It took me a whole quarter before I regained traffic back and increase my Adsense revenues again. It was painful to watch, and that was certainly the worst Christmas ever.

My point is when incomes are decreasing, there's always a reason. And a strategy out. Sometimes it is easy to understand the problem, sometimes you have to get help from others to find out the problem.

Sometimes it is easy to implement things to improve the income, sometimes you'll have to swallow a bitter pill -- whether finding other ways to monetize the site or focusing on other types of content.

I don't consider myself as a Google choir singer, but I am a firm believer that there's always a way, I just have to find it ...

[dibbern2]

seemingly have never had an unexplained slap-down from Google.

I've been slapped, and I learned alot from the experience. It was something I overlooked and would have never found in my old way of doing things. Looking back, I'm grateful for how it changed me.

I can't vouch for others, but I'll bet almost every successful businessperson in this group has had to learn from mistakes. You fall down, get up and brush yourself off, and get back to work.

[koan]

Lost 80% of Adsense revenue when Google penalized my site.

Seems to me it was a traffic problem unrelated to Adsense.

[alika]

Well, losing traffic made me lost 80% of my Adsense income. No amount of Adsense optimization could save me from the fact that I lost traffic. It was one of those days when you log in at a particular time expecting to see $X amount, only to see only 20% of X.

But it doesn't change the fact that many here have experienced significant decreases in Adsense, yet managed to find ways to bounce back.

And that's the point: there's always a solution to a problem

[netmeg]

Of course I've had drops. But my account performance is between me and Google, so I don't talk about it here, and I don't expect explanations anyway. Because I work so heavily on the advertising side (with some experience in domains as well) I maybe see all the considerations that go into determining the value of a click a little better.

[Petrogold]

@BillyS
I have more respect for you than those who does not want to share information. Then why this Forum? You are generous and lose nothing when spread your knowledge to others. Rather it increases your inner quality due to polishing well again and again by saying & teaching. I tried AS for the 9 years, did not make good money. So what? I learned a lot & could speak on it. And there is no end of AS or AW lessons you could tweak & test...

[Elsmarc]

One aspect I have not seen discussed in this thread is that some people are just better at doing web sites and making a living on the internet than others. Some people are good at selling cars. Some are not. Just like in school - Many people in the same class (for example math or chemistry) - Some students get A's and some flunk. They all have the same information available to them so it's not even a matter of whether information on how to do something is available. There are many "webmaster" sites on the internet, and thousands (tens of thousands?) of articles on what to do and how to do it. It doesn't matter. There are *no* secrets to tell. It's all out there if one looks for it. A last consideration is that something like 90% of all small businesses fail within 5 years. There's a reason for that, and it applies to web sites as well as small businesses.

[coachm]

Elsmarc, there are secrets but perhaps none of us actually know them to share. You are right of course that some people ARE better than others. But here's the thing. The way things are set up only a small percentage of people CAN "win". There isn't an infinite sized pie that grows. The pot of money is finite, and so only some percent of people will do well. Same in social media. Same in small biz.

BTW, those small biz stats are a myth. They reflect some problems with how "failed" is defined, and the numbers you think are failures, are not. They include businesses sold, or otherwise no longer being operated by the original people, and that's well, dumb. Lots of successful businesses have good exit strategies, and they get caught as "failures".

...erp...guess what one of my books is about...

[HuskyPup]

However, if you lost 50% for over a week, did you write to AdSense and ask if there was a problem with your site or their algo?

Well...this just goes to show how out of touch some people are!

An answer from Google? You've got to be frigging joking?

When I was in the USP Club I never had a rep unlike many around here, it is plainly obvious whose wheels Google are greasing.

This thread is utterly pathetic in its pomposity.