Adsense Publishers suffering huge cut down

This analysis a really an eye opener

[Rockyou]

This quarter many great publishers have lost their earning with adsense, Some even report they are getting 10% of what they use to get a year earlier, So where is the money going?,

what is our future with adsense? I can guarantee you, next quarter majority of the adsense publisher will earn less & less because of the greedy, Selfish attitude of Google, Now wait a minute i have stats to prove it.

During 2010 Google sites revenue growth was equal to, or smaller than, growth by its partner sites:

- In Q1 2010 Google sites grew 20% and partner sites grew 24%
- In Q2 2010 Google sites grew 23% and partner sites grew 23%
- In Q3 2010 Google sites grew 22% and partner sites grew 22%
- In Q4 2010 Google sites grew 22% and partner sites grew 24%

- In Q1 2011 Google sites grew 32% and partner sites grew 19%

Google has not offered an explanation for the large difference in growth rates following a long period of parity.

If partner sites had maintained their near lockstep relationship with Google sites, they would have boosted their revenues by as much as $214 million in the most recent quarter.

If this continues in 2011 publisher could miss out on nearly $1 billion in revenues.

Why would Google sites grow so much faster than partner sites in Q1?

What happened in Q1 that Google partner sites lost their growth momentum?

It’s a massive 68% difference in revenue growth rates when for all of 2010 Google sites never grew faster than partner sites.

Source:zdnet

[Lame_Wolf]

This quarter many great publishers have lost their earning with adsense

Based on what ?

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Interesting, those figures strongly suggest Google is filtering users towards their own properties. Perhaps showing 5-6 results from one site immediately below a lot of Google listings (sponsored, places, maps, news, shopping etc) really is detrimental to the average sites revenue. Your choices include all of the Google's options first vs that one site you don't want to visit x6 on page one above the fold.

In many cases only one or two publisher sites are able to be shown on page one above the fold so maybe those figures aren't surprising afterall.

[CMidd]

i been preaching this for a year and a half now.

I'm in a travel niche and a entertainment niche and i have seen two instances of what i call Google traffic Hi-Jacking twice.

First: Travel Niche.

My keyword has nothing to do with Travel at all. It's about a event where travel is needed. For years the SERP only showed organic sites "Mine at number two". About a year ago i noticed a drop in traffic and bookings, I check the SERPs and guess what was top of all search results?

Google Places "i.e. Hotel booking engine disguise at a map"

Ads for Hotels were being showed for a totally non hotel booking keyword! How did Google know our Keyword Related to Hotel Bookings? From crawling Our Sites " Me and my Competitors"
Now Hotel ads dominate our SERP.

But it's cool for me, I use alternate Strategy to capture my visitors "Facebook", and I dis-credited Google Places results "alerting people at the top bidder, not best hotel is rank better", and created my own places map with on my site and my bookings are now higher.

Second situation.

In my entertainment niche again, only sites that were shown where 10 organic results for me and my competitors site "my site was number 3".

about 1 year ago my traffic dropped big time. Check the search and guess what was number 1, 2, and 3? Youtube videos.

In my keyword a long tail with little search is Keyword + videos, but Google took it upon it's self to place 3 Youtube video "all mostly unrelated" at the top of the SERPS, and guess what showed on and around those videos? The same Ads that showed on me and my competitors site.

I handled that situation by publishing all 3 video one my own site some and Facebook and different sites so that possible searcher who would see the video "have already seen them on my site and igrone them" This also worked.

I also ripped the videos "non copyrighted, and ask uploader permission", and uploaded them to my site, using amazon cloudfront, with adsense and built back links to out rant the Youtube videos.


As an adsense publisher you had better realize YOU ARE IN COMPETITION WITH GOOGLE! it might not be now, but Google is making attempts to enter all high value keyword niche markets. Travel was the first hit, and peoples earnings are a faction of what they once where.

I know one publish who had a site dedicated to a small city. great domain, great content. He Worked with directly with hotels to sale ad space, and it was basically the authoritarian guide to that city "I know because i competed with him". Google stepped in with places, and he earnings are gone "mine too". People hit places before they even see his site.

Act Accordingly.

[Play_Bach]

Back in 2006, I started seeing Froogle listings (remember them?) displacing the top positions and wrote about it here:
[webmasterworld.com...]

Whether people like it or not, this is Google's search engine and they're free to do as they please. That includes using the best spots on the page for their ads and properties. C'est la vie.

[Leosghost]

I also ripped the videos "non copyrighted, and ask uploader permission", and uploaded them to my site,

You are saying you ripped off other peoples videos ( used copyright videos without permission and removed the copyright notices ) to use on your site..? to run adsense around them ?

[netmeg]

I would hardly expect them to do anything else.

[ron15]

You can be almost be assured that someone in the Google boardroom has made a statement similar to: "every search click going to a non-Google site is money lost".

Imagine a statement like that back when they were thinking up stuff like: "do no evil". How money corrupts.

I would argue that every search made on Google, is a vote for the end of your own well being.

[zdgn]

because of the greedy, Selfish attitude of Google

So Mr G is monetizing and improving their own website, just like all of us here on this forum, by adding more content and placing... gasp... ads! :-)

[CMidd]

You are saying you ripped off other peoples videos ( used copyright videos without permission and removed the copyright notices ) to use on your site..? to run adsense around them ?

No i ask the person who uploaded the video to youtube if could i share the video on my site "user created videos". I download the videos and uploaded them to my site, and hosted them from my site with adsense.

I call this my Youtube Compete and i used it a few time after youtube tried to take over my SERP".

find videos related to your niche. Find the best of the best video.Ask permission from the person who uploaded to use them on your site "9 times out of ten they will say ok". Download them, Host them on your own site "not youtube embedded" and make money using Adsense. If a video can get 200,000 view on youtube, it will probably build hundreds if not thousand of backlinks for you, and generate a ton of clicks.

Another sweet tip is to create an alert for video within you niche. "That way the moment a video is upload you get an alert" view the video to see if it's any good. If it is, ask the uploader "hey, cool vid, can i share the on my site", almost all the time they will say yes, Rip the video, upload it to your site, and blast it to a all of your networks "Fan page, Email list, front page of website, etc"

You effectively beat Youtube to the punch, and bring views "and ad clicks" to your site, and as people share it, they share your version not youtube. Flowplayer is a free video player, and amazon can show 1,000 small video view for less then $1.00, but CTR on Video is sky high. But i wouldn't use this on a site that just full of videos.

[CMidd]

So Mr G is monetizing and improving their own website, just like all of us here on this forum, by adding more content and placing... gasp... ads! :-)

This would be true if Google created content


Google doesn't create content, it indexes it "ie use other peoples".

Second Google content doesn't have to rank based on quality, it can put it's own Low value content before any search results, and redirect traffic to it's own site. Traffic that was meant for organic Results.

Third, we all as webmaster gave Google Full access to our products "websites" and now Google is creating competing products after having full view of our Products, Customer, Visitors, and Financials. How do you think Google is even able to price/ rank keyword?

REMEMBER GOOGLE WITH OUT US "PUBLISHER" IS A BIG SEARCH OF NOTHING! PEOPLE GO TO GOOGLE TO FIND US "OUR SITES"! WE GAVE GOOGLE ACCESS TO OUR SITE BECAUSE THEY SAID THEY WOULD "DO NO EVIL".

Creating competing site after having full disclosure of our sites is Evil. Maybe we should start making Google sign a Robots Non Disclosure/Non Compete agreement to index our sites LMAO.

[edited by: CMidd at 8:02 pm (utc) on Apr 19, 2011]

[CMidd]

For everyone that feeling the pinch, the goal is not to complain about what's Google is doing, it to take action.

Don't let google hi jack your traffic. Realize that in your niche Google is an competitor, and out beat that competitor.

tips I learn:
Facebook, neglect adsense clicks "temporary" to build Fan page of your visitors.
Tell buyers the truth about Adsense in SERPs "Highest bidder is ranked as the best" - Counter that "Show that you offer the Best without influence"
If google is adding value using a certain system create you own. Map you own maps and add more value then Google. Create your own video section, Create you own news Section, etc. Google model is based on Copying us, Copy them. If they create a new feature, you create a niche version of it, and push it out to you network.
Diversify you Traffic
Tell user to Bookmark, connect with you, and even offer some type of prize or business "youd Gol being to get them from being Dependant on Google when finding you"
Consider partnering with a app that give you placement.

Their are a ton of possible options, but realize like the previous person said, Someone in Google is thinking "Every click sent is lost money for us".

Google might not create every product, they may buy them, and put them above all organic results.

[wyweb]

the goal is not to complain about what's Google is doing, it to take action.

A bright spot if ever I saw one.

I'm just trying to figure out the action. Panda has some folks, myself included, completely stumped.

[wyweb]

@CMidd

Don't let google hi jack your traffic. Realize that in your niche Google is an competitor, and out beat that competitor.

Now you're losing me.

Google has no authority or ability to be on my sites unless I let them. If I don't want them there, I can keep them off and I can do it in several ways. I can keep you off my sites too. We all know how to do that.

What is the purpose of that though? What am I gaining -vs- what I'm sure to lose?

I want you on my site and I want Google there too.

Google is not my competitor. Think of Google as a piimp bringing you one of his girls at 2:00 am in a hotel room in downtown Vegas. You've gotta pay the guy. If you don't they're gone and you're left alone watching cable TV and maybe even wishing you'd stayed home. With your wife. And your children.

I don't compete with Google. They pay me for a relationship. I pay them buy allowing my sites to be listed in their directory. They're thinking they can give their users a better experience by letting some of my sites rank higher than others.

You're my competitor if we're both selling green plexi-glass widgets. You're the one I'm worried about. Not the one that's paying my bills.

And how exactly would you "out beat" them anyway?

^{fixed typo. I can't type.}

[edited by: wyweb at 11:09 pm (utc) on Apr 19, 2011]

[celgins]

As others have noted, if Google is ranking high in those top spots based on the same algorithm we're all subjected to, or if they are placing their links there manually--they own the site and the search engine--whether it's fair or not.

I wouldn't expect them to do anything else either.

[bramley]

CMidd has given out lots of good ideas in a few threads recently. Problem is, they're a lot of work to do (well)

[Lame_Wolf]

Google doesn't create content, it indexes it "ie use other peoples".

Correct. That is what a search engine does. Bing, Yahoo, Ask etc all do the same. If you don't like it, then block them. Survive on the web without a search engine presence.

[Lame_Wolf]

No i ask the person who uploaded the video to youtube if could i share the video on my site "user created videos". I download the videos and uploaded them to my site, and hosted them from my site with adsense.

I call this my Youtube Compete and i used it a few time after youtube tried to take over my SERP".

find videos related to your niche. Find the best of the best video.Ask permission from the person who uploaded to use them on your site "9 times out of ten they will say ok". Download them, Host them on your own site "not youtube embedded" and make money using Adsense. If a video can get 200,000 view on youtube, it will probably build hundreds if not thousand of backlinks for you, and generate a ton of clicks.

And when you ask them, I take it that you give them the whole story, and that you will be making money from their hard work... or do you leave that bit off ?
Just curious.

[Rockyou]

Google is your partner & competitor, Anyone talking Google is not your competitor is misleading, Can you explain me why there is only cut to publisher?

No of ways how Google can make your earnings sick

1. Give you untargetted ads, So People click & convert only at google.com or other countries extension.

2. If you are using other network ads, put you a penalty like panda and make your life miserable. So no other network survives against adsense. Publishers always be slave to its system. Which Google can manipulate according to its will.

3.Putting so many ads on SERP unfairly, So 80% people click only ads & even if a user some how enter a website through organic traffic, they are already the ones who are fed up with those ads. So they don't click and so earning of a publisher takes a steep dive.

I will invite adsense advisor come publicly & say against me if i am saying anything wrong.

[incrediBILL]

- In Q1 2011 Google sites grew 32% and partner sites grew 19%

Another way of looking at this is that Google sites previously grew about 22% per quarter and maybe part of the increase is from Panda, whether intentional or not.

- Panda hits and possibly hurt partner sites by -5% or more now attributed to Google sites

- Webmasters in a Panda panic, after reading too many ads above the fold could result in a Pandalty, dump all ads on their sites, more partner site income vanishes.

- Google starts heavily promoting local places in the top 10, local places don't tend to run AdSense, partner sites lose even more

- Google sites, now with less partner site ad placement locations available, results in bidding increasing to jockey for position on Google sites.

Simple changes in the shifts of supply and demand caused by changes to the Google UI and algo, whether it was intentional or not.

The fact that the AdSense team was rapidly reaching out to Panda victims when the AdSense income vanished makes it obvious the impact on the partner sites wasn't a team effort.

Can you explain me why there is only cut to publisher?

Still waiting for proof there was any cut to publisher.

Best I can tell we still get paid the same percentage and if you have the traffic you can still earn like a bandit, getting that traffic back from the changes I outlined above is the problem.

The question you should really be asking is why is Google promoting their content above our content?

Those Google places and other specialized results pushing sites out of the top 10 are your enemy, not AdSense.

[Lame_Wolf]

If you are using other network ads, put you a penalty like panda

There is no proof in that statement. Please do not spread ideas as facts.

[CMidd]

CMidd has given out lots of good ideas in a few threads recently. Problem is, they're a lot of work to do (well)

Yes it is, because we as publishers are separated. I thinking of creating a set of tool/templates or maybe even a guide to help publisher beat Google at their own game.

* In house Niche Places Maps
* In house Niche Video Hosting
* Best Practices to counter SERP Hi Jacking
* Compete Strategies to Beat Google to your Searcher

All Free Ofcourse.

And when you ask them, I take it that you give them the whole story, and that you will be making money from their hard work... or do you leave that bit off ?

Honestly no i don't. The way way Youtube earns off of their video i earn. I host the video which i pay to host, and i pay amazon bandwidth cost for each video viewed. If the person would like to negoiate a profit sharing arrangement i would be more then open to it. In my niche, the video aren't studio produced, just video captured with cell phone camera or regular point and shoots, that the user wants to share with the member of that niche. Only problem is when it come to video sharing the only way most people think is possible is Youtube, so that's where the go first.

I also put a note under each video "If you have a cool Word friendly video you want to share, upload it to YouTube, and email it to me" and i have receive a few request to host videos on my site.

Unlike Youtube, all of the videos are reviewed by me "no spam disguised as the video you want", I don't post junk "no crappy video". My ad are below the video "not put over top of the video you're watching", and i don't force 15 second commercial before you watch the video. People are happy, my video give their video more exposure then just sitting on the 5 page of Youtube Search Results. I also publish the video to over 30k + members on Facebook, and 8k email list and feature it on my home who receive a ton of traffic.

Don't gt it twisted, i used to use Youtube exclusively for my own videos within this niche "I have since remove them" and after hundred of thousands of view I haven't receive a dime "these were professionally edited video by me". Since moving my video to my site with ads, i make a killing.

Something else i also add to the video is what i call "In This Video"

When something, or some place is Mention/shown in the video I highlight it at the bottom and have an affiliate link pointing to it.

If someone mentions a location, hotel, etc i put a link to it "not all affiliate links", and these perform like crazy. I literally sold out 40% of a hotel from a single video of a party taking place at that hotel.

sample:
In This Video:
Las Vegas "Aff Link", Holiday Inn @2:32 "Aff Link", Planet Hollywood @3.49 "Non Aff Link", Blue Men @5:32 "Aff Link" etc

So i actually help people watching the video find what they are looking forward, avoid spam, find the best videos.

I help the uploader get his video out to the people who he wanted to reach for free.

Sounds like a fair trade off.

[Play_Bach]

> Sounds like a fair trade off.

Not to me it doesn't.

[CMidd]

Play_Bach

They wouldn't earn a dime with Youtube, and the same ads would show.

[CMidd]

not everybody uploading a video is trying to make a profit. they just want to share scenes from their vacations.

I did the same, and one of my video had 50,000 views.

wasn't until i started a site in that niche did i realize the earning potential. god know how much i earned for Youtube with that video.

That same video on my site earned $5k, with only about $40 in hosting fee.

Ok, I'm about to start a profit sharing system starting next week.

30/70% split on ad revenues for all video with a $10 processing fee to host their video, and $0.30 per month hosting fee. "my cost time to setup the video, and amazon hosting fee"

The person gave me permission to share their video, and most have already been to my site, or are members of Facebook group.

[edited by: CMidd at 5:04 pm (utc) on Apr 20, 2011]

[martinibuster]

Source:zdnet

Here's a link to a source for stats under discussion [siliconvalleywatcher.com].

Here's a link to the ZDNet article [zdnet.com] quoted in the original post.

[edited by: martinibuster at 6:36 pm (utc) on Apr 20, 2011]

[walkman]

The real money is in US and EU, both places have reached the peak of internet usage. So how you improve earnings to the tune of 20% plus a quarter if you are Google, especially if Bing and FB are breathing down your neck? Google cannot afford to screw up not even for one quarter, contrary to widespread belief. Page and Sergey may own most of voting stock but if the stock crashes they will have virtually all their employees pissed off and demanding higher salaries.

Nothing personal, Goog is becoming like Ask.com, all ads or Google stuff in the first page.

[CMidd]

No Google is after Groupon and Deal type websites: [techcrunch.com...]

I see a large lawsuit in Googles future "not related to groupon", but I see a huge conflict of interest with it's business model and some government regulations is coming up. They haven't step on the wrong persons/companies toes yet, but when they do, one big powerful player will step forward and the rest will follow and put an end to this google Hi jacking of Traffic, and it's use of search/crawl data in creation of business units.

Remember the late 90's of Microsoft, internet explorer, isps. this is in Googles future.

Regulation over it use of data, separation of it's search and business models, opt outs, mandated user choice of products, etc.

get ready to dump goog stock in a few years "at least for the short term", then buy it while it's low LMAO cause it will rebound, but it's business model will be different.

[edited by: CMidd at 11:31 am (utc) on Apr 24, 2011]

[CMidd]

and the content network which google seem to be trying to squeeze out of profit will become it's life line.

"Fate, It Seems, Is Not Without Its Sense Of Irony" Morpheus

remember this post when it happens.

[Rockyou]

Cmidd biggest problem of Google is its getting mad by forcing a good financial results, Which in a long run bad for the company, but they want to play till the last buck, I don't know about the others, If they keep cutting publishers money quarter after quarter, I will try & make atleast 100000 people to switch to bing. If you burn my house, I will not keep quiet. I still love Google but recent behaviour is troublesome.