May 2011 AdSense Earnings & Observations

[HuskyPup]

For me, so far today 1st May, it has continued in the same vein of the past few days.

I've never experienced such bad endofmonthitis before, here's hoping for a kick-start Monday or Tuesday or whenever anyone, asides from us lot, go back to work!

[JCKline]

Impressions climb but CTR seems stuck...again.

[tristanperry]

Seeing awful CPC today. Traffic and CTR seem fine, but CPC is dire.

[kd454]

There's a joke my grandfather used to tell me about when he was a kid.

"If you ever want to know how to turn a white hat webmaster into a black hat then show em a Panda."

No serious... he discovered this way back in 1955!

Yeah still applies today.. my hat shade has change post panda,

[zarathustra2011]

CPC was stuck all afternoon with a low rate of clicks. Thought I'd been cursed, and my time had come, but eight hours later it all jumped up like a rocket. Wonder if some people's reports are sticking like this, but then not updating as they should later in the Google Day.

[azlinda]

Ads are paying next to nothing.

[sahm]

I don't know if anyone else remembers but in May/June 2005 Google gave quite a few of us a spanking for which we never had any explanation whatsoever but later in the year it did roll into my best-ever earnings period with Google through 2006...hmmm...do not take that as a prediction! :-)

Yes I remember that summer quite well...was ready to throw in the towel. Quit my full time job about a month before that update hit. Panda is the only update since then to hit my site so hard. I spent that whole summer overhauling my site and end of August/September was rewarded with the most traffic my site has ever experienced. If only that would happen again. If only!

[JCKline]

I just logged in hoping for a "surprise", and clicks haven't moved in over 5 hours? CTR is 0.28% and payout is low...very low. I'm praying for a click dump, but often it never comes. WTF!

[JCKline]

I hate to double post, but I happened upon something (that may be nothing). After reveiwing stats as I often do through analytics, something cought my eye. I noticed that traffic from Google that turns from impressions to clicks pays way better then "direct traffic" that results in clicks (via bookmarks, etc.), or even searching for the domain itself on Google. This may or may not be common knowledge, I don't know. Does Google take into account how traffic is aquired "through Google itself" as appossed to other SE's and "direct traffic"? Does this allow them to "track things better" through their system, giving them more confidence to "pay out"?

[Play_Bach]

Earnings today are at about 50% so far. Five hours left to go.

[azlinda]

I can't believe it. My earnings are $1.00 less than they were 1 1/2 hours ago! LOL

[sailorjwd]

I just logged in. It says i owe Google $1.25 for enhancing my website by showing their ads. I hope I can get up to even before the end of the day.

[azlinda]

LMAO sailorjwd!

[andrewshim]

I can't believe it. My earnings are $1.00 less than they were 1 1/2 hours ago! LOL

Bandwidth and server charges for checking stats half-hourly?

[WolfLover]

I'm sorry for all the folks here that have lost their earnings, but I am glad to see it's not just me. Misery does love company!

I wonder if Google Search and Google AdSense will EVER get it together? Google Search penalizes us for using their very own Google AdSense.

The Interest Based Ads are what have killed my earnings. I don't get it, I wonder how Google is making more money while we are making less?

[HuskyPup]

Whatever game Google's playing makes for interesting log analysis and whatever they did overnight, again, obviously affected my Friday enormously but I did end up as follows:

Page Impressions 70% of average
Actual Clicks 40%
CTR 46%
eCPM 50%
Earnings 32%

The US was down on click volume however the EPC was fine but the UK seems to have gone into terminal decline, well, as far as I can tell at these reduced levels, with earnings at 20%, clicks at 25% and earnings at 20%.

Easily the UK's worst-ever performance since the new country performance charts started. I feel a sense of serious depression over some parts of the UK right now...and I don't mean the weather!

[zarathustra2011]

Azlinda - I had the same thing happen yesterday - earnings went down by around a dollar, which has never happened to me before.
I'm wondering how representative this thread is in terms of the Panda effect. "Birds of a feather stick together" as the old saying goes - I'm guessing anybody who hasn't been affected or who has increased earnings is less likely to post here, so that those who post give the impression that the Panda effect is much bigger than it is.
I'm not for a moment saying the Panda effect is insignificant - I'm sure it's affected a lot of people; I'm just curious to know how big the whole Panda things go, and how it's going to play out in the future.

[andrewshim]

Stats seem stuck for the last 12 hours or so.

[ErnestHemingway]

@WolfLover

I have said this so many times Adsense Team needs to talk with search team and get their act together. Adsense team wants us to place ads over the fold but search team doesn't want that.

There are a lot of great posts on the topic at Aarons seoblog. This is turning out to be a comedy of errors.

I have no DOUBT that Google earnings will drop significantly this year, they have gone crazy trying to catch up with Facebook and their insanity with being social.

Only in their dreams will google build something like Facebook. Why cant they just accept that Mark is a freaking genius and his platform rocks. Anyone who has used Facebook Adverts they know it is like marketing on steroids nothing from Google comes near that.

I have moved away from Adsense I was making a wealthy income but with all the DRAMA going on I had to do direct advertising with my clients and they are loving it and I am actually making much more now.

No TOS bs of Adsense anymore. Put up ads and drive traffic through Facebook and earn money, no CPC and such BS either.

Adsense is more of a stress than anything recently

[Automotive site]

"Only in their dreams will google build something like Facebook. Why cant they just accept that Mark is a freaking genius and his platform rocks. Anyone who has used Facebook Adverts they know it is like marketing on steroids nothing from Google comes near that."

I am not sure if Mark is a genius. I am sure people were saying the same thing about the creator of MySpace. But MySpace today is nothing more than 10s of millions of spammy pages. At least Google is now a well-established company that has captured a large chunk of online advertising and has maintained it for a number of years, and growing year by year. It remains to be seen if Facebook is anything more than a flight of fancy.

[Automotive site]

FB can always be eclipsed by the next online social revolution, but Google has something extremely tangible - and that is search. and Google is expanding into social because they want to have every base covered.

If any company that is likely to replicate Google's success, its Amazon. Amazon is expanding quietly but very efficiently into non-core areas and are pretty good at what they do.

[m0thman]

Automotive site: Absolutely well said!

[ErnestHemingway]

@Automotive site

You should be actually sad and not happy that Google/Amazon are getting their nose in every other business.

YOU AND I are next in their AGENDA of verticals that they would like to enter.

It wouldn't be long before Google starts giving "auto loans" and stuff they already acquired one UK based company for loans and such anyways.

[ErnestHemingway]

Their search is not what it used to be. Wait 3 years you would love the new interface, I certainly will because after all Google is for users not for webmasters.

[Play_Bach]

Stats all but stuck? Mine have barely moved in hours.

[azlinda]

Mine haven't moved either!

[Play_Bach]

Lowest click count all month. 4.5 hours left to go.

[azlinda]

Today was absolutely dismal...the worst ever!

[kd454]

Very poor here as well.. Guess they need a little more for themselves today?

[azlinda]

It appears that they're taking a little more every day!

[Play_Bach]

Earnings unchanged. Two hours left.