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!

[Atomic]

I have a full day's traffic and earnings a few hours into the day. What is really really strange is that almost all of it is coming from the UK and I am in the US. It's what I would call super abnormal.

[HuskyPup]

Which general sector are you in Atomic?

I think the entire construction trade is on strike!

[tristanperry]

Haven't had a great day thus far - traffic is a bit slow (usual enough I guess), but CTR is slower. Should pick up though IMO. (I hope!)

[Atomic]

Food for this particular site.

[HuskyPup]

Food for this particular site.

Recipes etc?

Ah, the great British cook-at-home since, in general, many are saving money on not going out to restaurants and pubs are still closing at the rate of 25-30 per week.

There's definitely some belt-tightening going on and with a bit of luck dieting as well:-)

[Atomic]

Recipes are a small part of the content, but a wonderful compliment.

[nethead]

it is a total disaster thus far in May. I hope things get better come Monday.

[freelanceit]

@atomic,

Most of my revenue (well if you can call it revenue) has come from the UK today. ASdmittedly I am in the UK but normally the main revenue comes from the US. Click for the UK are slightly less than the US but CTR for the UK is way above the US.

[Atomic]

For me, the difference is this: usually I get maybe 100 UK visits. Today 10,000 for a single keyword, keyword phrase combination.

[JoePublisher]

@Atomic

something very similar happened to me last weekend, 12,000 people using a very similar keyword phrase combination landed on a very obscure page I had written. It bugged me for days, this page was specialist information, with perhaps only 10 people a year normally finding it interesting ... only when someone linked to that page did I find out the reason.

It contained the answer to a crossword puzzle one of the top newspapers were running, with a £100 first prize! 12,000 people didn't know the answer so they googled it, and only me and wikipedia, who referenced me, knew the answer! That tickled me pink ...

[Atomic]

Thanks for that Joepublisher!

The reason for this is probablly not far off from what you describe.

[StoutFiles]

I still don't understand the point of these topics. AdSense revenues have been steadily dropping for years. They will continue to drop.

[Swanny007]

It's 8am and you're already complaining about poor AdSense performance for the day. Yikes.

[netmeg]

It contained the answer to a crossword puzzle one of the top newspapers were running, with a £100 first prize! 12,000 people didn't know the answer so they googled it, and only me and wikipedia, who referenced me, knew the answer! That tickled me pink ...

Heh, I frequently have that happen with one of my tiny niche sites. One time I didn't realize what it was till I mentioned it to my mother and she piped up "oh that was a clue in today's NYT crossword!"

Which just goes to show how many people cheat. (Yea I consider it cheating)

[StoutFiles]

and only me and wikipedia, who referenced me, knew the answer! That tickled me pink ...

It tickles you pink that Wikipedia gets all your traffic with an obscure reference? Try to guess how much traffic you would have gotten had Wikipedia not took the lion's share of it.

[Atomic]

I still don't understand the point of these topics. AdSense revenues have been steadily dropping for years. They will continue to drop.

Maybe for you but certainly not for me. I just had my best April ever. Today is my best single day ever.

[JCKline]

@Atomic, same for me...and a Sunday which is usually bad. Traffic is lower, CTR is lower, yet eCPM is way up. I just got a $7+ click! Best Sunday I've ever had since 2003! I pray it keeps up, but we all know, "what goes up, must come down."

[koan]

AdSense revenues have been steadily dropping for years.

I am at a point where I would switch to any other decent contextual PPC alternative at the drop of a hat. Doing 1/3 of what I was doing in November 2010, after 5-6 years of steady growth. But there are none that I know of.

[MrFlex2600]

So far this is the ABSOLUTELY Worst AdSense Day since 2006.
CTR is very low. About 1/3 of pre-Panda normal.
eCPM is very low. About 1/3 of pre-Panda normal.
It feels like Google is trying to say: F*** You good established publishers! We don't need you anymore.
Or... something is really broken with their algorithm.

The only thing makes me feel better, if I'm loosing a few thousand dollars a month, they are loosing too.

[BillyS]

April 2011 was best ever April... May is starting out normally. Given it's a Sunday and one day isn't even over...

[ErnestHemingway]

@Flex
One of the worst days ever. As I said in other thread by end of this year I plan on moving away from Adsense I cannot take this stress. Ridiculously low CTR all of sudden past 4 days

[MrFlex2600]

@ ErnestHemingway,
By the end of the year? I'll wait for one or two more weeks and if it doesn't go back to relatively normal levels, I'll be ready for changes.

I already replaced some AdSense units with Chitika units (most my domains approved for Gold). Surprisingly, Chitika ads are very well targeted and eCPM is good. I think I can get way better results if I move Chitika ads to prime locations and remove AdSense.

I will try improving my eBay affiliate earnings.

I'll find some direct advertisers.

[ErnestHemingway]

@MrFlex

I have no idea what is going on to be honest, my changes are slow I can't just move all of our sites to direct advertising gotta do it slowly.

But seriously past 2-3 months I have lost so much money it is affecting my blood pressure.

[tristanperry]

I had a good April overall, but so far May has been poor. Yesterday seen lower than average CTR with very poor CPC; today has seen much lower than average CTR (and even though CPC is now higher than average, it's still below average thus far). Hmm.

[Play_Bach]

Yesterday earnings down to 1/3 of average. Today is starting off very slow too.

[HuskyPup]

May 1st earnings at the bottom end of normal spread but with a definite increase on the previous couple of days.

Today looks as though the EPC is below average however using the new interface performance > countries, it is evident that the USA and UK EPCs are holding-up well for me therefore, obviously, it is the low value clicks from other countries dragging the overall EPC average down.

Knowing this I feel much happier that G is not $crewing me the way I have conjectured at times.

What is very evident is that in the last two weeks I have had only 3 days with above average clicks, based upon 22nd March until 1st May, likewise with eCPM, from the USA, my UK averages have remained consistent.

I wonder why this is? I was expecting a big downturn from the UK not such a significant one from the US.

Is anyone else seeing similar in their metrics?

[StoutFiles]

Maybe for you but certainly not for me. I just had my best April ever. Today is my best single day ever.

No, just in general they are dropping. There is only so much pie and more people are fighting for it. I never said everyone everywhere is decreasing revenues.

However, I will say this. Anyone that relies on AdSense alone to cover their costs will likely fail at some point. Diversify the income streams.

[JCKline]

However, I will say this. Anyone that relies on AdSense alone to cover their costs will likely fail at some point. Diversify the income streams.

Yes! Relying on AdSense to "pay the bills" is just plain stupid. There is absolutely no control over earnings. I'd be like having a job where the boss pays you "what he feels like" once a month. Use AdSense for "extra" income, and your job so the bills get paid.

[MrFlex2600]

@JCKline,

There is absolutely no control over earnings.

This is the scariest part of of the whole make-money-with-adsense model.
The incoming traffic and earnings are completely at the mercy of G even if you have 100% unique content.
You can spend years developing your sites, start making good money with AdSense but you can lose it any time.