CTR and CPC have reached pathetic level all of a sudden! plz help

My earnings have dropped from $40 to $6 per day

[dentistology]

Hi all,

For the past 8 months, my sites (totally 5) have been steadily increasing in traffic as well as adsense earnings. I had reached a monthly income of $1000 uptill last month (April). On adsense, I have been getting like 2500 impressions daily and CTR was around 5% to 6% daily. Income had reached something around $30 to $40 per day.

I was using two 300x250 ad blocks injected in the content in the articles along with two link ads, one just below the post title and another in the footer of the post. 90% of my earnings was coming from the injected 300x250 ad units within the content.

Now on April 25th, i received a warning mail from google asking me to change the ads positioning as it was against TOS to fool the visitors in clicking the ads. Since the link ad below the post title was the only one looking like that, i took it off. Anyways that " 468x15 link ad block" did not give me any CTR or clicks or earnings.

But from the very next day, CTR of my sites dropped and CPC too dropped. The same sites that were making between $30 to $40 per day are now making $6 to $9 per day. CTR has dropped from 5%-6% to 0.5%-1%. CPC has reduced so much that now i get clicks that are worth just few cents.

Does removing one " 468x15 link ad block" have so much affect on my earnings even though that ad link had nearly zero earnings previously? I don't think so.

Or is it that Google after giving warning must have changed some algorithm for my sites to go back to its initial stage of earnings? i am just confused whats wrong guys! Can you people help me understand this.

Note: Please keep in mind that 90% of my visitors are from search engine and that my traffic has not changed at all, rather it increased this month.

I also observe irrelevant ads appearing on my sites now. Should i ask Google to look into my sites?

Plz advise guys.

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:13 pm (utc) on May 13, 2011]
[edit reason] Removed site review link. [/edit]

[dentistology]

@zarathustra2011:

Thanks for indicating the duplication and copying down by the other site. Is there are tool with which i can check all my sites articles whether they have been copied by others?

Moreover, Google or other search engines have pretty well system to tackle such copy issues. AS per the duplication policy of google, it clearly states that google identifies the first version of the article and automatically disregards the later versions of the similar article. Ain't this correct?

@Automotive site:

You asked me to fix the site. So what suggestions do you or others give me to change it. Does changing the entire design of the site make any difference?

[zarathustra2011]

The other website even has a copyright report button at the bottom of the page, so they must be ripping off a lot of other sites. I've found my articles posted elsewhere in the past, and it is frustrating. Some remove at once, and others couldn't care less.
I often take a fairly unique sentence of text and search for it on google - that often shows who's been stealing articles from your website.

I'm not sure how Google monitors duplication. Some sites get indexed more quickly than others, so somebody could write original content and find they're ripped off before they know it.

[Automotive site]

They must have some special privileges. If you look at their ads in between content, it does not look like a 728 by 90, vertically it seems a lot higher than 90. I saw 5 ad links in one of those blocks. Normally there are 3 in a 728 by 90 format.

[sailorjwd]

I saw on page via main links that has zero content - only ads... that will kill you. it said 'coming soon'. you need to get rid of pages like this immediately!

[netmeg]

The fact that you are arguing most of the suggestions does not bode well for you.

@farmboy: why do you say the moderators would send me a notice on this forum? did i do something wrong? is it that i pasted a url thats why? gosh i am just trying to fetch a solution guys,,,,why all this headache!

Had you bothered to read the TOS for WebmasterWorld, you would know that posting URLs to one's site is forbidden EXCEPT in the Review forum, which is limited to subscription users only.

The fact that you didn't read the TOS here tells me something too.

Nothing wrong with making a mistake; everyone does it. The trick is to learn from it. The problems come when you make the same mistake twice.

[dentistology]

@sailorjwd: Thanks for pointing out bro. I am on it asap.

@Netmeg: Thanks for correcting me. NO actually i am not refuting the suggestions given to me, read the thread from start, you will understand we are discussing possibilities of the debacle in my business. Comeon, does one just have to quitely listen to everything, can't we have healthy discussion to come to a good stance?

@Automotive site: So what are you suggesting then?

[dentistology]

@zarathustra2011:

Yeah, i believe so. They must be ripping people. Anyways, i reported this to them to remove my content. I also reported this to google via the DMCA form. Lets see what happens. As such my article was indexed two months before them, so i am not much bothered. As far as indexing is concerned, my sites index content within 15 minutes. Thats the best part. BUt........earnings are down for no reason buddy! :-(

and you worst part? This is the only source of income for me right now, apart from one another and both of these make my monthly income to meet my basic family needs! This is why i am bothering you all so much.

[mhansen]

Just being real - take it or leave as the best advice you hear in the next 5 minutes! I'm not holier-than-thou either, I have suffered the same thing in the past. (Most of us probably have) Its just part of the learning curve. Also understand that what I am saying is not fact... its speculation, based on my own very humbling experiences over the last 10+ years in internet marketing.

I looked up sites related to your pub-id and you have many sites with average to OK content, but the layout and ad placement is almost identical on all of them. I saw 2 themes across all the sites I checked)

Put yourself into the shoes of a Google adsense employee for a second. Within 2 minutes... they see the same:

- Adsense PUB-ID
- Google Analytics account
- Google webmaster tools account
- 16 websites, on completely different topics.

ANYTIME an adsense rep sends you an email, its probably safe to assume they took a look at the other 16 sites using the same PUB-ID to see what kind of other stuff you may be doing as well. In other words, they probably look at your overall account, in addition to the single site they flagged you for.

Step back even farther, and they also see that 3 years ago, you had a violation that was serious enough to warrant an account suspension, and all of a sudden... they are seeing you in a different light.

From what I personally saw in the 3 minutes and 5-6 sites of yours I looked at... they have penalized a MFA (Made for Adsense) site network. It is what it is...

I am not going to say that some of your content is not useful, because it probably is... but your sites are clearly built for one reason, which is to display google adsense, and amazon banners.

I checked: (I'm obfuscating the domains)

- Dental site
- Laptops and technology reviews
- Jewelry site full of branded doorway pages
- Nail care site
- Web design website
- Air Transport site

The bottom line is that your income from these adsense sites has just dried up. The sites are probably not dead... and you might be able to make good use of the content for other purposes, but the domains in your single-google-account portfolio is going to take some time to recover.

Building new sites under the same pub-id is not going to help either. If the sites are busy and providing you with good traffic and lots of backlinks, etc... I suggest dropping adsense off them completely and move to a profitable way of monetizing them.

Just my .02 cents... and hey, just being real.

[dentistology]

@mhansen: Thanks for the advise buddy. I find it useful. Actually you did open my eyes on certain factors. Let me get on it immediately and do the repairing work first. Thanks once again. However, one thing i wanted to point out is that i kept my adsense ads on those sites to which are getting nearly no traffic, aiming to work on them later. AS of now, out of the many sites i have, i have worked hard on only 5 which receive good traffic. Others are as good as dead, and adsense ads are lying on them. This is why they have thin content, and not that useful content because there isn't much on it. However, my other sites have loads of authoritative content, because of which other sites are linking to it. For example, on the dental site, two of links are coming from Wikipedia, and i don't know who linked it to my articles.

I have a doubt, Why would google penalize a site for being made for adsense. I keep attending the regular google lectures/classes/conferences and they have clearly told that it doesn't matter if site is built with the view to earn from adsense. The only thing that matters to them is that the content must be useful and natural. This is already the case of my sites, its natural, not copied, not fake or something not useful.

Also how long does sites take to recover? Should i change the entire theme/design of my sites and keep it different for each site?

[zarathustra2011]

mhansen makes some good points, but I also agree with dentistology - Google seem to encourage people to create niche sites for using Adsense.
I've had personal sites for years and have just added Adsense at a later date, which works for me, but if I was so inclined I'd be happy to go out and write a quality website with original content with the sole purpose of trying to generate some revenue with Adsense.
It's only the spammy websites that pinch content from here, there and everywhere that ought to be penalised, or pages full of Youtube videos or images.

[farmboy]

Every time I read one of the threads like this, I re-discover just how large an "underworld" there is such as this using AdSense.

I just went to another site that has duplicate content as the OP's site. The other site is about autism - lots of little articles built for getting PPC revenue.

On that site there is a link to "content providers" - other sites that supposedly provide content to the autism site. Sites include eBay, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Google, Digg, etc. ( I'll post a link if a moderator OK's it )

That's not where I would turn for important medical advice. God help the site owner if a parent makes a serious decision about the health of an autistic child based on something they read there.

Just a thought for those who seem to frequently blame Ad blindness, smartpricing, Panda, IBA, etc. for their revenue difficulties - just think how much of the overall incoming ad revenue stream is ending up in this "underworld" instead of your account.

FarmBoy

[dentistology]

@zarathustra2011: Yes precisely. Google would want to generate business, it won't stop something that is not unethical. As far as content is really good and useful for researchers or people who look for it, i believe it won't matter to google.

Moreover, 90% of my visitors are from google search engine, who come looking for information related to the keywords. And they do get it on my site. If such a site happens to have an adsense ad on it, and maybe a dirty looking design, why would it bother Google?

Anyways, as suggested by mhansen, i have taken off adsense ads from those sites of mine that are actually lying dead with no visitor. This was seriously a useful tip from him.

[dentistology]

@farmboy:

Yeah, true. And moreover, think about how reliable would be the information for someone who really needs it. The other day I had a severe headache, which was actually pattern happening since past one month that whenever i eat salty things i get it. So i searched google to find out the reason and guess what, the first page of search results had all crap sites that are having content that makes no sense. And they have adsense on them!

[dentistology]

So guys, regarding my problem, do i just leave the issue for a month or so and observe it persists? Or should i take some more measures on it. Some of you have seen the site design, does changing site design make any difference?

[mhansen]

I have a doubt, Why would google penalize a site for being made for adsense.

I don't know many of the answers to questions you asked. But... Adsense team is one small arm of Google, and probably has a lot of conflict with other areas of the company. Purely speculative... but I'm sure Matt Cutts is not involved in too many adsense sales goal directives.

I can't even begin to suggest what is best for you or anyone else to do, I only know what has worked for us, our type of site, and our business. Which is different for everyone. We removed ALL but 1 single adsense ad block per page, and its at the very end of the content, AFTER our own internal navigational links. No sidebars (they rarely get clicked anyway) no headers, no navigational ads, nothing... 1 single block is all we carry on sites now. Like I said... its what we found works best for us.

On our site(s) we only send people to adsense ads when we have exhausted our own internal efforts to answer their need.

In your case... you had:

- 1 Google adsense custom search box
- 1 468 Amazon banner in the header
- 2 link units per page
- 2 300x250 adsense blocks per page injected into the middle of your content
- 1 adsense skyscraper in the sidebar

I understand you are maximizing what adsense suggests... but just ask yourself... if you walked into your doctors office to ask a question, how happy would you be if you were approached 18-20 different times within the first 2 minutes, by salesman trying to sell you something. (All your ad boxes add up to 18-20 individual ads per page)

Also... one other "tip" about adsense... the HIGHEST bidders for placement tend to appear highest in your ad placement. So if you have 4 separate ad blocks on the page... the HIGHEST CPC is going to be in that very first ad block, very first position. The ones that come into the second, third and fourth ad blocks... they will have the companies/advertisers who bid pennies per click (remnants), just to be there.

We found that by showing just 2-3 ads per page, (1 ad block, with 2-3 ads) we ALWAYS had the highest bidders on the site, and earned the highest EPC. (earn per click) Think about it... if 10 guys are bidding for the word "website" and the top one is willing to pay $10/click and the 10th guy only willing to bid .50 cents/click, which one would you want to be clicked? If its the $10/click company, why even show the others? Just place your ad in the right spot...

As far as how long it takes a site to recover... if Google is still sending you search traffic, just start experimenting. When you DO finally get better pricing again (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, whatever it is), AVOID the temptation to push more ads, and soak more money back out! Been there... done that... it will only get you smart priced again!

Adsense is not about having the most content and the most ads on a page, hoping to lucky-dog your way into a click... its about having the "most relevant content to the reader", and the "most relevant and highest bidding advertiser" to appease their need.

[Broadway]

Wish I hadn't looked at the URL above. I was hit by Panda and this site wasn't? How depressing.

[dentistology]

@mhansen:

Hmm, you are making sense. Quite a good learning there for me.

Okay tell me, that one ad block, what CTR was it throwing for you? I mean, just want to know out of curiosity. I do see just one odd ad block on authoritative sites, and i always thought, maybe thats how they earn better as per their caliber. But your words seem to make sense and am beginning to understand why they have just that one block hanging in their content.

Okay, so here is what i do:

First: Get rid of all the other unnecessary ads like sidebar, header etc and just keep one ad block in my content. (actually sidebar vertical one gives me few clicks, so how about keeping that and one ad in content)

Second: Just keep working my regular way to produce quality content and getting maximum traffic from Google or other search engines.

Is that it? Any more particular aspect i need to look into, like changing the design of my site or so?

[dentistology]

@boardway:

Din't really understand what you meant by that. And whats this panda all about? The only panda i know is the Hyper Panda chain of market in my city! :-)

[Jonathan]

I keep attending the regular google lectures/classes/conferences

And whats this panda all about?

[netmeg]

Hey, guess what, dentistology? Discussing CTR is also against Google TOS.

Good luck. You are sure gonna need it.

[dolcevita]

Have anyone seen this site Surgerysquad.com (Example from Adsense team self [adsense.blogspot.com...] )?

And when i read comments here about placing below title, number of Ad Units per page i'm not sure what to think about etc...?

The site self have placing Ads below title, have almost max number of Adunits per page and site self does not break any TOS. It is furthermore recommend as successfully site from Adsense team self.

There must be something else on your site...

[Atomic]

Oh, my, god. Surgery Squad looks like it should be heavily penalized and not held up as an example of what we should all do!

[dentistology]

@Jonathan: What if missed few of them! :-)

@netmeg: Well, i am just trying to understand how things are working out for those who are suggesting me points.

[dentistology]

Yeah, This is pure hypocrisy of Google. My site has far more content then what Squadsurgery has. And it isn't penalizing it for what it penalized me. All of you check the mail i posted above from google asking me to change the ad labeling and that i should be labeling them properly. But now look what surgerysquad is doing! And google praises it?

MOderators, hope you don't mind me pasting this google blogs link for direct reference for all: [adsense.blogspot.com...]

I had better placement than that guys, whats all this now!

[Play_Bach]

> Should i ask Google to look into my sites?

Yes.

[dentistology]

@play_Bach: Yeah i think i will do that. But how do i do that? Is there a form or something?

[Play_Bach]

Login to AdSense ->
[google.com...]

[netmeg]

Dude, you posted your URL (and your history) in a forum that Google employees read, even if they don't always respond. I don't think you have to *ask* Google to look into your sites.

[MrFlex2600]

As nomis5 said,

Your 300 x 250 ads are right next to the main article wording. Not even a pixel between them. I would put at least 15 pixels padding between the ads and your text.

I think that's the problem. It's very misleading.
I would change the border color from white to something else so your readers can see the difference between ads and content.

[dentistology]

@zarathustra2011: Yes you are right.

When a site crosses 100,000 page views per day, that site is given special privileges which is completely different from the regular TOS of google. That is why wisegeek can blend it. Guess, even google wants to keep the rich sites happy :-)