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]

[Green_Grass]

It seems your site has been flagged and clicks are being discounted. You may have to go in for a redesign and improve content to ad ratio. I would suggest immediate action before Google goes in for more drastic measures. In the past it has been seen that a dramatic fall in earnings is normally followed with a ban email after a few days. You have received a warning and have taken minimum action. This is not really what they would expect. My 2 cents.

[Green_Grass]

oh ho... you do have a very bad history.. have you been caught again ?

[webmasterworld.com...]

[dentistology]

@green_grass: yah that was long back when i was a starter. Then i wrote a big emotional mail to google and they enabled my account back again giving me one more chance.

Since then, i have kept working honestly. As per the TOS. And google has been rewarding me pretty well. its been 3 years since then.

Lets concentrate on my current issue plz....

[edited by: dentistology at 10:30 am (utc) on May 13, 2011]

[dentistology]

@green grass: Now regarding your 2 cents, But why would google ban my account when nothing is foul in it. Essentially the mail that i was talking about is, check below:

Hello,

During a recent review of your account we found that you are currently displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our program policies (https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&stc=aspe-1pp-en).

--------------------------------------------------
EXAMPLE PAGE: x

Please note that this URL is an example and that the same violations may exist on other pages of this website or other sites in your network.

VIOLATION(S) FOUND:

AD MISLABELING: Publishers may not implement Google ads in a manner that disguises the ads in any way. For instance, publishers may not place ads under misleading headers or titles as this may confuse users into thinking the ads are actually site links related to that header. To avoid this issue, we ask that publishers use only "sponsored links" or "advertisements" to label ads. More information about this policy can be found in our help center at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=115985.

REQUESTED ACTION: Please make all necessary changes in the next 72 hours.

If the violations are corrected within the aforementioned time period, ad serving will not be affected. If changes are not made and/or other policy violations are encountered during the review process, ad serving will be disabled to your site.

ACCOUNT STATUS: ACTIVE

Your AdSense account remains active. However, if we continue to find problems, we may disable your entire account. Therefore, we suggest that you take the time to review the rest of your network to ensure that all of your other pages are in compliance with our policies.

Issue ID# 2033655

 --------------------------------------------------
 Thank you for your cooperation.

 Sincerely,

 The Google AdSense Team

Now you see, i made the required changes and they must have checked it again after 3 days. Its been 24 days since they mailed me and since i made the changes as per their inputs.

The above mail was only for one site. However, i brought the changes on all my 5 sites.

Need 2 more cents from you! :-)

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:19 pm (utc) on May 13, 2011]
[edit reason] Removed URL to someone's site. [/edit]

[zarathustra2011]

I'm not sure those ads are disguised (using the same color font isn't an issue as far as I know?) - to me they are pretty much in your face, you have more ads than content - probably more google ad links on that page than there are links for your website. Maybe this is why?
If it was my page, I'd keep one skyscraper down the left, and one of those little 460 x 15 (forget the exact dimensions) at the bottom), and ditch the others.

[dentistology]

@zarathustra2011: But buddy i have 80% of articles on my site that are like more than 800 words long. Then how come it appears to be less for adsense? But why is google bothered about where i put the ad or how i put it as far as it is as per TOS. But i see that ads are not relevant to the content on my site since the debacle. I mean, even the most simplest article dealing with simple topic searched by millions shows irrelevant ad.

[dentistology]

More over, the same setup as you see now on my site was giving me 5-6% CTR with daily income of $30-$40. Then why the sudden change now?

Something makes me feel that google has something to do with it, i mean, do they have something like putting us into some jail for sometime to analyze?

[zarathustra2011]

Hi Dentistology - to be fair I only looked at the one page that google picked out for you - maybe they saw that and assumed more of your site was the same? Just went back and clicked on another random page and that one is more ads than content. Maybe it's the 20% they're picking on?
Not sure why they have to dictate how you lay out your page, as long as you're not tricking anybody, and I don't think your site is there to trick anyone into clicking a link.
Have you tried running different reports to see what channels or ads are underperforming compared to previous performance when things were working well?
I've found the 468x15 link ad block doesn't pay out very much, but I do get quite a few clicks from that type of ad on my site, so I keep it on there.

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:20 pm (utc) on May 13, 2011]
[edit reason] Removed URL [/edit]

[nomis5]

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.

[dentistology]

@nomis5: Okay, thanks for your input buddy. But does it really matter? let me know so that i too make the change.

Also just wanted to add, i am using a plugin for adsense ad to display and i have left the setting for 300x250 ads as "random" instead of placing them either to the right or left. So they keep roaming everytime you refresh the page. you will find them in new place always.

[dentistology]

@zarathustra2011:

Yes, i tried checking via various channels and setting them up so that i know which ad in which position performs better. The best performance is of what i have right now on my site

Check this and see that i have two 300x250 ad blocks injected within the content while i have one 120x600 ad block on the right. Then there is one little 468x15 link ad in the footer of the article.

This is the best performing setup as far as i have researched.

But the damn CTR and CPC are down like anything for no reason.

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:21 pm (utc) on May 13, 2011]
[edit reason] site review URL [/edit]

[zarathustra2011]

The placement looks good on that page dentistolgy, though as nomis5 says, it's absolutely flush against your text, and I'd give it a little breathing room.
As to the CTR and CPC, I'm afraid I've no idea what might be causing those fluctations! Hope you get to the root of the problem. The ads I get (interest based, though poorly chosen on my interests!) are 75% off hotels worldwide, improve your brain and euro millions. Perhaps you'd be better off having some bigger text only - they're usually far more relevant to site content then picture based ones.

[Automotive site]

In all honesty and not meaning any disrespect, your pages look spammy. They are very ad heavy and will no doubt come across a verymade for adsens site i.e. a site designed to fool readers into clicking ads and with weak contnet. It does not look like its a genuine resource for people that can go an learn or be informed about something. It seems their only exit point will be a click on an ad. The days of people doing this are numbered. You may as well focus on providing people with genuine content and fewer ads.

[Automotive site]

Sorry about the few typos in the above post.

[Automotive site]

Then again, my observation is only based on that page Adsense picked out. So I apologise if other pages aren't like this i.e. with minimal content and many ads.

[Green_Grass]

Very ad heavy websites are coming under the scanner. Check their latest guidance..and see this thread. Work fast to get your credibility back. if you are seeing a big drop in CTR, then your clicks are being discounted and that is not good news.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[dentistology]

@Automotive site:

Well, i don't mind your input, i know all of you are just trying to help me. So i prefer frank inputs.

Well, that one page picked up by google has thin content. Actually that site has thin content. Rest of the other 4 sites have rich and awesome content where people are linking to heavily. They are health related, dental related, technology related and they have content that is forming source of reference for many. Believe me, if my sites were made for adsense, then i wouldn't get so many visitors who are actually linking back to my content heavily. But that one site picked up by google has thin content, like artilces with only 250 words each and actually i consider them crap too.

But google is an automated machine. They don't understand the content, but they may understand the size of content. But still, why are my other sites too performing the same way? I gave an example above too.

[dentistology]

Check out this page, it has huge content

IT has lot of content that is authoritative too. These are actually written by paediatricians (doctors).

[edited by: martinibuster at 9:57 pm (utc) on May 13, 2011]
[edit reason] Removed URL [/edit]

[farmboy]

As soon as one of the moderators reads this thread, you're probably going to be getting a notice about breaking the terms of this forum, just as Google sent you a notice.

But that aside, I randomly picked one of your articles and then randomly picked a complete paragraph from the article. I found that entire paragraph, word for word, on other sites - other sites that also seemed to be focused on having a website on which to display ads - instead of a having a useful site that also happens to generate revenue.

I think your future with AdSense is in your control, it's just up to you to decide what kind of future that will be.


FarmBoy

[zarathustra2011]

Are you the owner of too? The link you gave to is a duplicate of the article here - perhaps its this lack of originality that is causing you to lose revenue?

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:22 pm (utc) on May 13, 2011]
[edit reason] Removed URL. [/edit]

[farmboy]

Do any of these sites have a link to the Privacy Policy on the home page?


FarmBoy

[dentistology]

@farmboy & zarathustra2011: Gosh, i don't believe this that there are copies of my article on other sites! but i don't find that is the case. What are you guys talking about?

health2010 is not my site. But my sites have all 100% original content from authentic writers who are experts in their fields.

@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!

[dentistology]

@zarathustra2011: Another thing, if others are copying my content, why will i be penalized? As such i am getting visitors consistently for each article without any difference since earnings fell down. any suggestions?

[dentistology]

@farmboy: NO, i haven't made any privacy policy. Gosh, you reminded me of this important aspect. Let me get on it asap.

[Automotive site]

"Actually that site has thin content. Rest of the other 4 sites have rich and awesome content where people are linking to heavily. They are health related, dental related, technology related and they have content that is forming source of reference for many. Believe me, if my sites were made for adsense, then i wouldn't get so many visitors who are actually linking back to my content heavily."

Like I say, I apologise if most of your content isn't like this one.

Why risk your your entire account by trying to drive CTR like crazy on this site? If you have good sites you should be happy and play by the rules all the time. I know you are not necessarily breaking the rules, but the page Adsense picked out and I am assuming there are more pages like that on that particular site, I am afraid you are doing nothing more than fooling the readers into clicking ads on those pages. You have good sites, so why risk your entire account?

Fix that site up as soon as possible.

[zarathustra2011]

In that case you might want to report copyright infringement

Not saying that would penalise your earnings, but it might demote you in the rankings and decrease your traffic. Just a thought.

Some of your pictures are used on other sites too. The cartoon baby graphic at the bottom of the homepage for example, but it may be that it's just a standard stock art image, and that of course has no effect on earnings that I know of.

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:23 pm (utc) on May 13, 2011]
[edit reason] Removed URL. We don't know whole story. [/edit]

[JoePublisher]

Some very useful advice is given to you here ... I would also look at googles new guidelines on 'high-quality' sites.

[Automotive site]

I actually consider a site like Wisegeek as trying to fool readers into clicking. The blending is almost perfect and its very difficult to discriminate between a site link and google ad link on that site. But it appears they have many articles with many comments so many readers must read their content. They must rank extremely well, and according to Alexa, they are in the top 1500 sites on the web.

[zarathustra2011]

If a site becomes big enough I thought they were virtually given permission to break the traditional rules?!