Changed domain once, revenue fell flat on AdSense, Can I revert?

[The_Fox]

Okay, long story short.

I had a domain name with the right keyword in it. Small authentic looking domain name. Ex: technologyblogger.com (not real, just so you understand, can reveal domain in PM.) 4 years old domain with pretty good traffic, 2000 hits per day.

Now, I changed the domain successfully without losing any traffic via 301 to a generic domain with the idea of expanding my niche. Ex:- gadgetsblogger.com So that I could add gadget reviews too.

Although AdSense wasn't my primary source of income, I felt bad when the AdSense revenue plummeted (About $300 bucks a month earlier went to $12 per month so you know.)

The traffic was however same and there were no SEO errors, since everything was done the right way technically.

Now, I'm hoping that the $300 per month revenue is back. Its one year after the domain change now and the CTR is picking up (About $100 per month).

My questions is would it be a good idea to go back to my old domain? If yes, would the AdSense revenue go back to old one (do they have a database ? :D ) OR will it be another fresh new change and my revenue go from $100 to $12 again?

If not, may be I should wait a year more to see the new domain get more authority and better CTRs?


Any clues gentlemen?

[netmeg]

First of all, we're not all gentlemen.

Second of all, remember correlation is not causation. It's not at all clear to me that the domain name is the entire issue. That's a pretty big drop. (And a lot of other people have seen large AdSense drops over the past year) Were you using placements before, and are you now? Are you seeing essentially the same types of ads as before? Is it possible that your domain change caused you to be put in a different category by Google, such that you would be targeted by different advertisers? Are people coming in from the same keywords, the same countries? There's a lot to look at before I'd just haul off and switch domains. (To be honest, I probably wouldn't have switched in the first place; but I'm reasonably sure that if you switch back you're not going to magically see the same earnings again)

[The_Fox]

Hey netmeg,

Yes, its defenitely the domain issue because the drop was seen right the very next day I made the change. And as you said, everything else remain the same. the traffic fluctuated a bit for a week, well fluctuation is the wrong word, it returned back in 2-3 days with the same popular keywords, same entry pages, same average daily uniques etc.

Thanks for the reply.

[alika]

That's why the rule with Adsense is: if it ain't broke, don't fix it :o)

Search engine traffic is easier to manage with changes like domain names as long as you do everything right technically

Adsense is a different beast and you never know how it will react to a major move like that. Well now you know, and hopefully you can get back to the same level as you did before

And since your revenue has already fallen, why not use this time to change things around. Doing the same thing as you did before did not work, so shake it up a bit -- change where you're putting the ads, change the ad formats, change the color, anything -- and see if that will work.

[The_Fox]

Agree Alika,

I see that its bouncing back to old stats now that its one year past the domain name change. Lesson learnt. :)