I had a single click worth $1 - Fantastic, but - Which ad was it?

Is it even possible to know which ads are paying what, somehow?

No. It would be open to abuse if it were.

It wasn't just the ad itself. Visitor demographic also affects the click value.

The nearest you'll ever get to knowing is the url and from which country assuming you have url channels set-up and that you get visitors from more than one country.

How did you determine that the click paid $1?

I dunno about him, but I use hundreds of channels, and occasionally if I look at the reports at just the right time, I can catch a channel with a single click and some outrageous number like six or nine bucks. I think the biggest I've ever noticed was around $12. I definitely notice a lot more big ones this year; my average EPC across all my sites was around $.29 last year, and it's up over eighty cents a click this year.

I want to know which ad it was that was so valuable.

Why?

What would you do with that information if you had it?

It's like being hit in the ass with a chainsaw, which tooth cut you?

If you knew, would it matter?

and it's up over eighty cents a click this year

Did the traffic go up as well? Or it's seasonal and will go down towards the end of this year?

Why?

What would you do with that information if you had it?

It's like being hit in the ass with a chainsaw, which tooth cut you?

If you knew, would it matter?

If I could know which ads were paying more, I could tailor my site to appeal to those advertisers, write more quality articles around that topic, etc.

And adversely, if I could also know which ads are showing up that are paying 1 cent a click, I could get rid of them by blocking them.

Would be valuable information, don't you think? Wouldn't you like to know?

I wouldn't be doing anything outside of Google's TOS - I'd just like to do little things that could raise my EPC, as I feel I'm basically smart-priced right now, or if I'm not, just have a very low EPC and I'd like to change that.

I know the standard answer to this is usually "just write quality articles, and don't do shady things, have a quality designed website and good things will happen" but I'd like to be more pro-active then that - and was just wondering if it was even possible to somehow figure out which ad's showing up on my site currently - that are the more lucrative ones.

All this means to the advertiser paying high for those clicks on my site, is that I'd like to "give them better treatment", if you will, in any way I can... Kind of like if you buy first class on an airplane, you paid more for the ticket, you get better treatment.

If I could know which ads were paying more, I could tailor my site to appeal to those advertisers, write more quality articles around that topic, etc

How do you know it was an on-topic advert? It may not have been.

Yea but Google doesn't want you to be able to block low paying clicks, because the advertisers want to RUN low paying clicks. You're never going to get that kind of control because 1. Scammers would drive a truck through it and 2. The advertisers are driving the bus, not you. Just because you got a single click that paid a dollar doesn't mean you're a great deal for that advertiser. I manage PPC; one time I took over an account for a client who *accidentally* bid 32.00 per click instead of .32 like he meant to, and ran up several thousand bucks before he realized it. Those publishers won big, but once I discovered it, I turned it off pretty quick.

Did the traffic go up as well? Or it's seasonal and will go down towards the end of this year?

Both, but it doesn't matter, as it's essentially the same seasonal traffic pattern every year. Most of my ads (at least the ones that I see) are for local goods and services, and travel and vacation stuff. They're just paying more this year.

Your site, like all the rest, are but one drop of water in a very big AdSense publishing pond called the "content network" and the advertisers don't really know about all the individual drops of publishing water in that pond, only if the collective pond is paying or not.

if I could also know which ads are showing up that are paying 1 cent a click, I could get rid of them by blocking them.

And then Google would smart price the higher paid ads down to fill your inventory without blowing the advertisers budget and you're right back where you started with lower paying clicks.

More importantly, you share this advertiser with many other sites so the faster his ad budget is used his ads go away. Then all those ads you blocked won't appear either and you'll be running FREE Google PSAs for something in that spot more often than not.

I could tailor my site to appeal to those advertisers, write more quality articles around that topic, etc.

Unless you run a very large high traffic high ranking site and are being site targeted, highly unlikely, they'll never know who you are or how appealing your content may be. If you contact them directly to let them know, a clear T&C violation, then you run the risk of being booted out of AdSense.

This is a game that cannot be won.

If you want some real actionable advice, it's most likely it's the traffic source and keyword bringing specific visitors that trigger a high paying ad vs. the other lower paying ads. You should focus on trying to figure out what traffic source and keywords trigger higher paying ads and work on attracting more of that traffic because that's how you make money in AdSense, not targeting a specific advertiser that happens to be paying more for reasons you don't even understand at the moment. Once you know why those ads pay more, in theory you can attract a lot more higher paying ads.

The advertisers don't determine the actual price you get paid so trying to appeal to them would be like trying to get the restaurant valet to bring you a salad. Waste of time. Smart pricing determines what you get paid and there is a certain set of circumstances where AdSense thinks your site, or a particular page, is worth more than at other times. When you can figure out what those circumstances are you're golden.

You may be just one keyword away from making better money.

You should focus on trying to figure out what traffic source and keywords trigger higher paying ads and work on attracting more of that traffic because that's how you make money in AdSense, not targeting a specific advertiser that happens to be paying more for reasons you don't even understand at the moment. Once you know why those ads pay more, in theory you can attract a lot more higher paying ads.

Thanks incrediBILL, I'd like to try out your suggestion.

How can I go about trying to figure out what traffic source and keywords trigger higher paying ads?

I do have Google Analytics across all my sites, but have never really used it. Is this something that can be determined by analyzing my stats and analytics somehow?

Or is there some other way to figure this out? Can you point me in the right direction?

How can I go about trying to figure out what traffic source and keywords trigger higher paying ads?

Look, you are not going to know what advert paid what. Even if you did, you only know what it was for that moment in time. Later in the day it may be 50c, tomorrow 10c.

Shoot, it was only a dollar click for ***** site.

Analyze your stats - keywords are easy to figure out.

For instance, you could assume that if you had a site about cars keywords coming about Ferrari's might pay better than keywords about Fords.

It's also about intent, a query about "buying fords" or "repairing fords" probably pays better than "what's the most popular ford color" - a little common sense applied to how people are getting to your site and where they are coming from can work wonders.

But we're back to web basics called SEO and ANALYTICS which has is what also drives AdSense.

If you don't know which keywords pay more it's easy to find out, get an AdWords account and try bidding on some of them and you'll find out real quick what's costing the most which will also pay the best.

However, if your site mostly attracts penny traffic you have other issues IMO that need to be addressed because AdSense isn't placing much value on your site in the first place.

Later in the day it may be 50c, tomorrow 10c.

Or back to $0.01

For instance, you could assume that if you had a site about cars keywords coming about Ferrari's might pay better than keywords about Fords.

Asuming the advert that was clicked on was on-topic. For all we know it could have been a fat-burning advert.

Anyway, it is pointless wondering who clicked on what advert etc.

BTW, $1 USD = approximately 63p GBP. A can of coke in Greggs costs 75p.
All this for less than a can of coke. <rolls eyes>

All this for less than a can of coke.

But the OP wants to know how to turn one can of coke into 1000.

But the OP wants to know how to turn one can of coke into 1000.

Well, the OP won't find the answer to what advert paid $1

I'd be more concerned why I only received pennies for the other adverts.

I can catch a channel with a single click and some outrageous number like six or nine bucks.

But since clicks and bucks aren't updated at the same time how can you be sure that those bucks don't represent some clicks that are going to be added in later?

Sorry, there is no way to tell which ad it was.

It may have been interest based, which would mean the ad wasn't placed due to your content, but rather due to the visitor's previous browsing. Then you have to take location into account. There are so many variables, you'll never be able to track it down.

Good luck!

It may have been interest based

Good point.

I totally forgot about that mess.

The ads paying well can have ZERO to do with your website if it's interest based.