Is AdSense CTR lower on mobile devices than is on desktop/laptop?

Important as signficant percentage now access through mobile devices

[Automotive site]

All my sites appear the same on mobile devices as they do on a dektop in terms of design and layout and ad placement since I haven't made any changes?

Should I get someone to create mobile versions of my sites? And how do ads fit into this?

Since all mys sites run on Wordpress, I am thinking wouldn't it be easier if Wordpress automatically converted the sites when it recognizes thy are being accessed through a mobile/tablet? They should have some kind of programme integrated into wordpress to change the sites into popular mobile formats.

[HuskyPup]

There's been an on-going discussion about this since March here:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[netmeg]

My CTR was much lower, but my EPC was very high. That's over a couple million mobile pageviews.

Regarding WordPress - depends on how much traffic you are serving, but you can use a plugin like WP-Touch to serve your mobile users. My host said it put too much of a performance hit for my level of traffic, but if you don't get weird spikes like I do, it might work for you. It works with AdSense as well. There's a free and a paid version.

[HuskyPup]

My October metrics were as follows:

Page Views

Desktop 89.46%
Tablets 8.24%
Mobiles 2.30%

Clicks

Desktop 77.11%
Tablets 17.13%
Mobiles 5.76%

CTR v Desktop

Tablets 242.20%
Mobiles 289.91%

EPC v Desktop

Tablets 111.11%
Mobiles 55.55%

RPM v Desktop

Tablets 272.70%
Mobiles 166.21%

Distribution of Earnings

Desktop 77.26%
Tablets 19.43%
Mobiles 3.31%

This makes really interesting reading since 22.74% of overall earnings came from only 10.54% of Page Views with 22.95% of Clicks!

Will this mean, for me, that if I get more tablet/mobile visitors will the earnings increase at the same rate? Now there's a good question:-)

Your mileage WILL obviously vary.

[Sally Stitts]

A little comparative data for you. I have appended my October stats to the stats given above. They are the numbers in parentheses below.

Page Views

Desktop 89.46% (70%)
Tablets 8.24% (7%)
Mobiles 2.30% (23%)

Clicks

Desktop 77.11% (77%)
Tablets 17.13% (14%)
Mobiles 5.76% (9%)

CTR v Desktop

Tablets 242.20% (191%)
Mobiles 289.91% (34%) I'd like to raise this. Yes, mobile CTR is much lower for me (the original question).

EPC v Desktop

Tablets 111.11% (253%) Pays 2x desktop.
Mobiles 55.55% (326%) Pays 3x desktop.

RPM v Desktop

Tablets 272.70% (482%)
Mobiles 166.21% (111%)

Distribution of Earnings

Desktop 77.26% (54%)
Tablets 19.43% (25%)
Mobiles 3.31% (21%)

I do not have a mobile site. I am currently using the "one-size-fits-all" approach. I simply narrowed all my pages (that were shrinkable, width-wise) to 450 pixels. This is what has produced the stats above.

Since mobile pays so well, is increasing, and will continue to increase, I would like to improve my mobile CTR. Not only is it low for me, it seems to be low for others, as well, with the notable exception for HuskyPup above.

[Automotive site]

Let's say I have 3 traditional adsense units on a page, wouldn't adding adsense mobile codes on top of those 3 be against Adsense terms? If not, where do I place mobile code? For example, I may have an code in the single.php file in Wordpress swhere the ad appears inside the content, can I add a mobile code for that same spot? Will the mobile add superimpose the regular ad when someone accesses the site via mobile? Also, does the mobile ad code apply to both mobiles and tablets?

[nomis5]

What "mobile" code. As far as I know Adsense now recommend the same code for mobiles and and desktops.

I certainly have a standard 300x250 ad which appears on both types of site.

[netmeg]

They recommend it, but the implementation is lousy.

Me, I swap em out. If you don't do that, then you probably should just let Google do it, but on my sites anyway, their implementions don't quite fit; they cause horizontal scrolling.

(I don't use the 300x250 as it would have to be placed well below the content in order to fit)

[nomis5]

I don't use the 300x250 as it would have to be placed well below the content in order to fit

Agreed.

I have designed my mobile site specifically for a couple of ad formats and they look fine on that. The CTR is about equal to to the main site.