Does "time spent on page" affect revenue?

[internetheaven]

We've made adjustments to our site that means the sections with ads in have less content i.e. people are not reading long articles before getting to the ad. So, ads are being clicked much quicker than before ...

... and our earnings-per-click have dropped to 20% of what they were last month.

Anyone seen or heard of this before?

[jimbeetle]

I wouldn't say that time spent on page is the direct cause, but lack of content certainly might be.

"Oh, there's really nothing here, where do I go now? Ahh, there's an ad I can click."

That can result in non-converting traffic leading to a downward smart price slap.

[internetheaven]

That can result in non-converting traffic leading to a downward smart price slap.

I have not heard of this "smart price" reduction for "non-converting traffic". Do you have a few links to articles on the subject?

[jimbeetle]

Smart pricing is designed to help advertisers confidently bid the maximum they’re willing to pay for their ads, which will increase publisher revenue over time. If a click is determined to be less likely to lead to a business result like a purchase or a newsletter sign-up, an advertiser’s maximum bid may be reduced.

[support.google.com...]

[internetheaven]

Then that would suggest that time spent on the ADVERTISER'S site would affect revenue. That would make sense from what I've seen with my account over time.

It's a good job that Google have 1984'd the internet, otherwise they wouldn't be able to know what everyone does everywhere.