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What sets how much a keyword is worth?

         

Encore

11:50 pm on Jan 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



May someone explain to me what sets how much a keyword is worth on Adsense? I ask because every singe click on my site is only ever bringing in the minumum, which I can't understand why.

I make my site not to earn from adsense, simply because I enjoy doing so and being of great benefit to many people but don't understand why every click is worth so low.

Surely if it was a popular keyword < famous musician > then it would be worth more as so many target it? The main advertisers currently seem to be ringtone sites / ebay and online music related stores which is a decent match. As I know that it's certainly targeted I can be fairly sure that a fair percentage of my visitors do make purchases from those sites, but find it wrong that I would only get 5 cents for reffering ....

AZEvil

12:00 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Surely if it was a popular keyword < famous musician > then it would be worth more as so many target it

Not if the ROI on that term isn't worth paying more than the minimum. Just because there are many advertisers for whatever product is out there doesn't mean that they can afford to pay alot. A term like "widgets" is not going to bring nearly as high a click cost as something like "buy yellow widgets". The traffic from the "buy yellow widgets" is going to be more likely to make a purchase, so advertisers can afford to pay more per click for that term.

Encore

12:18 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



But surely in that case artist name could be used in many keyword groups like:

Artist name album, poster, clothes, etc ...
Don't understand why I really am earning so little for a well targeted advert.

Atomic

1:29 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



1. The revenue could be diluted because so many people are trying to go after this easy money.

2. Some of the top advertisers may have reduced their bids after the holidays.

3. The advertisers paying the big bucks may have negative keywords that could be on your page.

europeforvisitors

1:47 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)



But surely in that case artist name could be used in many keyword groups like:
Artist name album, poster, clothes, etc ...

Yes, but if most of those products are relatively low-priced items, the advertiser's profit per sale won't be enough to justify a high bid.

Also, the conversion rate (or the expected conversion rate) will play a role in what you earn. That's where "smart pricing" comes in: If Google knows, from statistical analysis, that clicks on ads in forums tend to convert at lower rates than clicks on ads in product reviews, the advertiser will receive a bigger discount on forum referrals than on product-review referrals. A 50-cent bid may actually cost the advertiser a fraction of that amount on some types of content pages, yielding less revenue to Google and to the publisher.

martinibuster

1:54 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



more supply, less cost. Rare supply, more expense.

blueheaven123

3:28 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



more supply, less cost. Rare supply, more expense.

Sometimes it doesnt work that way.

The rare supply could be entering a niche market and don't need to bid high.

Like you can bid 5 cents on lindsay lohan and sell lohan videos, but for lindsay lohan there is no competition so you can bid the minumum.

Where as something like web hosting is over populated, but to get to the top, advertisers need to pay more.

Competiton is good but valid competition is even better for publishers. Thats why if google removes affilates from the network it will boost income.

[edited by: blueheaven123 at 3:38 am (utc) on Jan. 6, 2005]

annej

3:32 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



The advertisers paying the big bucks may have negative keywords that could be on your page.

What kinds of words are these? Do they try to guess what words would make it less likely the click would result in a sale?

buckworks

4:06 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



guess what words would make it less likely the click would result in a sale

Exactly.

As one example, if a popular song name happens to include one of your keywords, your ad might appear when people are searching for lyrics or guitar tabs. You'll probably just waste impressions if your ad is shown in that context, so block the words "lyrics" or "tabs".

Atomic

5:57 am on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



guess what words would make it less likely the click would result in a sale

A classic negative keyword is:

-free

Encore

3:19 pm on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thanks for the replies, my site is a typical fansite of a famous music artist.

Does this mean using adsense I'll never be able to earn much?

Having a clothing line, albums, a record label with other famous artists and so on, there's no lack of related 'products' to advertise on.

I can't understand why someone in my posistion ( making a site for hobby reasons, not primarily to earn ) can't still make a decent income without planning everything around keywords.

europeforvisitors

4:07 pm on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)



I can't understand why someone in my posistion ( making a site for hobby reasons, not primarily to earn ) can't still make a decent income without planning everything around keywords.

You don't have to plan everything around keywords; you just have to be lucky enough to have a commercial topic. :-)

If AdSense isn't working for your site, then maybe you should be experimenting with affiliate programs or (if you have enough traffic) with selling ads direct to vendors who may be interested in the type of audience that you reach.

AdSense isn't right for everyone. It's good at targeting ads to specific keywords ("Elbonia hotels," "Arctic kayak cruises," "pink widgets") but not at targeting desirable audience demographics ("educated generation X professionals with an interest in home-entertainment systems, upscale booze, and trendy cars").

martinibuster

5:55 pm on Jan 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



The rare supply could be entering a niche market and don't need to bid high.

Like you can bid 5 cents on lindsay lohan and sell lohan videos, but for lindsay lohan there is no competition so you can bid the minumum.

Actually, that's "more supply" because there's no demand for it. I was running to make jambalaya for a hungry family so I had to be brief. Sorry about that.

In some scenarios there is a high reward (aff payout) driving up the price. With other phrases the supply of people searching is low, which drives competition for those eyeballs up and the cost per click goes up with it.

What's underlying all of that is the profit margin.

In some niches the product margins are razor thin, especially when the average order is like, $32. The prices advertisers are going to pay will stay low, so your epc will hover in the three cents per click range.

So the way I see it, the profit margin plugged into the amount of available traffic is a good guide to what people are bidding.

Although there are always going to be new bidders setting their bids way up and burning through their budgets in two days. hehe