Adsense greatly reduced delivering of ads on mobile devices

[Cornish]

I noticed a sudden drop in revenue from Adsense specifically for mobile devices. There are no pay-per-view impressions and clicks are considerably lower. I wrote to Google and have been told that there's been an update to the way ads are delivered and users now need to confirm clicks before visiting sites. They implied the mobile version of my sites is encouraging accidental clicks, but have provided no insight into how. I take adhering to AdSense's policies very seriously and can see nowhere that ads are overlapping or near interactive parts of the page. Since they haven't provided any specific information on the problem, I am not sure how I am supposed to respond.

[not2easy]

Forcing double clicks on AdSense is their way of dealing with increased accidental clicks. There have been quite a few of us who have had to make adjustments. Accidental clicks are bad for the publisher, the advertiser and the user so it is worth the effort to closely examine your add placement, margins and ad types to try to prevent that.

An older discussion here shares some margin testing: [webmasterworld.com...]

You should also be sure that you've updated your policies, disallowed personalized ads for European visitors, and checked that your ads.txt file is good. Their policies and ads have changed and for best results we need to stay on top of those changes.

[Cornish]

Thanks. I'll look into increasing margins around ads.

I have disallowed personalised ads in the EU, at least until we've finished implementing a consent solution (it needs to be cross-domain, so has been tricky to get right.) Is ads.txt essential? I don't use it.

If accidental clicks have changed, then it's most likely because something on my site has changed, and the only big change is that I made my cookie notice bigger (and therefore more likely to be interacted with), so I will look into giving that a bigger margin.

Is it usual for pay-per-view ads to be disabled when they force double clicks?

[Cornish]

Right. I've increased the padding on my cookie notice, especially around the 'Accept' link. Hopefully that should resolve the issue. I guess now it's just a waiting game?

This AdSense malarkey is no good for the nerves!

[not2easy]

Is ads.txt essential? I don't use it.

Depends on what and how you are monetizing your site. To help you decide whether it affects you or not, take a look at a few of the discussions about ads.txt:
How it can help advertisers to target your site: [webmasterworld.com...]
How to do it and when it might be required: [webmasterworld.com...]

To look up information here you can always try using the site search in the upper right part of the pages. I mean, if you prefer instant information. ;)

[not2easy]

Just a note about the padding and margins - I'm pretty sure they are more concerned about how the ads might appear too close to content or in places where the ad might cover too much screen for mobile users.

[Cornish]

Thanks. I'll looked at the ads.txt thread.

Nothing has changed with respect to how much of the screen ads use.

[Grapetimes]

@not2easy You said that there have quite a few of us who have had to make adjustments, after making these adjustments was the double click to confirm on Mobile lifted?

[Cornish]

I second that question. And if so, how long did it take please?

[not2easy]

My statement that that there have quite a few of us who have had to make adjustments was based on my own experience and on the number of others I've read here. The double click for mobile affects more than a few publishers. The number of accidental clicks needs to be reduced to remove that requirement afaik.

I changed the type of ads and positioning for mobile and it helped but I also made other changes unrelated to ads. What works for me may or may not help you. For me it depended on the type and placement of ads and surrounding margins. Yours may be fine as they are but need spacing. Or they may be perfectly positioned and spaced but not right for your traffic. Examination of the possible causes should help in deciding what to change.

I've wondered whether some accidental clicks were due to ad-blockers, so people didn't realize there was an ad there and just tried to scroll. I really don't know. BTW - My changes are not recent, they were done well over a year ago.

[Grapetimes]

Okay thank you for your response on this topic. Once the right adjustments were made, how long did it take for google to lift the double click the confirm from your mobile ads?

[not2easy]

It was not immediately. I'd need to guess, but it seems to me it was a little more than a month, probably about 5 weeks. I should mention here as I have in the past - I'm not heavily into AdSense, I regard it as a sideline, an add on. My experience may be nothing like yours. I have used it since it first existed but never as my main focus.

[Cornish]

Do you mind me asking what is your main focus?

[not2easy]

Sorry, but whatever my focus is wouldn't help anyone trying to resolve a problem with reduced earnings due to accidental clicks today. I am certain of that. My main focus here is to try to assist and to stay on topic.

[Cornish]

Okay, no worries, was just curious in case it was to do with monetisation and you had any tips, as I fear I'm too reliant on AdSense and am looking to branch out.

I have a feeling accidental clicks could be caused by the anchor overlays covering the links on my cookie notice, but because coverage is so low, I can't properly investigate. I've found code that restricts anchor ads to the bottom of the page, is it possible to restrict anchor ads to the top, please?

[not2easy]

You might want to read about anchor ads in mobile: [webmasterworld.com...]

[Cornish]

Thank you. I read, elsewhere, that they were controversial and some people had found that they lowered revenue, but up until now I'd had positive experiences with them. They had greatly increased my mobile revenue.