AdSense Link Units Been Reduced to Only 1 Ad?

[atladsenser]

Been a long time!

Question for you guys: I notice in my AdSense reports that link units are earning significantly less for me now than the same time last year, despite significantly higher traffic to my site this year vs. last year.

What I also noticed was that, when you make your first click on a link unit, the page you're taken to only displays one ad + a few links back to my site. In the past, the page you're taken to after the first click contained a few ads for the user to then click on, if memory serves.

1) Am I remembering this correctly?
2) Have you guys seen this change too?

[JS_Harris]

1) Yes
2) Yes

You are allowed to click on the link unit text to see the page of ads they display, just don't click further than that. I have been seeing only 1 ad on those pages for a long time now. They used to show a banner and some text links, then several ads in image form(circles)... but now it's always one ad with a fairly ugly page style too that you can NOT control from your adsense dashboard..

[v1nce]

I've noticed since January a decline in CTR with link units, possibly with Google testing different variations. My site has +60% traffic from mobile and link units are the main income driver.

Has anybody tested Media.net as an alternative to link units? Any other recommendations for mobile traffic?

[not2easy]

A search for media.net here turns up several discussions. Another term to look up: adsense alternative - just ideas. If there were a great alternative, (a replacement that works for most publishers) it hasn't been uncovered yet.

[JS_Harris]

There's more than one link in ad units, but only 1 ad. The rest of the links go back to your site and look like search results. You can see how many people click back to your site in the clicks column next to the unbillable impressions.

As far as pure monetization goes there are better options. I've had great results with the company you mention, media.net, but there are several. Results depend on your site topic and the number of interested advertisers.

[v1nce]

I think it's time to test additional networks for my site. I also agree, it largely can depend on the site niche and the ad network. Anybody know if there is a good list of top networks or even more specialty ad networks?

[breeks]

wow, I never knew that link units were only showing one ad. I hadn't clicked on a link unit in years even though I use them.
They still seem to be working well on my sites and I don't mind that there is a road back to more pages.

This explains why referral traffic from Google ads is way up. :)