March 2019 AdSense Earnings & Observations

"Google clawed it all back. I knew it was too good to be true."

[Cralamarre]

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System: The following 6 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google_adsense/4934778.htm [webmasterworld.com] by martinibuster - 2:58 pm on Mar 1, 2019 (utc -5)

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Well, looks like the big improvements I saw in the days leading up to Valentines Day were all for nothing. Google clawed it all back. I knew it was too good to be true.

[Runfun]

Adsense 6 times more ad impressions today in comparison to header bidding. But revenue only 1.5 times more than header bidding. Adsense really needs to improve to be competitive.

[RedBar]

Absolute, total and utter failure of a day with 4 clicks and 0 earnings, fubard again!

[Gracie]

I have had a massive dip today, CTR is back to the level it was with my penalty so I either have the penalty again or just a bad day for ad clicks. Will see what the next few days hold...

[Cralamarre]

Yesterday for me was a new low point for AdSense, but today is doing much better. Things appear to be back to normal.

[Mentat]

For me also a new low point.

As reference, last Thursday I had 5.6 USD CPM; today is 4.4 USD...

If there no miracle in the following days, it will be a new "record" - March, with 31 days will bring less than February, with 28 days.

The swings in payment are incredible.

[Runfun]

I'm only repeating myself but with other numbers. CPM with header bidding is 4.5 times more than Adsense today. Unfortunately Media.net doesn't reply because I'm searching for more networks that accept international websites and not only English. It's horrible to earn more with one lead than with 75K ad impressions with Adsense.

[ember]

Yes, this is the worst March in a long time. EPC has fallen off a cliff, and it wasn't that high in the first place. I am hoping that it is just advertisers running out of first quarter budgets and things improve in April, which seems a long way off right now.

[gatormark]

Adsense fill rates must be getting worse. My traffic and Google rankings are getting better but my Adsense pageviews are getting worse. So weird. Seeing a lot of blank ad slots.

[Runfun]

You can place ads/images as passback so you'll never get blank ad slots. In my case I show a clickable image with link to a page with affiliates.

[gatormark]

@Runfun, yeah I do that. I use Exponential for my passback ads but even they are not 100%. I also use Media.net a little.

[RedBar]

Has AdWords become a FREE advertising programme?

Yesterday after taking out the USA/UK/etc, 20 clicks at 3.5 cents per click.

Today so far after taking out "real" values, 15 clicks and 4 cents in TOTAL!

WTF is going on?

[Abu009]

Worst day of march so far , earnings going to be lower than february .

[Gracie]

Is the issue for most the click through rate, CPC or a combo of both? My CTR is awful again, if it is bad again tomorrow I will have to send another email.

I'm beginning to wonder if mine is sabotage. I have some awful competitors in my niche...

[Runfun]

Here it's a combination of CTR and CPC that's lower. Both about 30% lower than December. Not surprised about the CPC because advertisers are spending the most at the end of the year. I'm mostly surprised about the CTR. You'll think that the quality of ads would be lower but there are mostly top brands advertising. I also made changes according to Adsense to improve visibility and CTR... lol.

Today I was accepted for another affiliate network so I'll put more and more affiliates to my website and Adsense looks like ending.

[Sissi]

Best week of the year so far.
Just a result for a number of optimizations (the devil is in the detail)
Today s numbers are certainly not updated properly.
Check tommorow final numbers they will look better.

[leebow]

I love the email from adsense today -

“February report: your revenue dropped by 4%. Let's improve it.”

Thanks google! I really like to see my money is down! :-(

Especially - when my visitor numbers were UP, and the only thing that seems to really be down is your impressions numbers, and what you’re paying me!

“Use the ad balancer” - great idea! Remove ads from my site, because some are so low paying and no-one is clicking them...

Better idea - change those ads to another network!

Anyway. Rant over. Lol

[CommandDork]

Understandable. Those automated emails are hardly ever helpful. They are worth a chuckle or two though.

"Your online empire is crumbling down around you! Let's get a smile on that face!"

[taynguyenem]

Hi
Not related but I have to pay taxes even though there is no invoice from adsense.

[Sandy Sohail]

Hi everyone,

I see so many people complaining about low CTR that caused them low earnings. But bruh my February CTR has gone but the earnings are the all-time low.

The same is happening in March. I'm getting more clicks but earnings are low. Yesterday was the worst day.

BTW, today it looks good. So far the earnings are higher than yesterday and there is a whole day left. So hopefully it'll be month's highest-earning day.

[Sissi]

Looks like the Low-ctr-rpm-tsunami has reached Europe now.
Was hoping that it was due to a delayed update of the revenues, no this is not a nightmare that s the reality.
As said, time will come that publishers will asked by Google to pay to maintain an account with adsense.

[ember]

Not related but I have to pay taxes even though there is no invoice from adsense.

Generally, if you operate as a sole prop, then you have to earn at least $600 in the prior year to receive a 1099 form (not an invoice). You also have to have submitted a W-9 form to Google. If you are a corporation (S corp or corporate LLC), then you will not receive a1099 even if you earned more than $600. In any case, with or without a 1099, you have to pay taxes on your Adsense income. How much depends on a lot of factors (legal structure, business deductions, tax bracket, etc.). P.S. I am not an accountant. I am also assuming that you are in the U.S.

[Mentat]

Low RPM and traffic changes = grim times.
Saturday = a new low on all figures.

[Sissi]

Very unusual no revenues update for 5 hours now

[Devoweb]

It is really terrible
A terrible drop in returns to the fullest and freezing account for long hours without counting clicks I think it's time to look for an alternative to the Google Adsense

[Runfun]

Not even half the revenue of yesterday and around 5PM in the weekend most revenue is already earned for the day.

[Sissi]

Same yesterday
Probably a provisionning for next week fine:)

[RedBar]

WooHoo!

So far -60% v March 2018 and -73% v last Sunday, thanks for telling me G!

[CommandDork]

Hmm, ya, things appear on the downswing since Thursday for me.

Too bad, the year was going well compared to the start in 2018.

[CommandDork]

Come to think of it, it IS the Spring Break season here in the States. Lots of families on the move, out of town.

[robzilla]

WooHoo!

So far -60% v March 2018

From the March 2018 AdSense Earnings & Observations [webmasterworld.com] thread:

Yesterday was diabolical with clicks, click value and CTR scraping the bottom of the barrel.

As a business tool Google is now almost useless for me, it simply cannot deliver.

So far today with 41/2 hours to go, 2 clicks and 50 Cents, awesome eh?

Looks like my time posting here will be gone come Sunday

-60% of already "diabolical" earnings and a handful of clicks. Are we talking a few pennies per month by now? What's the point of this?