50 % drop in mobile since 7th April

[rokramne]

Hi,

I have a 50% daily drop in mobile earnings that started on 7th of April.

Basically what I've found out so far:
* the amount of mobile ads shown is halved (I use Google Ad Manager and AdSense is competing against other line items)
* impression RPM is 1/3rd what it used to be
* clicks are 1/6th of what it used to be
* this happens only in mobile, no changes in desktop ads

Here is a graph that shows earnings, impression PRM and clicks from this year
[i.imgur.com...]

Today I clicked few ads on my site and it requires a double click. First click just opens a question if I would like to visit the site (I don't know the exact words in English). Has it been like this for a long time because I really don't click that much ads? Basically an update like this is a good thing for a long run because, but I'm not sure if this totally explains the drop of RPM.

Any thoughts?

[not2easy]

The second click has been required in some cases, most often only on mobile visits. It is not always clear but can be due to accidental clicks. It seems to be fairly common, but it is not new. The "double click penalty" has been around for a few years now.

In a recent discussion here: [webmasterworld.com...] there were some ideas shared that might help you to find a fix.

[rokramne]

Ok, so it's a penalty. Well, good to know that this is just a (hopefully) temporary thing. Thanks for the link.

[Runfun]

Lol, clicking the ads at your own website? You know that's violating with using Adsense?

[tangor]

There's been a general shakeup in advertising across the board, not just mobile. Part of that is advertisers are holding ad servicing companies to higher standards (for clicks). When money talks---the services respond.

Meanwhile, don't click your own ads!

While not an immediate problem, some browsers are shipping with ad blockers as default, the uptake on ad blockers is increasing, and GDPR is having an impact. On another aside there has been a large shift in ad dollars from g's brand of advertising to another company, also large in advertising. How much of that is related to recently low numbers is still to be determined.

G's recent algo changes (and some glitches in indexing) may have some factor in these numbers.

All of this is drop in traffic (for many) is a mighty moving mix of factors all at the same time. If your site is good, make no changes chasing this drop! Wait a few weeks to see how it all shakes out. Painful, but do nothing reckless to "recover" something that you didn't actually lose, only g moved the goal posts in response to advertisers and their dollars.