AdSense Earnings and Observations - May 2023

[MMedi26]

Month starting off pretty bad.

[edited by: not2easy at 5:41 pm (utc) on May 1, 2023]
[edit reason] New Thread for May 2023 [/edit]

[Sissi]

Sundays have been the best days since 3 months which is quite bizarre.
I m not sure it s about economy or recession don t be confused about inflation and bad shape of economy. GDP growth is there and TV programs are still full of ads.
It s about Adsense blocking clicks for any reason fir any niches or any publishers.
Clicks a 2 USD digits are still around.

[Calisto997]

My CPC as of today 8 May 2023 is the lowest since I started with AdSense

[MMedi26]

Last night picked up a bit but today is starting off rocky. It’s so inconsistent this month and all signs are pointing to the clicks.

[Soulofmonk]

35% down compared to last year. Last year May was the best month for my site. Traffic is at the same level, but RPM is way too low.

[MMedi26]

Yeah I don’t see this month getting any better. There’s usually some type of change by this time but it’s literally been the same way since the start of the month with little to no improvement.

[gatormark]

Even though times are hard for us, I’ve been increasing my ad spend. I use Google Ads to promote my business. Increasing my ads spending has help stabilize my revenue. I am currently on par with May of last year. It is difficult to increase spending when revenue is decreasing, but you will be much better for it once the economy turns around. I noticed that I have recently passed two of my chief competitors in traffic and web presence. Only three more to go.

[MMedi26]

Congratulations. It’s good to hear some positive news in the group.

[Mentat]

Google advertising report are still good, so I see only two options:
- display network is being ignored by the majority of advertisers, but search ads is still used. Serp is full of ads.
- google has a much larger cut now from the display network revenue.

[gatormark]

Unfortunately, the seasonal dead zone begins for me this week. I rely heavily on students; many college semesters are over or ending this week. High School will be over at the end of the month. Then, I'm on life support until September. :-) I usually have to run membership specials or do other things to stay afloat during the summer. Adsense drops 35%.

[gatormark]

@Mentat, I only use search ads in my advertising.

[Mentat]

My eCPM today is 0.91$, this is by far a new low record.
My visitors are mostly from NA and EU.

[dolcevita]

What worries me is that the CPC this month is much lower than before, and in some days it is extremely low. I am waiting for the day when it will break and return to the way it was before, but nothing is happening yet. The tendency of low CPC started sometime at the end of last/beginning of this month.

[CommandDork]

The newly released inflation report wont help things any. Up in April (US).

[Mentat]

I’ve read that inflation is finally slowing down in the US.

[MMedi26]

I hate that I’m getting great views this month but the RPM/CPC is low. It’s like a slap in the face.

[gatormark]

Great AdSense day yesterday. Very low AdSense day today. Strange.

[Sissi]

That s what I mean a high volatility that looks like they are trying to fix something

[gatormark]

May 2023 compared to May 2022...

Page views are up 1.3%.
Clicks are up 8.9%.
Earnings are down 9.6%.

[Mentat]

I hope that adsense reporting is stuck, as I see horror figures.

[CommandDork]

Certainly feels a bit "off" today.

[Sissi]

Worst weekend for years now

[MMedi26]

Yeah I woke up to poor numbers and again it’s pointing to the clicks.

[kireb]

Did somtone turn the lights off? Running at less than 50% on Saturday and Sunday.

[magician]

Came back here after dismal weekend in terms of adsense revenue. May is going very, very bad. Some consolation that I am not alone.

[renatovieira]

Over here too. Worst month in years. I thought april was the worst month, but no. May is bizarre. Earnings on declines of more than -150%

[Breathofair33]

YTD: Trash earnings continue. Same traffic.

What's everyone's though on AI? More or less impact to web pub's? I think could be the final hammer to earnings...

[ember]

My thoughts on AI are pessimistic. 1) It will reduce website traffic because Google apparently wants to create "zero-click" results that do not link to websites. 2) Google will find a way to insert ads into its AI search results, but there won't be much reason to continue the display network (Adsense) if websites start to die off as they receive less traffic. It won't happen tomorrow, but I think it's coming fairly soon.

I hope I'm wrong.

[Sissi]

@ember

I partially agree with you.
AI will cover only a part of the research, like „how do I sell a fridge in Groenland“
It cannot cover : I need a mortgage without downpayment.

[Breathofair33]

Feelings are similar, i think it will take 2 or so generations to adopt AI. Maybe income generation somehow for Google AI to scrape indexed sites.
Tuff pill to swallow for many of us doing this partially or full-time

[CommandDork]

I join Ember in his views about AI, pessimistic. However, there have been a lot of 'death knells' in this industry over the last ten years. And while revenue has consistently decreased, the industry continues to roll on for those who want to remain on the ride.

I have no choice right now - my ticket's punched and I'm on the roller coaster...and my seat belt's jammed.