Google, what's going on here?

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Google, what's going on here?

Why did my ad relevancy just go down the toilet...

Ducain3

9:08 pm on Jul 3, 2005 (gmt 0)

As of yesterday, for no apparent reason whatsoever, Google began serving ONLY irrelevant, rediculous text ads on my site. I have made absolutely no changes at all.

My 1.2 CTR is currently hovering at .5. I just had my best month ever, and now this.

I don't know how you full time Adsensers do it. I can see if I had changed a bunch of things, that I could have screwed up the ads, but to have this happen at random for no apparent reason is very frustrating.

ann

9:15 pm on Jul 3, 2005 (gmt 0)

could be a holiday and too much bourbon being passed around? :-)

Erku

9:36 pm on Jul 3, 2005 (gmt 0)

what industry are you in?

is it text or pics?

Ducain3

1:06 am on Jul 4, 2005 (gmt 0)

Erku,

My ads are text ads. As for my industry (not being sarcastic at all), am I allowed to discuss that here?

If it's ok, I'm happy to tell. The thing is, this is just a general 'venting' post I guess. I had such a great month last month that I hate to see it tank just because Google decided to have a braincramp.

Frustrating...

ken_b

1:35 am on Jul 4, 2005 (gmt 0)

I'd guess it's probably holiday related, at least if a significant portion of your traffic is USA based.

MichaelCrawford

2:24 am on Jul 4, 2005 (gmt 0)

Don't reveal your CTR or eCPM. It's against the Terms of Service and could get you kicked out of adsense. The revised TOS only allow you to reveal your total earnings.

Ducain3

1:24 pm on Jul 4, 2005 (gmt 0)

Michael,

Thanks. :) Forgot about that. Ugh.

wyweb

1:40 pm on Jul 4, 2005 (gmt 0)

I have made absolutely no changes at all.

Maybe try making some changes then, at least if this continues. I am certainly not an adsense expert but in the past I've had several sites experience drops in CTR, none quite so sudden or drastic as yours however. By rearranging relevant text blocks on these sites, this time with an eye toward keywords and keyword phrasing, I've generally been able to bring it back up.

This probably isn't an answer for you but I did want to throw it out there. Why the holiday would impact ads being served is beyond me. Traffic, yes but presumably google already knows which ads to serve on your site.

Actually Ducain3, I wouldn't do anything right now. Give it a few days and see if it continues.

Happy 4th to all who apply.

WildGoose

9:31 pm on Jul 4, 2005 (gmt 0)

I'm totally new to AdSense. Because of that I have very little experience, but on the other hand their FAQs and TOS are fresh in my mind. When there are fewer advertisers related to your content, then you are more likely to get PSAs and irrelevant ads. If you are in a nich where advertisers dropped the holiday weekend, you would be more likely to get nonsense ads.

Just a guess.

Ducain3

10:23 pm on Jul 4, 2005 (gmt 0)

Ya, the problem with the drop is CTR is that right now on my site are ads having to do with 'employee relations' and transcendental meditation'.

No kidding.

Without telling you my site's subject, I CAN tell you that these ads have NOTHING to do with my site at all. They just started being served a couple of days ago.

Do any of you think an email to Adsense would help at all? I'm making close to no $ at all right now, because no one who visits my site is going to click on these incredibly stupid ads.

Wow...

danimal

5:31 am on Jul 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

i don't get it... why not just ban the irrelevant advertisers? are you using 'em on another site?

hunderdown

2:30 pm on Jul 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

Ducain3

The AdSense algorithm seems to burp every once in a while, as if the process of trying out new ads goes too far.

If they don't start to disappear on their own--which is likely, because the lower CTR should drop them off your pages--in a day or two, I would definitely email AdSense. Some people have reported experiences with targeting problems that did NOT resolve spontaneously, and they were able to get results by emailing support.

I wouldn't bother to ban the advertisers. You'll just get more irrelevant ads from different advertisers.

GoodLucre

3:58 pm on Jul 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

Yes, AdSense is in serious "burp" mode today. As an example, I wrote an indepth article on the pro's and con's of leaving your computer system running and all of my ad blocks display links to furniture slides, catroon sound effects and even a link to "Sounds of Horror". I have no keywords on this page that have the words; slide, furniture, sound or even horror.

Well, this happens to be a site wide burp too. So, you can imagine what my CTR looks like. Yep, you guessed it...ZIP!