Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Note that CPM ads are not only image ads; they can come in text ads and looks something like a PSA (one ad fills the entire ad unit - whether a leaderboard, rectangle, etc.). But note also that big advertisers are more likely to use images than simply text as they already have an arsenal of campaign images at their disposal.
You may want to enable image ads the moment you see CPM text ads. If the advertiser is using image ads, then that means more dollars for you.
You may want to enable image ads the moment you see CPM text ads.
I believe the "text" ads are converted to and served as images. As far as I know you have to have image ads chosen as an ad type to run site target.
Will G just add the CPM value in to the earnings total? If so it makes EPC calculations rather meaningless.
As far as I know you have to have image ads chosen as an ad type to run site target.
I don't think so. CPM ads run in ad formats that currently do NOT support image ads like the large rectangle.
As for the reporting, everything is combined in the total revenue. No breakdown - as yet. Hopefully G will give a breakdown in the near future. So yes, if you are running CPM ads, EPC is not entirely accurate because it will combine both CPM and CPC ads.
Site selected for CPM ads
anyway I can find out?
I think the only way to tell from your Adsense stats is if you see a set of channel stats that looks like ...
Impressions = 750
Clicks = 0
CTR = 0
eCPM = 5.00
Earnings = $3.75
Of course if there is even one click you can't be sure. But if you see earnings from 0 clicks, I think it's a pretty safe bet there was a CPM ad running.
How can we see this in our adwords accounts?
After complaining and with G fixing the problem of site targeted CPM ads on our site (it first caused our ecpm and revenues to drop), things are so much better now. CPM ads have increased my ECPM and revenues after the problem was fixed. CPM ads are showing even in our second and third ad units, which tells me that the CPC advertisers in the first ad unit are bidding higher than the CPM advertiser on our site.
high traffic sites
Well, I'd love to have that! But I don't think traffic is really the number 1 factor (although you'd do really well with CPM ads if you've got high traffic). We only show about 10,000 impressions per day -- miniscule compared to many folks here.
I think it's more of what sites the advertiser wants to be associated with, where they think they can get better conversions, etc. Quality of site (as perceived by the advertiser) is a greater factor I think than traffic.
So a CPM campaign will make the channel appear to have a lower CTR and higher EPC.
Which is a real pain since "low CTR - high EPC" pages are precisely the ones I target to try and optimise! As a result of a CPM campaign I might end up changing the ad layout and inadvertently preventing the CPM ads showing.
That's not good for me, not good for the advertiser, not good for Google. There has to be *some* way G can split out CPM earnings on the report.
I don't think we can say that CPM ads are only showing if you see zero clicks on a channel. As I understand it a single page could get both CPM and CPC ads
Most definitely. We're only talking as to how to really detect the presence of CPM ads. Of course it is also showing in areas where you are getting clicks from CPC campaigns. But in those areas where you are getting clicks, you don't exactly know how much can be attributed to CPM and how much can be attributed to CPC.
Given the fact that G has not given any means to see breakdown of revenues from CPM and CPC, the only way at this point to ascertain you are showing CPM ads is when you are earning revenues even if you have 0 clicks. That's the only way to isolate it -- for now. I'm sure G will give us this feature in the next months or so.
There was an advertiser who run amuck on my site (it's a big advertiser, not purple pill) and monopolized my ad units. While I was happy to see a site-targeted CPM ad, I was disappointed to see my eCPM, CTR and revenues dropped. Apparently there was a problem with how Adsense runs on my site - CPM ads were replacing higher-paying CPC ads, which shouldn't be the case. CPM ads are only supposed to show if you can earn more from them.
If you are seeing site-targeted ads and your eCPM and revenues are tanking, it is better to send G an email and tell them to take a look at the problem and fix it.
- You are concerned with image ads. But how often do you see image ads on your site that you can really attribute your site's income decline with them? If you have disabled them, how can you be so sure that image ads can lead to a decline in revenue? Remember, what works for one website may not work for another. Who knows, image ads may be good for you? So as everyone preaches here, test, test and test.
- Optimizing your site is always a good thing -- even if you are not running image ads. You can go on and optimize your site to improve its income potential. No need to wait whether CPM ads are showing or not.
If you proceed with your optimization plans, check if it really improves your bottomline. If you tried to optimize and nothing changed, then the thing to do is to observe your site carefully in the next few days and try to isolate the problem. Is it the CPM ads? Or do you think there's tons more you can do to improve your ad layout, based on G's heat map?
Someone once said here that Adsense is a running target. You have to experiment and see what works continuously.
