AdSense Smart Pricing Taking It's Toll?

[edr]

Anyone else experiencing drop in the per click prices they receive recently? My understanding is that Smart Pricing has taken affect now and that one poorly performing site in a network can tank an entire account.

As a publisher I am struggling with this. Has anyone heard if there is any intent to make Smart Pricing active by site instead of by account?

[JL_99]

I've definitely seen a big drop in value per click over the last week or so. I'm trimming the adsense off of my lower-performing sites/pages in the hopes that the value on the remaining ads will go back up.

[clancey]

I have also notced what appears to be a downtrend in average returns oper click. However, looking at the weekly average rates since the start of the year, there is not really a clear down trend. It is bumpy, but feels lower.

Google may not just be implementing smart priving. They are definitely looking for ways to reduce their payments to websites which run ads in order to increase their share of the revenue. The revenue split appears to have moved from around 60:40 in Googles favor to 64:36. I am interested in seeing the fourth quarter financials to see how that looks.

Removing AdSense from poor performing websites may be as effective as encouraging competing ad networks from Yahoo and Microsoft and other financially strong companies. Both reduce the overall size and penetration of Google's AdSense network, forcing Google to get more competitive in what it offers web owners.

Frankly, if it gets down to a penny or two a click, I will find a better use for my reputation than supporting Google.

[JL_99]

Frankly, if it gets down to a penny or two a click, I will find a better use for my reputation than supporting Google.

Agreed...ads on one of my pages have gone from $X.XX a click to less than 20 cents a click for the last week. If that keeps up I'd rather provide my readers with a nice ad-free page than bother with adsense. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it is a temporary trend in my numbers!

[fablex]

well, if this continues, lets hope microsoft also comes with an adsense-like service. A bit competition to get the publishers would be good for us i guess...

[dimoss]

Agreed...ads on one of my pages have gone from $X.XX a click to less than 20 cents a click for the last week. If that keeps up I'd rather provide my readers with a nice ad-free page than bother with adsense. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it is a temporary trend in my numbers!

I noticed the same significant drop in the daily income. Although not high income but it's ok because I run Adsense only for two months.

How can I see the cost of the clicks?

Thanks,

Denis

[JL_99]

How can I see the cost of the clicks?

Thanks,

Denis

I only know the cost per click because I still haven't broken my addiction to checking my adsense results every couple hours...and I don't get all that many clicks yet. I don't believe there is a way to get individual click results in the reports.

[eKstreme]

I've actually plotted a 5-day moving average of earnings and there is a definite peak on Feb 10th (or so) and a clear steady decline since then.

I'm so angry at AdSense right now and can't wait for a decent competitor. They're so going to lose a good proportion of publishers once YPN goes live world-wide. Come on Yahoo!

Meanwhile, I've trimed my low-performing adverts.

Also, I'm looking at other networks. Got accepted into a couple and now experimenting with some aggressive ad placement with multiple networks.

Stupid AdSense.

By the way, if anyone wants the script that plots moving earnings averages, PM your email address. I'll be off email till next week, but will get it to you asap :)

[tesla]

I've noticed a drop in Adsense over the last last three weeks, but I've had good days, and today appears to be one of them.

The way I'm going to solve this problem is buy building more websites and getting more traffic. It doesn't matter if you're getting paid 20 cents a click, because if you are getting 300 clicks a day, you're still going to make good money.

[JL_99]

Well, either my efforts to trim ads from my lowest-earning sites has worked a little, or I was just having a string of bad luck with low-paying clicks. This morning my average earnings per click have been so high that they have brought my average earning per click for the week up to my typically weekly average...I guess I should wait a little longer before whining next time :D

[fgs]

My CPC has been extra low the past week or so, which is somewhat frustrating to be getting 400 more clicks than usual and still be in the same earning range.

[clancey]

How can I see the cost of the clicks?

The cost per click is simply the daily AdSense revenue divided by the number of clicks. I track this is a spreadsheet.

[advancedfuture]

My CPC has been extra low the past week or so, which is somewhat frustrating to be getting 400 more clicks than usual and still be in the same earning range.

I hear you I'm in the same boat. My site for the first time has dipped in the 10 cents a click range. The fact that I'm making money from $20+ a day from affiliate leads, leads me to beleive that 1.) my site is obviously doing well since the affiliates ads are the same as the adsense ads. 2.) Time to pull the plug on adsense and just promote CJ harder.

I really thought I found the key, making 40-50 a day with adsense. Now I struggle breaking $9 a day with the same traffic and clickthrough rates. The only exception is Mondays which almost always break $20 dollars.... weird trend.

In my opinion smart pricing is going to break the camels back here.

[fgs]

yeah I tried going away from adsense, that turned out to be a near disaster. I am going to experience with AdBrite a little bit, see what that does for me. But I would rather keep the visitors than send them away from fractions of a penny

[dadasays]

I just don't think you can look at a 3 week perspective and say that Google is to blame for low earnings. I saw a dip in 2 of my sites during the same 3 week period, but another 2 of my sites went up.

February is one of the worst months for retail stores. I am sure it is a similar problem for online companies -- people getting their Christmas credit card bills and all. I wouldn't put any faith in anyone saying this is Google's doing when it could be a number of things.

I had a near record income day last week and the days after are up quite significantly, on par with February 9th. Even if Google is to blame, it might be a temporary correction while new algorithms to attack scraper and fraud sites kick in.

I will happily accept temporary cuts in earnings if it means they're finding ways to depreciate the value of bad sites.

[CanadianEh]

My CPC has been awful since March 1st. Today is the all time low. Its still morning but it is way down.

[spring]

I've actually plotted a 5-day moving average of earnings and there is a definite peak on Feb 10th (or so) and a clear steady decline since then.

same here.