I am new to this so excuse these questions if they seem elementary. What determines if a site is considered smart priced? Is it one that has a low CTR or low number of unique visitors compared to overall traffic? Is this site considered "smart priced"? Thanks in advance for your efforts in replying to my questions.
You can consider yourself smartpriced when you get 0.01$-0.05$ clicks. The reason for this is that your visitors that clicked on the ads don't convert into sales, so Google will serve you low paying ads. You can however improve your traffic's quality (get more organic search engine traffic for example) and escape being smartpriced.
Not necessarily, a good alternative (and probably more common) explanation for $0.01 - $0.05 clicks is that you've been infested with MFA or MFAA sites that just don't pay well to begin with. You know the type, the prefilled search result sites, the directory listings of all the hot keywords etc.
The way I see it: Traffic doesn't convert -> low paying ads -> MFA sites, which are among the low paying ads. If you have a healthy, search engine traffic that converts, you won't be served cheap ads. Seldom did I saw MFA site ads on well established, quality websites. So I think the appearance of MFA sites on your website's Google ads is a consequence of being smartpriced as well.
Do you happen to be in that position, or just hypothetically speaking? Because it is possible, but very unlikely. I've said earlier that you can get healthy traffic from search engines because that is well targeted traffic and is very interested in the subject of your website, so they are very likely to buy things. However, if they won't, then you will end up smartpriced as well. Another explanation would be an overcrowded niche that doesn't pay well.
that is not true at all... the sector you are in is a major factor in how many mfa ads there are, and how high the epc is. and the fact that somebody is "very interested in the subject of your website" does NOT mean that they are looking to buy a product, or that they arrived at your site from an active search for products. for instance, if you have an entertainment site, people are not going to go there looking for things to buy... they go there to be entertained.
Oh your site's traffic stinks. You need to improve your traffic from search engines as well as traffic from type ins, etc.
It does happen with me but I doubt if it is the same for all my articles. I am getting 90% organic traffic and 80% to single article where I am getting 0-10 cents a click. I don't have enough data to stand on my words at this point of time..
Fun and Entertainment sites pays less.. and, if your clicks do not convert well for advertisers, you will be smartpriced.
They aren't necesarrily looking for a product, but Adsense shows content related ads, so the chance they MIGHT click on the ads and buy a product is higher. That's why if the visitor is "very interested in the subject of your website" has a better chance of converting. You disagreed that low conversion rates leads to low paying ads. Why do you think people advertise through Google Adwords? Just to get some visitors and feel proud they have a successful website? No... it's because they expect of some sort of revenue from these visitors. If this doesn't happen they will bid less for keywords, thus the value of the clicks will dramatically decrease. Your example helps me prove my point "people are not going to go there looking for things to buy". I totally agree! That's why even if they click on ads, they don't convert and thus this niche has low paying ads.
that is NOT targeted traffic, and it will NOT convert well. wrong, stop telling lies about what i said... i disagreed with your silly claim that "If you have a healthy, search engine traffic that converts, you won't be served cheap ads." you have a lot to learn about adsense.
Then what is your definition of targeted traffic. If I have a site about iPhones and I receive traffic from a search engine (providing that the search engine will show relevant search results)...shouldn't I consider that traffic well targeted? Is there absolutely no chance that they will convert? Please try to be more polite, I haven't offended you and I expect an apology. I don't have the habit of lying and I appreciate it when people bring arguments in a polemical conversation instead of insults. Besides you're quote contained a whole paragraph and it was only natural to believe that you were disagreeing with everything in it. I don't pretend to know everything about adsense, and I have learnt what I know from this forum and from my experience with adsense over this past year. If you disagree with something I said, I ask you again, to bring arguments instead of insults so that we can have a pleasant, interesting and useful for all conversation.
Hey...I have been smartpriced....I get 90% organic traffic...till last month my ecpm was in near double digits but this month it has dropped to lower single digit (the ctr and traffic is increased).. I am so frustrated...I don't know how to come out of it...
this situation has been covered at the official adsense help center. "As an example of smart pricing, consider two websites, each related to digital photography. The first page features digital camera reviews, while the second offers photography tips. Clicks from the page of photography tips might be charged less as they are expected to convert into sales less frequently, resulting in lower value for advertisers. Google data determines that clicks from the digital camera reviews convert better, so clicks from this page are not discounted." as i stated earlier, if the traffic is not looking to buy a product, you will most likely see lower epc. i never said that at all, and i find it very offensive that you are falsely paraphrasing what i say.
I am not falsely paraphrasing what you said. You quoted 2 of my statements and under them you stated that you don't agree. Excuse my logic, but if you didn't agree to the second one you should have quoted only the second one. Note that my first statement was "Traffic doesn't convert -> low paying ads -> MFA sites, which are among the low paying ads." so I still expect an apology from your side for accusing me of telling lies. Later edit: I was hoping that by quoting this post http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=5062391&postcount=7 it will include the full post with the quotes, not just what you said. I asked you what was your definition of targeted traffic. You replied with an Adsense Team example, but that's not a definition. I don't see the term "targeted traffic" anywhere. Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with the example, but that doesn't prove anything. Traffic can be more (the case of digital camera reviews) or less (the case of photography tips) targeted. This doesn't mean that the search engine traffic isn't targeted, or do you believe that traffic isn't targeted unless it converts into sales 99% of the time. That is why I asked your definition, in order to clarify this aspect.
Well i have noticed that smart pricing does depend on traffic and more than that it depends on how much google trusts you. So if you have backlinks and page rank and you rank (doesnt matter if it is a bit low) for a number of keywords then you might not be smart priced. Sometimes i have noticed that coming out of sandbox has an effect on smart pricing being lifted from your account some what.
you failed to provide any quote that would back up any of the paraphrasing that you did. i am awaiting your apology for lying about what i said. that's funny, because google just told you that "smart pricing" is the ultimate definition of targeted traffic. perhaps english is a second language for you? is that where this confusion comes from?
Danimal, I have this weird feeling that I am wasting my time trying to clarify something with you. "define: paraphrase". Go google it and tell me why my previous post "failed to provide any quote that would back up any of the paraphrasing that I did". We were not debating the relation between smart pricing and targeted traffic. Do you think I deny that? Check my first post in this thread, and may I ask which of my words made you to believe that? Let me refresh your memory that we were arguing about search engine traffic not being targeted traffic. Do you still sustain that? And also, I am asking you again to give YOUR definition of targeted traffic. English may not be my first language, but I do have a Certificate in Advanced English issued by the British Council, so if they understood my English, maybe you could understand it also. As an off topic question, may I ask how old are you? I can't verify if you're sincere or not, but this could explain a lot!