AdSense CTR Goal

Howdy folks.

I'm just wondering what a resonable goal would be for my AdSense click through rate. I have almost no data so far, as my site is brand new, but I was just wondering if a "good" number would be 1%, 0.1%, less?

I guess it probably depends on the site content as well. Probably a certain type of user is more inclined to ignore ads, while others might pay more attention. I'm hoping my target audience will look at ads.

The site in question is here if you want to have a look at the content.

Anyhow, any advice appreciated.

Cheers,
Gary

 

You will find on some pages that you will have very high CTR's and very low on others. It all depends on your traffic and visitors. You can certainly do some things to increase your CTR. You'll have to experiment and see what works best for you.

I would start off with a better adsense integration - make your adsense blocks match your other content. Placement looks good to me, now work on appearance. Try out the same exact colors as your layout, and try something that stands out a little more.

Outside of that, try adding an image near your ads and see how that affects things.

 

Thanks for the input. That's helpful. Someone else suggested images as well. Maybe I'll look into that. I've changed the colors at least. I'm not sure I like it, but it does at least blend. I have no traffic yet, so it will be hard to see whether it works.

Anyway thanks again.
-Gary

 

I think you can get 2% ctr without troubles. About getting higher ctrs - it's a question.

 

2%? Seems pretty high to me. I ran an adwords campaign (as an advertiser) for a while maybe a year ago, and my content ads had a ctr of maybe 1 in 10,000 I think. Maybe I just had terrible ads, though.

Then again I guess your CTR as an AdSense person would be higher, since I'm assuming it's based on clicks per page displayed, not per ad displayed. i.e. when trying to get CTR as an AdWords advertiser, I had 10 other ads on the page to compete with. As an AdSense person, I don't really care which ad they click on.

Cheers,
Gary

 

nevetS hits the proverbial nail on its head here I think. Experiment and see what works best for you, your site, its visitors, content et al. Experimenting will also mean having a little patience IMO - don't try it for a day or two and draw conclusions as different days will have different traffic patterns and results too. Also, it is very beneficial to take advantage of the channels that AdSense allows you to create so that you can make better comparisons.

Have fun and happy earnings.

 

What are u worrying about CTR when you just started a site? Just work your way up.

 

Thanks for the info. I have no traffic at this time, so I'm just experimenting blindly, hoping to get it right the first time.

What are channels about, by the way? Is this just a device google gives us to track what ads are working?

Thanks again,
Gary

 

I'm not actually worried about it yet. I was mostly just curious about what a "good" CTR rating would be. That way when I manage to generate some traffic I might determine whether I need to change things or not.

Thanks,
Gary

 

CTR is not a thing for you to decide, you might be able to increase it but u can't really set a goal. Some site can reach up to 2 digit CTR and some can go as low as 0.x% CTR. So it depends what kind of site you have and whether your ads and your content is relevant. Your position need to be right as well. Create good content, improve visitor and make sure your visitor click them...i think you could reach 2 digit CTR as well.

 

Two digit CTR? That sounds a bit unlikely to me, but what do I know? Seems at least that I've learned there's much disagreement about what kind of CTR's are attainable.

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated.

Cheers,
Gary

 

Sure the figure is for per page basis. I do not calculate how many ads are displayed on my pages. This figure show nothing. On the same page I can have from 1 to 3 ad blocks. The count is based on many factors and is calculated on serverside.
And you know... figures for per-page basis are much more interesting, higher and optimistic

 

Double digit CTRs are definitely attainable.

 

What kind of site would you have where one out of ten visitors clicked on an ad rather than content? Not that I'm all that proud of my content, mind you. I wouldn't complain if people would rather click on my ads.

 

I think you should start thinking about changes only in at least 5K page impressions. When I make changes, I track what happends after 10-20K of page impressions and only after that I make decision if the changes were good. That's simple probability and statistics.

 

2 things:

#1 Click-throughs of double digits are certainly attainable. On some rare days one of my sites gets over 40%, usually in the low 20% range.

How? Address a problem that people are really, really motivated to solve. Give them the information to do so, then provide ads so when they realize that it's easier to let someone else deal with the problem, they have that "someone else" at their fingertips.

#2 I call BS on the idea that we can't control CTR. If that's so, why can some people consistantly create sites that excell and others can't? They have the skills.

BTW: I concern myself with CTR before I even pick a topic for a site, so it is never too early.

The keys to success are: Choose your keywords well; design your site properly for Adsense integration; have compelling content, whether original or (legitimately) free; and basic quality SEO.

You could buy a book on each of these topics, but most if not all these things can be learned right here (the trick is finding all the best threads).

 

I get early-teens CTR (2-digit) on a number of days per month, not everyday though. My theme is travels and resorts. IMO, the google ads I'm getting are quite relevant to my visitors. It's just a question of my ads placement which I've learned a lot from this forum as well as e-books.

Yes, topics matter. Blogging may not get high CTR. Computers, or travels, or cheap airfares, maybe.

Hope this helps.

 

I'm hoping my topic is a good one: "Work from home, make money online", that sort of thing. I present (what I hope are) relevant articles, and so forth. People see the ads saying "make a zillion dollars in 5 minutes!", and think "hmm, I could read this article, or I could go make a zillion dollars in the time it takes to read the article".

My site has seen a bit of traffic over the last few days, but mostly referred from DP, so it's not been the "real" traffic I'm working to build. CTR has been quite low, but that's to be expected since most people clicking on a link from this forum aren't actually interested in my content, but are looking at the site from various optimization perspectives.

Anyhow I digress. Thanks again for the advice.

Cheers,
Gary

 

Mister Tut,

What kinds of things are you doing to research CTR before you pick a niche? I definately look at the number of people searching for keywords, saturartion, competition, etc., but I would love to have and idea of what CTR would be before I get started.

 

The biggest search keyword that people use to come to my site is the name of my site itself.