CPC / CPM questions...

Discussion in 'AdSense' started by ddepp, Apr 4, 2006.

  1. #1
    Hi, everyone!

    I'm new to adsense (about 2 weeks now) and I have a couple new user-type questions. Any help will be greatly appreciated:

    1. CPM ads -- as I've been viewing my site and making sure everything is working correctly and I don't have any typos, etc. I have noticed that from time to time I have what I assume are CPM ads. Instead of the typical text ads they're image oriented. I'm of course not expecting revenue from viewing my own ads, but I figure if I see these ads from time to time then my other visitors should be seeing them, too. But yet no sign of revenue from CPM's...just from the CPC's. How can this be? Will any revenue from CPM's show up differently on my report than the CPC's do? Am I just overlooking it?

    2. Another CPM question: Is there any way to specify/request CPC's or CPM's? Or is this all up to Google and their bidding process? My CTR has actually been higher than I expected, but I feel that I could do better with a more balanced mix of CPC's and CPM's. Just wondering.

    Thanks in advance for your help.
     
    ddepp, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  2. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #2
    Remember, CPM = 1,000 impressions. Google needs more impressions (in the 100s at least) to start showing you earnings for those CPM impressions you're getting.

    Google gives you the option of choosing rather you want text ads and image ads or one/other. You can specify when you're creating new ads; it's set to image and text as a default.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  3. j3r0m3

    j3r0m3 Peon

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    #3
    if i'm not wrong, not all image ads are CPM.


    google aims to help you maximise your revenue:
    Cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-thousand-impression (CPM). When AdWords advertisers bid on a CPM basis, their ads will compete against CPC ads to display on your pages. Our technology automatically displays whichever ad will generate the maximum revenue for that page, so these ads should only improve your site's revenue potential. if a CPM ad appears on your site, you will be paid each time it appears on your page, not every 1000 times. The term 'cost-per-thousand-impressions' refers to they way AdWords advertisers bid on these ads.
     
    j3r0m3, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  4. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #4
    Hunh, good point. Well, I've been trying to think about this for the last 3 minutes, and my brain hurts. :)
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  5. tflight

    tflight Peon

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    #5
    Both text AND image ads can be paid on EITHER a CPC or CPM basis:

    This comes from Google's post: CPM ads: Knowing the facts can pay off
     
    tflight, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  6. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #6
    The text ads that are paid via CPM are the site-targeted ads, I believe.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  7. ddepp

    ddepp Peon

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    #7
    Great -- thanks for all of the info. That all makes sense. (Or should I say, that all makes AdSense. Sorry, some jokes are best left unsaid and that was perhaps one of them.)

    Basically what I'd like to do is have the pages on my site that have 3 ad units on per page break down into 2 CPC units and one CPM unit. It just seems to me that any clicks on a CPC ad wouldn't be maximized from having the third unit (they'll be plenty of ads to choose from between the other two units), but the one CPM unit would help make up for any slack. A backup of sorts -- my CTR wouldn't drop all that much from 3 CPC units per page to 2 CPC units, plus I'd have that extra revenue from the one CPM.

    I'll just do a bit more research to see if this is possible. If it seems to you that it's not possible, drop a quick line here so I don't go on some sort of wild goose chase.

    Thanks again for the info -- it really helped a lot!
     
    ddepp, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  8. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #8
    What you're saying IS possible, but WILL it happen? I dunno. Google doesn't have all that much CPM ads for you to fill up an entire block, so you might just end up with two ad blocks with text ads, and one blank block that is supposed to have CPM. Then again, your site may be rich in ads, and what I just said may be irrelevant. If you plan to do this, I recommend using Google's collapsible feature, so if your CPM block has no ads for it, it'll "collapse" and save you the space.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  9. ddepp

    ddepp Peon

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    #9
    great -- thanks for the "collapse" tip. yeah, I don't know if there will be enough CPM's to fill the block. My site is a political site and I would think there'd be a better variety in the current CPC ads, but it's a somewhat narrow selection and I seem to keep seeing the same ads over and over. Anywho...
     
    ddepp, Apr 4, 2006 IP
  10. john269

    john269 Notable Member

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    #10
    Yeah they are the site targeted ads which you can see from your sites. You can also see how much you are earning on average CPM with these site targeted stats.

    Also, I would suggest that you don't look at your site to much as with Google ads on it, it is against their TOS to keep clicking on pages of your sites as far as I know.


     
    john269, Apr 12, 2006 IP