The good news for November: I have about a 25% increase in traffic. The Bad News: CTR is down about 15% compared to previous months. (11/27 was half of normal ) Some theorize that the lower CTR is the change in click area on the Google ads, certainly that is a factor. But I think the big problem, right now, is that we have entered the Holiday Season. Visitors are rushed to find what they are looking for and are not the careful seekers of information that actually will read what is on the website and then seek further info. Do you think your visitors are acting differently? What was the Holiday Season like last year for adsense users?
I've been told the holidays are pretty bad for most people. Right now, my CTR and CPC are down. Kind of depressing. Fortunately, though, my affiliate sales have gone up the last few days.
no particular spikes (upwards nor downwards) in clicks or earnings - to be honest, it probably depends if your websites' content is seasonal?
Ya, the holiday season coming around could be it. I don't think it's because of the change in the click area. The advertisers are still the same. The thanksgiving rush saw a decline in eCPM + CTR for us, and I'm sure December will be the same. The holidays suck unless you have an affiliate shop.
I think the change in clickable area is the biggest contributor. I noticed a considerable drop in CTR the very day it came into play.
Are your clicks down? What about your eCPM? That'll determine why everything went down. CPC and eCPM go hand and hand.
The News intro was my cute way of asking longtime users of Adsense to give their observations of what happens during the Holiday Season with their adsense revenue. Yes, some seasonal sites will improve whether it is Christmas related or skiing related, for example. But what are the visitors doing in general. What are your current impressions of your visitors interactions with your sites? Is there any special tactic to get them stick a little longer. For example, throw up a holiday poem on your home page? Free gifts? Oir should we just ride out December and take what comes?