My CTR is VERY low on my website. I get around 500-700 page views per day. My site is fairly new (Sept 09), and I am witnessing an increased amount of visitors lately..but I need some advice regarding how I can increase my CTR. I am not saying don't get any clicks, but I am sure my CTR is lower than it should be. Am I allowed to tell you guys a range where my CTR is? http://www.freebieshark.com Any advice would be awesome! Thank you
Maybe your site is too generic and doesn't entice users to click. For example, if someone is searching for how to do....(something), they are not going to be interested in buying anything so will therefore have no reason to click on an adsense add. On the other hand, if your site were super targeted to a specific niche such as "dining room sofas", then the searchers coming to your site are specifically looking for information on how to buy, or will be looking to buy these products, and will therefore be more inclined to click an ad. so, in anutshell, a lot will depend on what your site is about
Your Sq box adsense unit should really be used right after your post topic. it should increase your CTR
Great point from above user. I forgot to mention that ad placement plays a prominent part. Obviously the ads should be placed above the fold and ideally as a large rectangle on the left hand side of the page just under the page title.
Thanks for the helpful replies everyone. I am confused, where exactly should I place the large square ad?
You seem to be getting decent traffic levels considering you are only a couple months old. Is all that traffic coming from search engines or are you using bookmarking sites? Any kind of "social" traffic and the CTR will keep dropping, so targeted traffic from Google should be the best way to increase your CTR amongst other general optimisations. What range is your CTR rate around? It's difficult to judge without knowing a ballpark figure!
I am only getting about 8% traffic from search engines..i need to figure out how to increase that! Since I am not allowed to give an exact CTR number, I will give a range. I am anywhere between 1.1%-2.2%. I am guessing this is low, am I right??
Thank you! Which banner? And should I place it right where it says "Bookmark us and remember to visit us everyday for more free stuff!"? Thanks again!
8% traffic from search engines - lordy. I have around a dozen or so blogs and search engine traffic accounts for more than 90%! CTR can vary. I have had 6-7% for content that provides product reviews and financial services where the users do convert very well. But then I have news/trend sites that are still below the 1% mark! I'm using the same placements and such, but it comes down to the content and the ads that are being served. I don't think 2% is actually all that bad to be honest. What you could do is throw up a Google custom search box that opens up within your site. You should get around a 10% CTR with one... they work really well imo.