any one know what the over all CTR is before you get smart priced? My sites have dropped in earnings and these are steady 12+ month sites that made the same $ every month for over a year. then last month boom they have dropped in value and how much they bring in. I have added more sites onto my network that haven't been doing to well i.e low cash sites if i removed them would my earnings increase? the traffic and every thing else seems to be the same i cant see any dips in traffic.... i haven't lost visitors or anything yet my earnings are down 60% wounder if any one know whats going on.
There isn't a specific CTR % figure. Remove the sites with very low CTR until things are back to normal, then slowly introduce sites one-by-one. If earnings drop remove that site again and use it for something else. Dean
Not necessarily but they could if the traffic is not considered to be well targeted. Are you getting a figure under 3%? Under 2% consistently then consider using for something else ( in my opinion ). Dean
@config_error - Smart pricing isn't a myth, it does actually exist. If your account has been averaging say $0.25 a click and it drops to an average of 2-3 cents a click for several days, then you've just been smart priced. So, it does happen. If people witness fluctuations, then this is totally normal. There's a big difference between that and earning 10% of what you used to. Dean
It also depends on advertisers. If lots of advertisers want to advertise on your site and they can bid the price high. If they don't adequate ROI, they will drop out so also your earnings
Smart pricing has nothing to do with your CTR, it depends on driving good traffic to advertisers. Here is a FAQ that may clear things up: http://www.admoolah.com/blog/index.php/2006/12/smart-pricing-faq-for-adsense-publishers/
so if i move the lower sites to a new ip and take off adsense i should fix the problem. I would say i was driving good traffic to advertisers as my other sites have been very stable.
I'll disagree with tlainevool. Google may not use CTR as the only basis to smartprice, but it is a huge factor. I took this from the article you linked to... Now, read the first sentence. "based on its effectiveness compared to a search click" How do they figure that? Hmm...CTR? Also, read the second sentence. "So if our data shows that a click from a content page is less likely to turn into actionable business results — such as online sales, registrations, phone calls, or newsletter signups — we reduce the price you pay for that click" Again, what data are they using to determine which clicks from a content page are "less likely to turn into actionable business results"? CTR perhaps? Having experimented with thousands of content pages, it's been my experience anytime a site falls below 3% CTR, you're in danger of being smartpriced. Either figure out how to get the CTR back up or pull the ads if you start seeing cost per click go down across the sites in your account. I'm also betting they use conversion rates as well, but this would be a little more difficult for them to determine if the target site does not have Google's analytic software installed. TxDon
I'm going to disagree with TxDon and agree with tlainevool. Think about it. Imagine that you get one click for every 5000 page views. That would be a low CTR...CTR is Click-thru-Rate for those who are unsure. What if that one click converted for the ADVERTISER? YOU have a pathetic CTR, but the CONVERSION for the ADVERTISER is GREAT. Why in blazes would you get smart-priced? If a site falls below 3% has nothing to do with whether the site will be smart priced. If it falls below 3% and you send crap visitors, then you could be. But if you have 18% CTR and send crap visitors you have just as much chance. It's CONVERSIONS for the advertiser, not CTR for the publisher that is the factor. If anything, you'd have a better chance of being smart-priced with a HIGH ctr because that _could_ mean people are clicking with not as much interest in the target site.