I have read many times here on DP, as well as other forums, that its never particularly in the interests of Adsense earnings to have a site that is over optimised for the reader and I have thought such observations to be, at best, somewhat curious but, based on my recent experiences, it seems that once again – as with so many things in life – I may have paid little credence to what have been invaluable insights. Let me explain. My site gets around quarter of a million uniques a month (and growing) and I decided some weeks ago that it really needed an aesthetic overhaul, as the site was looking rather old in the tooth, so I spent a couple of weeks on a test site redesigning the site to make it more accessible to my visitors and I am happy to report that the results, with the new, optimised design which is now up and live have been nothing short of astonishing – with readers now staying on far longer and reaching ever deeper into my content. It’s now not unusual to see readers visiting over 50 pages in a single sitting. Great news. At this juncture I suspect that the majority of you who, like me, have been running sites for some years know what’s coming next – that being that not only has my CTR has well and truly plummeted but my earnings from Adsense have dropped by at least a third as those reading multiple pages become almost immediately blind to my Adsense placements as they trawl through the content. I have spent a few days playing with dynamic placement based on post age and, whilst I had some success, I have decided that it was becoming all a bit too much, so I stopped dynamic ad placement to see just low bad things can get. Interestingly there seems to be an issue here between serving Adsense and doing well out of it (which, even with the dramatic decline, I still do) and with providing a conducive reader experience and, whilst I have no doubt that there is an elusive middle ground here somewhere (I had it before, I am now trying to find it again) I could, of course, just revert with a single click to the older design and gain less reader interest but greater financial rewards. Its not all doom and gloom, as I do also show impression based ads on the site (which are, naturally, showing a healthy return) but I am interested to see just how many people have hit upon this ‘dilemma’ and whether, of those who have, you became rather dispirited with Adsense and the fact that, until the aforementioned middle ground is found, you have, it would seem, an option of running a site that reaps major Adsense rewards (that you can no longer feel proud of) or one that readers seem extremely interested in and one which gains considerable praise in terns of layout and design (as well as reader interest). I know which way I’m going (I’m looking at the bigger picture) but how many of you, knowing that you could add a third back to your Adsense income with just a single click (and a third of my Adsense income is not an inconsiderable sum, incidentally) by reverting back to the older site design would take that avenue?
I had a similar problem with a recent redesign though on a much smaller scale. Here's my thread: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1022838 How long has it been since you launched the new design? has your CTR dropped or your EPC? Or both? Maybe compare the # of clicks you had before to the # of visitors you had before rather than the # of impressions since you say you're getting more impressions now. On my thread people indicated that it takes a while for google to re-spider your new design and in the mean time your EPC can drop significantly. This may be the problem. But even if it's not I agree with you that having a user-friendly site is most important because if it attracts more users then you'll probably get more clicks. Can you add in some affiliate marketing that might increase your earnings rather than just adsense?
Hi, thanks for your reply. Interesting visits are rising at a rather nice rate and page views have gone up by around 2x however CRT and eCPM have dropped. As I said above, I am cushioned by having other ads on the site that pay per impression but what gets me a bit is that I have been rather used to very nice Adsense CTRs and to see them plummet is quite, well, sobering (he says with a beer in his hand). What also gets me is that this has led to me obcessing somewhat (read as: too much) about whats happening with Adsense and wondering whether it would just be better to resort to the older design with a flick of a switch, as it were. That said, its quite obvious that the optimised design now in place is better for my readers (my stats confirm this beyond doubt) so I will ride with it and take the hit (which, to put matters into stark perspective, is a three figure sum - hence my initial panic). I was just interested to hear how many people, in my position, would take the hit 'for the greater good' or who would revert to the older design and see the three figure loss come back. Or, rather, I think I would like someone to say be brave, you're doing the right thing in terms of the bigger picture" lol.
For people like you I would suggest finding an advertiser that will pay per impression. If your site looks good and you're getting more impressions per person that should help your earnings. I personally run a forum site so I want it to be optimized for my users so that they'll come back and hopefully post in a thread or create one. That way I don't have to generate the content myself. So I'll gladly take the adsense hit for a short term loss since I believe it'll be a long term gain.
I think you are doing the right thing and that the money will come back either from the increased visitors or from the value of the ads going back up. I only considered changing my site back because the new design isn't a huge value-add for visitors. The same effect could be accomplished by using internal page links. Though now that I think about it, that would probably reduce my earnings because the ads would only be shown at the very top and the very bottom. I'll stick with my new design and have faith that the money will bounce back as traffic increases. I think the same will be true for you. Good luck!
Thanks guys, just what I needed to hear. Like you, I am not averse to making money from the site (its my full time job, it pays the bills) but there comes a point where you have to ask whether you are in it for the readers or soley to make a buck. If it was the latter, hell, I would have reverted back to the other design asap. I do show non-evasive impression based ads and it has to be said that they are doing rather well with the increased impressions. I think I just need to stop seeing Adsense as the 'be all and end all' and genuinely accept that as time passes it will figure less and less in my earnings - which I can just about accept as long as I can still afford my Aston Martin in a few years (well, ok, Fiat Panda with full trims - lets not get ahead of ourselves here) ;-) Thanks for the feedback. I hoped (and genuinely felt) I was doing the right thing but just needed to hear it from others who understand the business as well. Much appreciated.