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CTR down, but EPC way up

Are advertisers desperate for attention?

         

signor_john

2:25 pm on Oct 9, 2008 (gmt 0)



My site's October CTR is running about 21% below September's (not altogether surprising, given my site's seasonal trends), resulting in a drop in eCPM of about 14%.

That's the bad news. The good news is that EPC is way up: roughly a third over September (and 66% over October 1-9 last year), bringing average EPC to a level that I don't recall having seen since 2004. Maybe advertisers are desperate for attention--and for clicks from penny-pinching prospects--in a tight economy? Or is some other factor at work?

HuskyPup

3:09 pm on Oct 9, 2008 (gmt 0)



My site's October CTR is running about 21% below September's

Mine has been completely normal however since Tuesday of this week I have been seeing very strange metrics considering it had been fairly stable for a while.

My EPC has been well up for the past few weeks however it and CTR took a nose dive on Tuesday, normally my best day, and earnings have been considerably below normal.

One major site had its lowest-ever click day on Tuesday with a 50% reduction yet other sites were completely normal. Since one or two have been noticing slow updations, have I/we also been hit by data loss...again?

Give me back the click volume of 2-3 years ago with the EPC of last week and I would be firmly back in the UPS club.

greatstart

3:34 pm on Oct 9, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Sometimes I think AdSense is much like the stock market, with its daily ups and downs.

All that matters to me are the net results at the end of each month.

Unfortunately, each month has been getting worse since last March.

zett

3:57 pm on Oct 9, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Y/Y comparisons for October do not look good:

CTR -30% (probably a direct result from the economical crisis)
EPC +15% (which is nice, but still does not cover the loss)

eCPM has now reached a new all-time low for me.

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. This hurts.

signor_john

6:19 pm on Oct 9, 2008 (gmt 0)



CTR -30% (probably a direct result from the economical crisis)

Another factor could be the method that Google is now using to count clicks, which has changed since last year. (It used to be that clicks anywhere in the body of the ad were counted; that's no longer true.)

purplecape

6:51 pm on Oct 9, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I am seeing a CTR drop too, and I don't think that it can be attributed entirely to the change in click counting, since the drop is not just visible when looking back to last October, but when looking back over the past few months as well.

My site gets mostly US visitors and they've got some major distractions--people all over the world are following the economic news. We've also got elections coming up.

How those distractions do or do not affect your site(s) will probably vary with your demographics.

zett

7:52 pm on Oct 9, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Another factor could be the method that Google is now using to count clicks

Yep. That's what I am fearing, too. I guess that Google changed the way they count clicks yet again. The change of clickable area last year did not affect me - my ads where never blended at all; if you click on the ads it's because you WANT to click them.

But I really think that my audience is currently not in the mood for buying medium to high value goods. Interested in the pages - yes. In the mood for ordering - not!

andrewshim

10:28 pm on Oct 9, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Unfortunately, each month has been getting worse since last March.

ditto

Another factor could be the method that Google is now using to count clicks

maybe now they only count clicks made exactly on the letters in the link... Maybe ALL clicks in the white spaces between letters and in the hollows of "a,A,b,B,d,D,e,g,o,O,p,P,q,Q,R" are NOT counted!

kidder

9:37 pm on Oct 10, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Ditto, my CTR is trending downwards. Seems like people don't want to spend so they don't shop. Earnings are not bad however.