Perhaps "smart" pricing?

But wouldn't Smart pricing be nullified if I have individual companies targeting my adsense channels?

I thought smart pricing was for crap sites with low click thrus and irrelevant content. I could be wrong though. Does every new site fall victim to smart pricing. If so, how does one break free?

In general do your CPC's go up the longer you remain with adsense?

I wish. Mine has gone steadily downward.

You might get 20-50% less than others but certainly not 90% less. I don't think there are many niches that make >$2 per click, especially in this financial crisis.

Not a lot has been said about smart pricing by Google, other than it's a way to protect the advertisers; I can tell you what I *think* it is, but you'll likely never get any kind of response, yea or nay.

I believe that the term 'smart pricing' refers in general to the way all clicks for every publisher are priced.

I don't think smart pricing suddenly kicks in where it wasn't existent before - but that there's probably some kind of internal 'quality score' for the traffic that you send via the clicks on your site, that has at least something to do with the likelihood of that traffic to convert.

That likelihood is probably based on a whole bunch of things - we can guess at some, and we'll probably never guess at most of it. But, for example, if I have a site that is targeted to, and largely about, my home state of Michigan, and for some reason I am suddenly getting a fair number of clicks on that site originating from India - those clicks are gonna pay less, because they will have a much less chance of converting for the advertiser.

BUT if I send a lot of Michigan traffic to Michigan advertisers and that traffic converts like crazy, those clicks will likely be smart priced too - only UP.

It kind of stands to reason that there should be different kinds of smart pricing, and even multiple types of smart pricing applied to the same site at the same time; there are many different types of Quality Scores on the AdWords side, after all. And it also stands to reason that for many if not most sites, *all* traffic isn't going to be good, and *all* traffic isn't going to be crap; there will be some mixture, with a lot in between. The degree to which the bulk of your traffic leans towards good or towards crap is probably one of the factors in how your clicks get priced.

I routinely get clicks of .01. I routinely get clicks of well over $1.00. On the same site. In the same ad block, even.

[edited by: netmeg at 1:24 am (utc) on Mar. 25, 2009]

I tested this by putting a page up on a really high value keyword (can't remember what it was, but it was some loan keyword with a CPC of 50 bucks or something). The clicks I got were like yours, 20 cents or so.

It's possible that the real money driving sites have removed you from their content partner sites in adwords? other than that I don't really know why. Content next converts poorly for many niches (from what I've heard from collegues who work in PPC) and that's one reason why a lot of people don't advertise there. Maybe the top sites simply aren't using content netwrk in your niche.

>My question is why don't I receive the same amount per click as some >of the authoritative sites in my niche earn. I have read on blogs and [..]

Did those bloggers directly say they had x CPC with Adsense? Or did they just speak in general terms, like "it is possible to have such CPC", "someone has a CPC like this" and so on?

BTW Are publishers allowed to disclosed their CPC?

It was a ballpark figure, but I am certain clicks were earning that price because there were 2 blog acquisitions in my niche in which the company acquiring the blog claimed one of the driving factors for the acquisition was (quote) "some adsense clicks earning as high as double digits."

Double digits as in 25 cents or double digits as in $25?

I'd be skeptical. The CPC Estimator? Is that for clicks on the content network or on Google search?

Smart pricing has many aspects, and is NOT nullified by being targeted. Someone could target you but not bid much, in any case.

I suspect that having a new site with still relatively low traffic and # of inbound links means you are being smart-priced in some way. Only way to find out is to stick around.

Good luck!

I thought smart pricing was for crap sites with low click thrus and irrelevant content.

Smart price is based on conversions from clicks. Of course the advertiser defines what a conversion is and we have no control.

Ok...I'm trying to wrap my head around this smart-pricing concept. And I appreciate everyone's input but I have a few more questions.

First, is this (smart pricing) a theory or a fact?

For instance google's sandbox is a theory (probably a true one). Is smart pricing a "theory" in the same respect?

Also, hypothetically, if search result #1 converted the same percentage of clicks into customers for an advertiser as search result #9 in the same niche, would the position 1 receive a higher CPC from google because of it's authoritative position?

First, is this (smart pricing) a theory or a fact?

Here's some more info:
[adsense.blogspot.com...]

As far as I know their is no sandbox with Google. Getting good ranking in Google means quality content with quality inbound links.

BTW: 8US$ for a click? I receive some times a click of 2 or 3 dollars but it is very seldom and a lot has to do with who that visitors are from, what search term they may haved used to come to your website.

Since you just joined Adsense a month ago it may take time for Google to calculate fair value of the clicks. The best thing would be to just run the website for 3-6 months and see if your earnings mprove and to see the average over a longer period of times.

Twelve dollars for a click seems very high, for the content network especially. I wonder if you had to open an account and tried your luck at bidding within the content network, how much you would actually have to start paying.

As for your peers; Are you sure (all things being equal) that you can put any credence into their claims?

I believe smart pricing is something like a pseudo quality score. If you achieve 10/10 it has null effect. Anything below, you are smart priced to some degree.

If you average, say, $0.50/click, that means you could be getting a lot of $0.10/clicks, and a few $2-3 ones, every now and then. So you could say your site have clicks "as high" as $2-3, but it doesn't mean anything, the overall average is what counts.

Nope, we have a channel running that maybe gets only one click per day and sometimes not a click at all. PV is only abt 20 per day. Users mainly fill out a form to plan a conference. Having analytics integrated with Adsense and access to the log files shows us exactly what company or government agency clicked on the Adsense link. The ctr is very low because the user fills out the inquire-form and we only put a 125x125 adblock as the hotel pays us a fixed amount per lead and 1.5% if the deal is closed. If the conference requires accommodation for the delegates the commission is 8% of total booking values.

2-3$ is very low compared to a conference for 200-300 peoples at a five star property.

I'm trying to wrap my head around this smart-pricing concept...

Don't. Instead, spend your time working on your blog, make it the best, most reliable in your niche.

Back to work now.

FarmBoy

Good advice from farmboy. Smart-pricing exists, Google has said so, many people have seen its effect.... and many things have been attributed to it that are NOT smart-pricing.

One specific point: I very much doubt that a site's rank in the SERPs, as you speculated, has any impact.

Build your site! Improve and add to your content. Get more inbound links. The earnings will come. Or not, but that work will be more productive for you in the long run than trying to reverse-engineer smart-pricing and then work around it....

I have read on blogs and seen on google's "CPC estimator" that clicks go for around 8.50 - 12 bucks

Unless is a trusted friend or stats that you actually seen (Adsense reports) don't believe the numbers others say.