I thought it was clear google didn't like arbitrage -I wouldn't in their place either- SO why would your measurements be significant to those only using adsense and not touching adwords themselves.

Onthe subject of smartpricing how would you know you're not "smartpriced" or otherwise penalized unless you show your own ads on your own site (and that would be rather pointless).

i'm not a moderator here, but there are such things as libel and slander laws which probably apply to what you posted, unless, of course, you could prove, to the satisfaction of a court, that what you wrote was true.

These kinds of accusation (you are in effect, accusing google of fraud) don't do Webmasterworld any good either.

Unless you are clicking on only your own ads, there is no way you can compare your click revenue to your ad costs. Apples and oranges. Just because you have to pay $.50/click doesn't mean your competitors do.

Hint:
Remember Adsense is a middleman.

find a way to make money from your visitors directly

U$ 0.01 clicks all over. My adwords campaign clicks are all over U$ 0.50 cost, same niche.

I think what I would do is stop the AdWords for now because that's obviously not working. Then take a look at the ads that appear on your site and try to figure out why they're only getting you a penny per click.

Google IS paying less and is NOT returning the smart price money to advertisers.

Like IanCP said: SEEK ALTERNATIVES ASAP. AdSense is dead.

If AdSense isn't working to your satisfaction you can always terminate your account.

Like IanCP said: SEEK ALTERNATIVES ASAP. AdSense is dead.

He didn't say that at all...

IanCP said, "If dissatisfied, seek alternatives."

Which is always the case, if you feel Adsense is not working for your websites, you are free to terminate your account whenever you like. (or just stop displaying ads)

FWIW I'm seeing my EPC increasing steadily over the last few months, unfortunately less people seem to be clicking...

Thanks for drawing attention to what I actually said.

People have a myriad of ideas about this programme, what works for you, may not work for me!

So what?

I "repeat", if you can find better alteratives then go there.

Do NOT put all your eggs in one basket.

There is a very recent discussion here that I'll keep away from, because to me, it's pure MFA in intent.

I'm old enough, stupid enough, to naively believe that people who actually write quality content ought to be rewarded versus folks who get on the band-wagon last week and create a new site based upon the latest craze.

Yes! I'm a naive fool. I'm silly enough to believe advertisers on my sites ought to earn "value for money".

This is NOT a ready made instant income stream.