count me in. at the end of last year, my adsense earnings were only just a tiny fraction of what they used to be back in the golden years of 2005-2007 (enjoy it while it lasts). it is absolutely astonishing what earnings differences adsense has produced for me on one and the same website with the same hard work every day and more or less steady traffic. i talk of differences hundred to thousandfold - so you see, it has hit me extremely hard. the ever surging competition in my niche and massively changing user behavior may be two of the main factors for the steadily worsening stats.

Try disabling ALL the advertisers directly targeting your site(s). You do that from the ad review center. You'd be amazed at the difference it makes.

Web_Speed - any idea why disabling the targeting makes a positive (?) difference?

@ nomis5

My guess, most of these ads pay by impression (a crappy ecpm) and compete with good paying CTR ads.

I'm always somewhat bemused by all the people who say they've either removed or greatly reduced AdSense or dependency on AdSense - yet still hang around here to complain about AdSense.

yet still hang around here to complain about AdSense.

One may change drink from beer to wine but it doesn't stop one going to the pub or discussing it:-)))

As has already been noted "Google detox"...yay

If you have a pretty good following of regulars, you might want to consider leaving them in control. We follow this strategy on one of our sites. We have a team of power users we made moderators (volunteers) and we built tools for them to manage and police the site. They can moderate comments and posts, etc. And they keep posting new content since they spend so much time on the site. All for free since they enjoy the site so much.

We check in every now and then of course, but mostly they run the show... If you find the right users, it can work out very well for both parties... Users love to help out and be more involved in sites they are passionate about... and sometimes the site owners need a little help to keep things going.

Try disabling ALL the advertisers directly targeting your site(s). You do that from the ad review center. You'd be amazed at the difference it makes.

Wouldn't that depend on how many advertisers are targeting you with CPC ads? I should think that would vary quite a bit from site to site.

I'm always somewhat bemused by all the people who say they've either removed or greatly reduced AdSense or dependency on AdSense - yet still hang around here to complain about AdSense.

Ah, sure. You're absolutely right, and I'm probably a good example for one of those guys.

I still come here almost every day, but I have been reducing my posting frequency (and it's far less complaining recently). At the same time I'm far less touched by the posts, because I just don't care anymore.

I guess the detox is working. :-)

I have no idea how to reply to this other than THERE IS HOPE!..

I have a steady XX% CTR and my min. click is almost half a dollar..

I have went up by atleast a few 000.00! every month for the last 4 months!

I don't know what I am doing diff. than everyone else BUT I tell you this I do maybe, MAYBE 4 or 5 new pages per month if I am lucky!

SO, I am not tooting a horn here, simply saying SOMETHING or SOMENICHE (Automotive) is working. Being Automotive in nature the site also did well when the bottom fell out of the auto industry. I guess since its geared to the USED market..

So for those ON THE FENCE.. It does still work IMO.

I gave up on my content sites over a year ago. My widget site continues to grow, so I put all focus on that. At least that's something within my control. Also removed any trace of external ads or links on the widget site, unless someone else is returning the favor with actual living breathing traffic who buys things... which I think is a positive thing. The AdSense ads on my content sites don't seem too bad. Why they don't get clicked hardly at all anymore, I have no idea. Gave up trying to figure it out. Oh, and just now I see Amazon ads are putting up the generic ads due to server slowness... Wonderful... Another thing I have no control over. I would absolutely love to have a profitable content site, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Less advertising money = less advertising = less ads to serve = worse targeting = dropping CTR = whining webmasters.

Don't hate the players, hate the game. Poor tradesman… blah blah ;-)

I have been noticing a slowdown on all my sites as far as Adsense revenue is concerned. There was a time when I tried really hard to improve the website, ad placements etc in an attempt to improve revenue generation. However, I could not see much of an improvement which led me to a new plan of action - leave it alone! A week back, I have launched a new 5 page website WITHOUT adsense. I don't know if it makes sense but this is my way of experimenting and understanding how and when the website will get indexed.

Try disabling ALL the advertisers directly targeting your site(s). You do that from the ad review center. You'd be amazed at the difference it makes.

You have to disable each ad individually, right? Yuck.

It could be that Google has implemented new techniques to save Adwords advertisers more money & thus meaning a loss of revenues of Adsense users. That could explain lowering CTR rates.

It could be that Google has implemented new techniques to save Adwords advertisers more money & thus meaning a loss of revenues of Adsense users. That could explain lowering CTR rates.

It's no secret that Google has introduced features for advertisers such as:

- The ability to block more domains;

- Placement targeting for CPC ads, not just CPM ads;

- A smaller clickable area in ads to reduce the number of accidental clicks that get billed to advertisers.

However, these changes have been in place for a while now.

As for the notion that Google wants to reduce revenue, that strikes me as being farfetched, because fewer valid clicks and less revenue would mean less money for AdSense publishers and for Google.

No doubt Goo doesn't want to decrease their revenue, however, they are "lowering accquistion costs", which doesn't preclude experimenting with lowering publisher payouts to see how very, very, very little you will take and still do the dance for them. A penny here, a penny there, etc. It would add up for them mighty handsomely.

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Signor_john, the name of the game is customer satisfaction. If you are overcharging customers, they are less likely to spend money with you. It would be in Google's best interest to keep Adwords advertisers happy in the long run, and that means lowering their costs.

Signor also it has been recently stated they Google has implemented new Click Fruad detection & even clicks that end up in sales may not be charged as "valid clicks" with the new system. I am an Adwords advertiser and have watched many videos on this. I'm not saying there aren't other factors (economy, etc.) but this could definitely be one of them and one of the main causes.

Google's goal is to keep Adwords customers happy with them and spending money with them in the long run & acquiring more new business (through word of mouth).

Watch the video at [adwords.google.com...]
At 1:30 and 2:00 He says that legitimate clicks can not be charged at times.

Also new Quality Score algorithms implemented in last year or so could be giving lower CPC's for 2nd, 3rd, 4th place advertisers etc. since they only have to pay for the bid of the person behind them, etc.

No doubt Goo doesn't want to decrease their revenue, however, they are "lowering accquistion costs", which doesn't preclude experimenting with lowering publisher payouts to see how very, very, very little you will take and still do the dance for them. A penny here, a penny there, etc. It would add up for them mighty handsomely.

I think it's about them balancing between Adwords customer happiness & Adsense publishers happiness. Adsense publishers tend to forgot the other part of the equation and who is actually paying them, Google is just the go-between guy ;)

It would be in Google's best interest to keep Adwords advertisers happy in the long run, and that means lowering their costs.

No, it means delivering full value for the price paid. Improvements in click-fraud detection, reducing the size of the clickable ad area to minimize accidental clicks, giving advertisers tools for placement targeting and domain blocking, etc. don't necessarily lower prices (or costs), but such improvements do result in less waste and better ROI for the advertiser.

For what it's worth, some publishers have seen substantial increases in average AdSense earnings per click over the last year. That's a positive trend, especially in a weak economy, and it suggests that online advertisers are willing to pay a premium for the right kind of traffic (just as they do with online display advertising or with print-media advertising and direct mail).

clicks that end up in sales may not be charged as "valid clicks" with the new system

How much more valid can a click be than converting into sales? How much more value can possibly be added (in areas that are under control of the publisher)?

See, that kind of irritating ideas (in lack of stronger language) let us wave the white flag and move on. And we're still happy about this. :-)

i think publishers just have to accept that they will always come second in google's affections, because it's the adwords advertisers that actually stump up the money.
if google annoys us publishers then it's no big deal because if we leave, so what -- there's a limitless supply of other web pages that can step up and take the ad.

if google can shave a few pennies off the publishers cut and give it to the advertisers without causing a mass exodus, then it makes sense to do it.

we need more competition, that's what we need.
if yahoo and msn opened up their networks to european publishers then google would have to start looking after their publishers a bit better.

f yahoo and msn opened up their networks to european publishers then google would have to start looking after their publishers a bit better.

Have you considered the possibility that, from Google's point of view, publisher attrition (a.k.a. culling the herd or strengthening the species) isn't always a bad thing?

Also, have you considered the possibility that a network that works well for advertisers is more likely to work better for publishers than a network that doesn't work well for advvertisers? Advertisers who feel that they're getting good value for their dollars, pounds, euros, etc. are more likely to spend freely than are advertisers who feel that their money is being sucked up by a "lowest common denominator" network like the first-generation AdSense network of 2003 and early 2004.

you are a strange publisher, signor_john. you disagree with everything that is in our interest, and support every google move which impacts on our earnings.

Advertisers who feel that they're getting good value for their dollars, pounds, euros, etc. are more likely to spend freely

That's a very good point s_j, certainly my EPC average has gone up this year and even more so the last couple of months therefore "something" is working well, it's the CTR (and overall click volume) that has me frustrated since it has been on a continual and gradual slide ever since the inception of AdSense and there's nothing I can do about it...apart from trapping a user on a page...hey I've been banned coming up!

you are a strange publisher, signor_john. you disagree with everything that is in our interest

Londrum, I don't know if you were an AdSense publisher back in 2003, but a lot of advertisers were leery of the "content network" back then, and for good reason.

When advertisers feel they're getting good value for their adevrtising budgets, they're motivated to spend more. That's good for them, for Google, and for legitimate publishers who deliver high-quality click traffic.

so google are squeezing our cut to make us more money, i get it.

there is another possibilty though... their profits are taking a hit this year because of the downturn so they are squeezing our cut to give a bit back to the advertisers to get more of their wallets on board, at the same time as upping their own take to keep their shareholders happy.
and the never-ending pool of publishers are the ones who have to like it or lump it, because google knows that for every one of us that leaves, there will be another two who want to step in.

without a bit of competition from msn and yahoo, european publishers don't have many leafy avenues left to explore. so google can carry on squeezing.

not that i'm complaining myself, because i'm doing alright. i'm just suggesting that people who spend their time continually looking for the sunshine in the rain are the ones who get wet.

competition is the surest way of google upping our earnings. google needs some competition!