Has something changed on your site that would trigger these types of ads?

I have been adding sites to my filter to try and get rid of some of these... I have gotten ads that are WAY OFF TOPIC for my website. No one would click on them. And big flashy ads that just aren't working for me. I'm changing the format right now to see if it helps.

Bill,

I've always seen these ads... occasionally I block them. But I always figured that google would display the best ads for me and them. I really don't know what it is other than people are not clicking anywhere on my website.. CTR down 75% across a 300 page site over the last 10 weeks... with last 2 weeks seeing the last 25% drop. CTR had been consistent for years.

Only thing that has changed is visitors up 15% due to better SERP positioning.

Last week I stopped adwords advertising but that was only bringing 4% of visitors.

...with last 2 weeks seeing the last 25% drop.

The only notable change within the last two weeks that I'm aware of is that Google has been banning many adwords accounts, including the accounts of advertisers who are reported to have spent millions of dollars. This has been going on for about a month I think.

Check out this post [webmasterworld.com] from the end of November where a member notices the amount of advertisers in a niche was cut from several pages in the SERPs to just one page of advertisers. That was just before this long discussion [webmasterworld.com] initiated by a banned AdWords advertiser.

It seems you have been targeted for destruction, sorry :)

Don't quite get it, I would believe you are experiencing low inventory of ads for your site

While I see a lot of reasonable ads I also see many whitepapers and top 10 type ads (which I suspect no one wants to click upon).

Not it seems to me the inventory of ads really related to your niche is low

sorry for the dumb question but you don't happen to have interest based ads on, or do you? I tried that and I actually had the exact same experience as you until I turned it off

Interest-based ads are currently off but I toggle that just to see if a good thing can happen.

As for adwords shutdowns... note my EPC is higher than normal and perhaps some of the folks banned in adwords where low-bidding affiliate types. Inventory on this particular page is deep with many name brand advertisers. I seriously just totally don't get it.

I've adjusted font size through the entire range and it seems as if it has zero effect. I've added another ad block with no effect. Added two ad blocks and no effect. I started clicking my own ads and no effect (just kidding).

I'm focusing on this particular page but CTR is down across the site.

I've been with AdSense since day one+7. Yes I was a week late.

In all those years I've learnt, particularly in more recent years, CTR goes up and down, EPC goes up and down and funnily enough when [recent months/year] one goes down the other goes up.

Of course there is no such thing as a glass ceiling here where net earnings follow a set pattern month after month.

Silly old conspiracy theorist I am.

Just my experienced and educated 10c worth

I'm glad others are experiencing this noticeable CTR drop also, saves me worrying that it is just my site. EPC is way up as sailor mentioned. Maybe it is just a clear-out of questionable advertisers.

The ads I am currently seeing on my sites are about the best targeting I have ever seen. But the CTR is the worst it's ever been. November was the worst AdSense month since I've been in the program. But I don't think it's just AdSense; most of my other monetizations are way down too.

Ian, Thanks, that clears up one thing:
Fatalism:
"The doctrine that all events are predetermined by fate and are therefore unalterable."

Or, as someone said about r*pe: Lay back and enjoy it.

Here is a theory..
According to a new post adsense is slowing sites down.

I bet my ads aren't showing before the user has moved attention down the page... still an ad view but a worthless one.

Don't mean to sound like I'm boasting or trying to discourage others, but over the past few weeks my EPC and CTR are up. FWIW.

FarmBoy

The ads I am currently seeing on my sites are about the best targeting I have ever seen. But the CTR is the worst it's ever been.

Exactly my situation. CTR sees to be dropping like a rock.

But average EPC is going up a good bit. Not enough to completely offset the CTR drop, but it helps.

It is truly breath taking to see the same site go from low four digit income per day to mid 2 digits in a span of two years...

It was fun while it lasted. I think I'll go out and lay down on my pavered parking area and enjoy the good years.

The only "constant" in this mad world is "ongoing change"

But I don't think it's just AdSense; most of my other monetizations are way down too.

ditto.

The only notable change within the last two weeks that I'm aware of is that Google has been banning many adwords accounts, including the accounts of advertisers who are reported to have spent millions of dollars. This has been going on for about a month I think.

50% of my Adsense income comes from 2 pages. Been seeing lots of regular advertisers missing, but ads are still on-target.

>In all those years I've learnt, particularly in more recent years, CTR goes >up and down, EPC goes up and down and funnily enough when [recent >months/year] one goes down the other goes up.

This makes total sense since GAd's algorithm (pull out your old Calculus text)is to optimize for earnings... not CTR, not EPC... Total Earnings per account! Plain and simple... all else fits into place.

>I'm glad others are experiencing this noticeable CTR drop also, saves me >worrying that it is just my site. EPC is way up as sailor mentioned. Maybe it >is just a clear-out of questionable advertisers.

ditto... now all we need to do is increase impressions and the earnings will increase by definition.

>The ads I am currently seeing on my sites are about the best targeting I have >ever seen. But the CTR is the worst it's ever been. November was the worst >AdSense month since I've been in the program. But I don't think it's just >AdSense; most of my other monetizations are way down too.

From what I've been seeing on other forums and experience... what YOU see is very likely NOT what everyone else is seeing. With the "customized" results (and no doubt ads) you can't really be sure WHAT anyone else is seeing. Haven't you noticed that about half the ads you see on other peoples sites are geographically targeted to you personally. Could be a major disadvantage for TRAVEL related sites in particular where people in Alaska are ACTUALLY LOOKING for hotels/shopping/touism services in Atlantic City, NJ or Timbuktu!

I have gotten ads that are WAY OFF TOPIC for my website. No one would click on them.

I used to make that assumption also.

When I stopped making that assumption and left the ads alone, my income increased.

FarmBoy

Interest-based ads were mentioned in previous posts. Turning off interest-based ads only means your site activities won't be used to establish interest, correct? In other words, turning off interest-based ads doesn't prevent interest-based ads from showing up on your site while people are browsing. All it does is take your site out of the food chain.

Is this not correct?

So, turning off interest-based ads has no impact on the ads that are shown on your site, it just doesn't allow your site's visitors to have what they see influenced by their time on your site. If that's the case, this setting has no impact on the ads people see when on your site.

If I've got this wrong, please clue me in. (Thanks in advance.)

you got it right ..means the ads that everyone sees are no longer contextual based upon your site ..but are based upon what each individual visitor was doing before they got to your site ..

1000 visitors will see 100 different ads ..and chances are non will be relevant to your site ..except those that you see ..because you spend more time looking at your own site ..and frequently sites on similar subjects and similar niche areas ..than you do elsewhere ..usually ..

but if you are signed into "personalised" ..and you spend an hour or so looking at car subjects ..then even if your site is about cookery ..you'll probably see car related ads ..

signing your site out wont make what you or anyone else sees more relevant to your site ..but if your site is about cars and you have signed it out ..then if the next site they go to is about pizzas ..they may see pizza related instead of car related ads in that next sites adsense areas

Thanks, Leosghost.

So I wonder why Google thinks interest-based ads are a benefit. They don't know who is using a particular computer from one minute to the next, nor do they know if what was searched for yesterday is of any interest at all today.

So, if I spend today looking at sites on blue widgets, I might find what I need and buy it. Tomorrow, I don't want to see blue widget ads because I've already made my purchase, so the ads are 100% out of context.

I wonder if this has anything to do with lower click through rates some are reporting. I can see where this would impact some niches and sites more than others. Many are reporting substantial drops in clicks. Coincidence?

I wonder how much testing Google did before they decided to roll this out. It sure seems flawed to me.

If you set your computer prefs to disallow cookies...

does that stop Google from showing you "interest based ads"?

if you just disallow cookies you'll be amazed at the number of sites that just wont load at all ..most sites that use tracking load the tracked parts first ( try opera with it's privacy set to "ask me before accepting all cookies" to see what I mean ..if you dont accept each cookie one by one ..( and some sites can throw you over 100 cookies ..gorg ones included and some of the gorg properties may show up on an individual site many many times )..most sites nowadays wont even show you the "body text" ..

if you sign out of any GORG accounts that you have ..and then click on history in GORG splash page ..and then choose opt out of personalised search ..then you wont be tracked ..but for how long varies ..they reset me so many times to opted in ( without me resetting my prefs to opt in ) that it's really hard to tell ..

adsense sites may well lose revenue ..adwords advertisers may see short term revenue rises ..but long term even the dumbest person will realise that they are being followed and get annoyed ..they may click out of frustration but it probaly wont convert ..

GORG win either way ..and actually I dont think they are doing this for the revenue ..this is to gather data about your individual searches to put with the rest that they have about what you watch on you tube etc and what the new phone will tell them ..and everything else they track and will track with ..they may sell some ads along the way ..but I beleive that the ad revenue stream is secondary to gathering the data ..more data than they have ever done ..

then we'll see what they do with it ..but you can be sure that by aggregating it they will also by then know who you are ..as well as what you do

and actually I dont think they are doing this for the revenue ..this is to gather data about your individual searches to put with the rest that they have about what you watch on you tube etc and what the new phone will tell them ..and everything else they track and will track with ..they may sell some ads along the way ..but I beleive that the ad revenue stream is secondary to gathering the data ..more data than they have ever done ..

Don't laugh, but since joining AdSense I've often thought that when we finally see some really sophisticated artificial intelligence, it's not going to come from people developing AI for AI's sake - from white-coated lab scientists developing weapons technology or household robots designed to cook lasagna in your kitchen - it's going to come from Google AdSense and Search, or their competition. Because that's one way to do it - aggregate an unseemly amount of data and then figure out how to use it to better and better effect.

I've never seen this "history" link people talk about.

I just went to the G homepage with cookies both on and off and can't find that link.

I was signed out of my G account(s). I never search while signed in. I only sign in to use specific tools, WMT, Adsense, Analytics or Gspam (opps I meant Gmail, which I can't recall the last time I looked at that).

I normally surf with cookies being disallowed. I only accept cookies from sites that I absolutely need to and there are very few of those. All cookies get deleted when I shut down FF.

I don't surf with IE.

I never search while signed in.

Yep, you have to be signed in, I couldn't see it until I did that.

All my geeky friends were shocked when they found out that people surf and search whilst logged-in to their Google account, usually gmail...it's something I would never even have considered...ever!