Cut commissions?

Payout rates are now a matter of public record, if they cut them, they must notify us of the change.

Please, let's deal in reality and not wild conjecture and paranoia.

If your CPM is declining it's more about lower AdWords bids and the harsh realities of a bad economy where merchants are pulling their purse strings tighter and the loose cash flow of the old days won't be seen again for a while.

Just because we run AdSense doesn't give us entitlement to massive earnings if the market doesn't support it as in the end it's all market driven.

I sell direct ads and I can tell you it's a harder sell then it was a couple of years ago, discounts are making the deals, not traffic at the moment.

it's either the economy or the traffic that google is sending us. its probably a bit of both.

branded sites seem to be able to rank for much looser phrases these days, like "widgets" as opposed to "big red flashing widgets".
the traffic isn't as tightly targeted, so people don't click and buy so much, which affects our adsense earnings.

There was definitely a Pandalisation of my AdSense earnings with 2.1, my AdSense was cut over night, no gradual decrease, simply slashed over night.

Average daily earnings from 6th May 2011 v 1st January to 5th May 52.6%

Average daily ctr for the same dates 64.9% however there has been a notable improvement in September but that could be more due to me blocking attempted image linkers.

I've not had one single day's click volume since 6th May achieve my Jan to May daily average and only ONE day from January to May was at the current average level...Easter Saturday!

For the same periods my average EPC is 101% therefore no reduction in ad click spend.

Just because a site was pandalized doesn't mean they immediately started up with AdWords (or increased their existing campaigns) While the entrance bar is pretty low, it takes some time and expertise to actually do well with it (despite what Google would have you believe)

FWIW, my eCPM (and earnings this year) are on par to be about 250% of 2010, which puts me at an all time high. My CTR is way down, but the increased EPC has more than made up for it. Plus I added a couple more sites, and I have four more scheduled to launch next year.

Well it does mean more people are using Adwords, or bidding more on Adwords when Google's revenues increase.

We lost traffic to Panda, but saw an increase in CTR and EPC that almost (90%) offsets the negative effects. It has held steady now since June.

I attribute it to a better qualified mix of visitors, which is one of Panda's beneficial aspects.

No telling how much the economy is affecting my niche, but it must be a factor.

I've got one of those sites which was hit with Panda 1.0, slowly started to recover, and then got smacked down last week with 2.5.

With Panda 1.0, my RPM was cut nearly in half. It had almost made it to normal as I was recovering, but with Panda 2.5 it wast cut in half again. This means that through I might have half the traffic, I have one fourth the AdSense revenue.

Seems to me that Panda effects the highest paying pages the most. That's my experience, anyway.

Seems to me that Panda effects the highest paying pages the most.

But has your EPC remained reasonable?

If so this is the crazy part of this thin/bad/weeding out thing. If Google considers my content is sub-standard why do they keep paying me more or less the same EPC rate?

They're just teasing with my financial folicles:-)

The problem I have now is that there is no global publisher with whom I can replace Google at reasonable ad rates therefore I am now having to consider, yet again, just putting everything on autopilot or find a subject from which I can make some serious money OR stuff the intercyberwebbythingy altogether and go back to being a widget road warrior.

I sure as heck ain't doing web development for someone else, enough is enough!

But has your EPC remained reasonable?

Yes it has, actually. So that means the Pandalized topics pay about the same, but have far lower click-thru. I'm not sure what that could mean.

I've actually found a job with good pay, full health insurance, vacation time and a 401k. It will be heck to sit at a desk 8 hours a day, but I'd guess this job will add years to my life where Google is taking away years. My website will become my hobby, my clients my friends. I hope it works the way I imagine it. I'm supposed to start next week.

Maybe Google itself is exploring the affiliate way because its own long term predictions about Adsense are not too good and is being self pandalized (I mean overhelmed by the web's tidal waves: spam, duplicate/replicate content, apps, mobile devices, social networks...).
Exactly the same way most webmasters are doing this last year.

Congratulations on your new job, dataguy. I'm sure things will work out well for you, and while you're not looking, maybe AdSense will improve!