OK, I have a completely sound explanation for all this madness. Google has a large hopper full of ping-pong balls with a different Adsense publisher id on each one. Every day they draw five balls and those accounts get to do well. Everyone else gets to wait for the next drawing.

Metrics are hanging in there... CPC is floundering a bit on my main site... but CTR is strong. Feeling ok about things so far this month.

OK, I have a completely sound explanation for all this madness. Google has a large hopper full of ping-pong balls with a different Adsense publisher id on each one. Every day they draw five balls and those accounts get to do well. Everyone else gets to wait for the next drawing.

Well they forgot to add my ping-pong ball...

My Income little bit has increased this month. But want to get more and more from next month.

Yesterday was fine, finally, after many months: one good day. Not saying "really good" just the old average.

Yesterday ended up as one of the better days this month and today's earnings are already half and it's not even 9:00am yet.

The trend for the last few years (and getting worse) goes something like: good day, lousy day, lousy day, lousy day, good day. When all the other metrics are a similar average, it's hard to understand why earnings fluctuate so much except if for some kind of accounting delay from the Plex.

As predicted since my last post, been stuck all day. Anybody else?

Without divulging niche information, I'll tell you what my niche has nothing to do with...the following ads appeared in one 160 x 600 text ad unit.

2 Alzheimer's ads from two different advertisers, 1 Parkinson's ad, 1 bank foreclosure ad and an ad for refrigerator gaskets. And these ad topics are dominating my main site right now. I will simply say that if those are interest based ads being served to me, I'm not, nor have I ever displayed any interest in those ad categories during my Internet travels. If those are contextual ads, then they have no business on my site because they have absolutely nothing to do with the price of moon rocks on Mars (not my niche either but might as well be).

Adsense is whacked and CPC for this junk is at an all-time low. What a waste of good traffic. Can't tell if Certified ad networks are good for business or bad. Can't tell if interest-based ads are good or bad for business. Just when I think I'm getting a handle on a trend, the trend blows up in my face and becomes an anti-trend.

But I'm a happy guy. Really. Life is good. I love my friends, family dog, cat and turtle. Spent the day celebrating instead of looking at stats and it did wonders for the soul and my disposition. Heck, I could have spent all day fussing and fuming over things outside of my control but instead, watched two movies, ate a fabulous dinner and spent some quality time with loved ones before coming home to the mess mentioned above. Getting away didn't change the outcome of the business day but it did put it into perspective.

Yesterday earnings ended up as the third best day all month, go figure. If things don't get any worse, this month should wind back up to the 30% lost for July. Hope so.

Yes starting yesterday afternoon Google must have checked their bank account and were happy with what they saw. Then they started paying publishers their fair share because my CPC on both sites have skyrocketed. I mean 2-3X the CPC prices on the same advertisers in the same places. I'm being a little facetious. Wait, no I'm not.

Then they started paying publishers their fair share...

Not sure about a "fair share" but did see a bump very late in the day.

Yesterday was slow, I thought it was going to end bad but it was just that: slow, not low.

2:00pm and dead as dead can be.

Wow! 5:00pm and still dead. Anybody else?

Wow! 5:00pm and still dead. Anybody else?

Actually, my ping pong ball came out of the hopper today for a change. Best day of the month so far. I'm telling you, it's a lottery. There's no other explanation.

Not dead here. It was way slow, then just slow, by now just stuck.

Yesterday finally started to move around 6:00pm, but it never caught up. Earnings down 75% from the day before.

My good run official ended yesterday, and reverted back to abysmal. Still anything extra I make towards the end of this month is a bonus, as I already smashed last month's earnings.

Being a big publisher, I have access to Doubleclick DFP.
What I see in the last 2-3 months is that the CPC is bulk (mininum) for other countries than US.

It's a huge gap between US and the second place: UK, after that, is a big gap to Canada.
Under Canada is like the third world of internet.

The big $$$ is on search, not on display, that's why you see so many programs trying to install adware (toolbars) with custom search engine.

The truth is that search ads are much better paid and have much more effect.

Having a lot of bulk ads, google is throttling the entire system.
I suspect a "bug" in the adwords, because I can see every day new advertisers, using the same ads!
I think that the system is asking less money for new advertisers :)

I think that the system is asking less money for new advertisers :)

It was same 5+ years ago, new ads get a boost while Adwords determines their 'quality.'

Frozen?

AdSense is showing cancer treatment ads on my site today. My content has nothing remotely to do with health issues in any shape or form. Google thanks for bumming out the visitors I've worked hard to attract !

Mentat: The big $$$ is on search, not on display, that's why you see so many programs trying to install adware (toolbars) with custom search engine.

The truth is that search ads are much better paid and have much more effect

It seems G is focusing a lot on that. Anyway I just removed all G searches from my websites and I'm saying 100% with my website own search. I got tired of G bringing pure "get out - exit" results loaded with ads and content at the bottom.

While those ads sure mean money, they also mean users won't stay on the sites, so the websites become just a rock to make the jump to some content that perhaps won't be useful. I'm not saying I disagree with you, I agree. I just think many of my readers use the search form on my websites to locate related info, not products or services. G is trying to turn almost every search into a biz, yes is natural.

It was discussed a few years ago how some kind of ads-earnings might mean loosing traffic at the long run. In my case my earnings are returning to be stable for many reasons that I don't understand but removing G search sure feels good.

150% over yesterday and it's only 8:15am! So far, today is looking good. Hope it keeps going!

150% over yesterday and it's only 8:15am! So far, today is looking good. Hope it keeps going!

They must be giving you all my clicks.

9:00pm and according to AdSense, I'm having the most page views and second highest earnings day all month. Glad to see numbers like this again, but really, it's pretty weird. No rhyme or reason that I can see at all.

I'm going to put Google search bar thing at the bottom of my pages now. Kinda forgot about it: one more way to make money! (When people reach the bottom of my page, that's the 'end of the line', not really anywhere else to go, might as well give 'em a search bar).

Adsense reports are offline for me, can't see a single thing. The mobile low bandwith version did load showing low numbers for today. Anyway checking the mobile version has been VERY LOW this month, like some modem from the past.

I've been avoiding this thread because I'm tired of posting how bad things are...enough said.

3 days with "good earnings". Today totally the opposite.