How long has your site been up and running with AdSense?

100 clicks with 1000 pageviews is a 10% CTR, which Google could think is on the high side. They might think that you are somehow encouraging clicks, and they've decided to remove ones that they find to be illegitimate. Remember, Google protects advertisers at all costs.

Welcome to the forum, btw. Wish it were under better circumstances.

I've been earning since about September or October. I'm writing in a niche that has a ton of interest. I have a very viral following on Facebook that provides nearly 60-70% of my visits along with a network of likeminded FB pages writing on the same topic, so these are legitimate visitors (not bots) but can understand how they see it as being high.

I've doubled my adsense revenue each month mainly because I'm working hard writing nearly 90-100 articles per month and posting them on Facebook to drive traffic. I'm doing everything with legitimacy - just not sure what is going on.

I do get chat support at 2pm ET today so I'll see what they have to say. I have seen clicks disappearing though from my account :/

I do get chat support at 2pm ET today so I'll see what they have to say.

Plese let us know.

Here's the transcript:

11:02:43 Me: Hi Mike, how are you?
11:02:51 AdSense Pro Mike: Hi, I am well. How are you todaY?
11:02:59 Me: Doing well, thank you so much.
11:03:15 AdSense Pro Mike: Great! It looks like you have some questions about your CTR, is that correct?
11:03:30 Me: Yes. Just to give you a little background on my website.
11:04:39 Me: I started my website last year... I've been gaining a lot of ground on Adsense the past 2-3 months by writing lots of articles and pushing them through Facebook.
11:04:59 AdSense Pro Mike: Ok, sounds good so far :)
11:05:19 Me: I have been doing giveaways and contests. I've paid to advertise to get traffic to those giveaways
11:05:26 AdSense Pro Mike: And you're saying that you see a declining CTR this week after all this hard work?
11:06:01 Me: So my site has been pounded with hits, and was wondering if Google saw that as a bit fraudulent for whatever reason?
11:06:22 Me: Yes, it just started Tuesday and I've noticed clicks disappearing from the site while my page views are still where they've been for a while.
11:06:49 Me: disappearing from the adsense reports rather.
11:07:04 AdSense Pro Mike: Hmm, yes an increase in filtering for invalid activity could account for your decline in CTR this week.
11:07:41 AdSense Pro Mike: Unfortunately Google doesn't divulge the details on invalid activity filtering, so I'm unable to offer any specific details.
11:07:47 Me: I know Adsense has to protect their advertisers.
11:07:56 AdSense Pro Mike: I can give you some help center resources on what you can do to investigate the issue on your own.
11:08:34 Me: I was just hoping there were failsafes in place to differentiate between real valid clicks vs. bot induced.
11:09:00 AdSense Pro Mike: Yes, there are. We filter out activity from those sources.
11:09:04 Me: I've tried to do everything by the book and have worked very hard, just wondering if I should continue putting the time into my site if this is going to remain the norml
11:09:08 AdSense Pro Mike: Here is an article with some good tips: [support.google.com...]
11:11:49 Me: Or do you happen to know when this particular test of filtering out these clicks may end?
11:12:48 AdSense Pro Mike: Only invalid clicks are filtered out.
11:13:03 Me: Can you tell me what is deemed an invalid click?
11:13:08 AdSense Pro Mike: I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly. There is no testing or experimentation here.
11:13:24 AdSense Pro Mike: Here is our working definition: [support.google.com...]
11:13:52 Me: It just raises a red flag when my income drops nearly 90% so I'm trying to understand why
11:14:18 Me: and what I can do to get it back to the previous earnings when my page views/traffic are the same
11:14:18 AdSense Pro Mike: Of course, it would certainly be frustrating!
11:14:43 AdSense Pro Mike: All the resources I can offer to help resolve this issue are available in our help center.
11:14:45 Me: I could understand if CPC or traffic was down.. then it's supply demand.
11:15:02 AdSense Pro Mike: There is little I can share since Google strives to protect the integrity of its filtering systems and tools.
11:15:47 Me: I understand that, it's just frustrating!
11:16:08 AdSense Pro Mike: Yeah, it's difficult for us too. We wish we could share more details with you.
11:16:23 AdSense Pro Mike: But if you do follow the best practices in our help center, you should see a reduction in your invalid activity.
11:16:56 Me: I just wanted to make sure my site isn't seeing any fraudulent activity from your side or if you could tell if anything raised a red flag.
11:17:42 AdSense Pro Mike: No, there is nothing fraudulent noted on your account.
11:18:49 Me: Thank you for your help.

Basically I've had a ton of traffic hit my site and earnings went through the roof for a few days because of a viral article I wrote and some paid advertising to my site for a giveaway that I was running - so I'm sure their automated filtering system had a hard time believing I had legitimate clicks at that rate so basically I'm flagged but sorta unofficially.

I'm getting ready to push another wave of traffic to the site tonight from a paid advertisement for a giveaway, so we'll see if they continue to punish me for valid clicks.

I'll give it a week or so and if it continues I'll go with an alternative like Chitika.

The same has happened to me last month I was deducted 15% of earnings (first time ever) and what's worse is they have stopped showing relevant ads "to protect advertisers". I think they have recently changed the way AdSense determines invalid clicks. My earnings are down 50% over the last 30 days so I have just removed all google ads and placed media.net. I will try them for a few weeks and see how it goes. Let us know how Chitika goes if you decide to use them.

I just got approved by media.net - how does the CPC compare to Adsense? I'm debating on a full switch over, but I hate that you can't see live earnings.

Yes it is annoying they just give you a pay amount per day (and to be honest it was pretty bad compared to Google AdSense). I tried to run them side by side with AdSense (would not recommend it) as AdSense earnings dropped drastically and got little from Media.net. However I got onto Media.net and advised ads that would get clicks. 2 weeks later now and I see relevant ads so now I am ready to give them the whole site and see how it goes. If it goes bad I will revert back to AdSense and keep looking for an alternative.

How do you advise ads? I looked for that in the admin panel but couldn't find it. Thanks so much for the reply.

You get an agent assigned to your account. This person will coach you to the type of ads and position of ads. Just tell this person the ads your site needs, they will pass this important information onto the IT department. It will take a few weeks so you need to give them time. I would recommend leaving one ad belonging to them on one page, keep checking this page every few days until you see it displaying the ads you recommended. Then you are ready to give them a try. Finally they are showing the right ads for me so I will now let them run on my site for 2 weeks and see how they perform. Have all AdSense gone since yesterday. However you cannot see the daily earnings until the following day.

Although the Media.net ads were relevant after 9 days of running them the earnings were pointless. The best Media.net day was much worse than any AdSense day. Maybe Media.net might be good for others but for me it’s time for a different alternative.

I have a very viral following on Facebook... a viral article I wrote and some paid advertising to my site for a giveaway

There is little mystery as to why your earnings dropped
Judging by your descriptions, visitors do not seem to be visiting because they want to buy or research a product. Viral traffic, where people are motivated for reasons other than to research or purchase products does not really earn more.

I said it before. I will say it again.

Traffic does not equal earnings. Your experience is teaching you this. If you wish to earn consistently with AdSense you will need to adjust your strategy to one that's more aligned with product research.

Go to Amazon.com and take a look at the footer links. They purchased all those domains because they relate to product purchases. Study those sites and try to understand why they make sense for Amazon. If the light comes on, then you "get it" and know AdSense Kung Fu.

Another exercise is to register as an affiliate at ShareASale and review the payouts for each niche. THINK about how the percentage of sales offered relates to the profit margin of that niche. Then CONSIDER how that relates to how much potential exists for your AdSense earnings.

The problem is your site topic and strategy, not Google, not Media.net. Good luck. ;)