As for me, I'm getting ready to throw in the towel. Seriously considering getting rid of AdSense, Google Analytics and not using the Chrome browser at all. I went from a five-figure monthly income with Google to a less than $200 monthly income with Google. I've jumped through every hoop they offered, and things got progressively worse since 2011. I'm literally fed up with Google.

Plus 1, I'm fed up with AdSense too.

I'm having the worst morning (earnings) in last 5 months, with CPC huge CPC drop, and same pageviews :(

We're are still pretty happy with Adsense. Sure the earnings were higher a bunch of years ago. But they never got from a five figure to a three figure. They might have halved, but thats it.

@Maximum44
five figure? Do you mean $10000+ per month? What amount of traffic do you have daily?

I was doing over 5 figures too - and that's £ ... not $.

I'm convinced Google is lowering our % share. Convinced.

At one point I think it was supposed to be what, 50%? I think they've halved it so they now get 75%. They must have.

I'm currently setting up changing my product based articles to affiliate sales only, without the Adsense. I'm damn sure even Amazon will get a better RPM than Adsense now gives.

Same with me.. im still making 5 figures but its half of what it was per visit... i should be making 2x the money.. and im not talking about over years and years.. im talking since Sept 2017. rpm is about 30-40% what it was.. traffic still growing.. same sources it has been. In fact, the only thing that has changed is I am getting more Google traffic.. which is supposed to be the best converting traffic out there.

To me it seems like all of the following:

Removing clicks, irrelevant ads, ads loading super slowly and what appears to be a desperate attempt from google to fix all the issues they started dealing with back in april. (better ads, the chrome update and the like)

I feel like instead of coming up with new ads or new ways to convert traffic, they are moving backwards and making things worse. I feel like they are losing their grip.

I personally use an ad blocker.. i don't care if there are slightly less intrusive ads.. i will continue to use it. I am pretty sure this is going to be the way things are.

I have also never clicked on an ad in my life. If you are the type of person who uses adblockers, you are not going to be making Google much when it comes to clicking... this is because you are technologically savvy and can spot ads.. Which is why google should be taking proactive steps to change their ads to work better.. not leave them like they have been for a decade and just have them be less "intrusive".

Do you think the companies that are making money using popups or other ads that Google would consider "intrusive" are just going to lay down and die.. no they are going to figure things out and move on.. I mean if some little sneaky $h|T like the zloans ad guy can go under the radar for months.. you think others can't get around Google's "all seeing eye"?

My only hope is that since google is obviously moving in the wrong direction that there will soon be a replacement or at least a company that produces some real competition. Either this will finally kill the giant or force them to improve.

I also think they are feeling pressure from large brands since the April problem and have been taking a financial hit.. So since they continue to post record numbers somehow while getting less ad revenue (which makes up the vast majority of their income), they have to be getting the money from somewhere? Where else but from the publishers?

@kegnum
What amount of US/UK/CAN/AU/... traffic do you have per day?

I've over 1.8 million Twitter followers - traffic is 40,000 UV a day which could be higher.

I think I could be earning more away from Adsense the RPM is that low.

Like i say, affiliates could offer better RPM than Adsense.

@sdksjdksjd about 50k daily unique visitors. About 85% US, 5% CAN, 3% UK and 2% AU.

I'm still in 4 figure, and it's highly unlikely that I will ever make 5 figure from AdSense.

My CPC is down to 0.07$ today, it should at least 0.50$ as I've got huge traffic from the US today. My overall traffic is up by 30% today, while my earnings is still in 2 figures, 66% drop vs yesterday. Not sure what I'm supposed to do. And how come Adx is performing as good as it used to in December!

Something is wrong with AdSense.

I have a question:

Why don't the people unhappy with their Adsense not do what I'm setting up and that's trying Amazon Associates instead?

Something is wrong with AdSense

Yes - they've changed the 'cut' that we're supposed to receive. Over the years it's the only rational explanation I've come up with. Adwords? Time of the year? None of those have made sense with the up-down nature of it.

@sdksjdksjd My traffic is 95% Us and the rest is mostly English speaking like Canada or UK.

@steviec79 I haven't had much luck with Amazon. When i tried them on my sites years ago.. they would bring in about 5% of what google did.... Essentially i guess, as of right now, media.net would be the best alternative for me.. they used to make only 5% of what adsense did.. but now its closer to 15%

I'm the same, I tried Amazon associates but didn't really do very well. Has anyone tried the eBay affiliate scheme? I've learned anything between £25 and £100 a month from just having links in my articles pointing to products on eBay. If you are selling a product that is highly desired and that people often buy a second-hand on eBay then you could do really well. Computer stuff is perfect because people often sell second-hand computers, tablets and mobile phones on eBay. The other great thing about this scheme is even if somebody doesn't buy something directly related to your website if they have clicked on one of your links and gone to eBay you will still receive the commission for whatever that product costs.

In fact, I haven't checked my eBay affiliate account for ages. The last payment I got was back in October last year and that was £29.50. At the moment my balance is at £42 which is what I will be receiving shortly which has made my day.

January's AdSense earnings were pretty pathetic, just into three digits. However, if I include what I will be getting from media.net and eBay, that will take me into the second portion of three digits which can't be bad.

You have to apply for eBay affiliate and from when I tried a few years ago, they're very strict.

No affiliate works good for me, affiliate is not suitable for all sites.

Since when Adsense can't be placed on pages, related to tobacco? Did I miss something? I had such pages for years and never had a problem, but got a policy violation warning today.
Or is this something new again?

A colleague of mine got one a few days ago for violence... it was an article on ghosts.

Go figure.

Maybe they're similar to Facebook - they employ people because they're cheap, accepting the fact that they're thick as a workhouse sandwich.

My friend got a violation for a article that had mentioned tobacco this week as well.

The frightening thing is - they're developing cars that will drive themselves.

With only a few hours remaining of my AdSense day, excluding 1st January, today will easily be my lowest PVs of 2018, what the heck is going on?

Ok, I know China's having a knees-up, where's everyone else?

[edited by: RedBar at 7:37 pm (utc) on Feb 18, 2018]

Google can be really pedantic sometimes. However, they will quite happily put dating adverts showing scantily clad women my website but then insist on me removing a photo of a woman wearing a thong that somebody put on my forum a couple of years previous.

Google can be really pedantic sometimes. However, they will quite happily put dating adverts showing scantily clad women my website but then insist on me removing a photo of a woman wearing a thong that somebody put on my forum a couple of years previous.

They're changing the % that us publishers receive per click.

When you look back it's obvious. I know they are doing it - the thing that's going through my head is, can there be any legal action against them?

My friend got a violation for a article that had mentioned tobacco this week as well.

Is cannabis OK or are they only going after the legal drugs like nicotine (probably have a full in-house revolt if they went after pot).

I'm convinced Google is lowering our % share. Convinced.

No, they aren't. Publishers' share was 68% and still is.

Having an excellent month here. Everything is up.

There was this English girl who made a sex video with her boyfriend to then uploaded it to the Internet. He got in trouble for and she did her best to get the video taken off the Internet. I had a conversation on my forum about this girl and a few weeks later got a message from Google telling me to remove the post. There were no pictures or anything, it was just a discussion. I reckon that she found it and complained because she didn't want people knowing about it. I was incensed, she is one who let her boyfriend make a sex video and then I am the one who gets in violation notice.

No, they aren't. Publishers' share was 68% and still is.
Having an excellent month here. Everything is up

The fact you replied with that, speaks volumes.

Because it doesn't t make any sense.

What doesn't make sense? That your share is still 68%? Or that I am having an excellent month?

Bot is probably looking for offensive words, regardless of your intention, ads will be removed, except from the authority sites.

The last two days have been great, feels like everything's going back to normal.