What are the main causes of decreased CPC amounts?

4 replies
  • SEO
  • |
So, last week, for some reason my website shot up to page 4 on Google for a somewhat competitive search term (20,000/month) and I noticed my traffic doubled and my click through rate doubled and I was getting paid double the amount per click.

The first day this happened, I made 8 times what I average per day. I don't know what I did but, all week I was averaging 2 to 3 times what I usually make per day with Adsense. Then, suddenly, over the weekend, I noticed the CPC amount began to drop and my website was dropping back down a few pages for that same search term and now, I am only getting paid a third of what I was getting paid last week.

I don't know if it was an algorithm thing or what but, my website is sitting back down on the page it was on before this all happened. Weird thing is, I am still getting the same amount of traffic just not getting paid as much... obviously.

So, what usually causes the CPC or the amount the publisher makes to decrease like that? Is it usually attributed to SERP placement or is there more to it than that? What can I do that will help to increase the CPC again?
#amounts #cpc #decreased #main
  • Profile picture of the author aygabtu
    First off...being on page 4 of the SERPs shouldn't really be netting you any traffic. Most people don't go beyond the first few choices, and especially beyond the first page or two.

    As far as changes in CPC, it can vary from day to day depending on if there is an advertising campaign running that may be lucrative. You may have gotten lucky and had a user buy something expensive in a single click which raised your average for that day. Because google doesn't reveal details, it is anyone's guess. But your CPC won't change just because you rose in the SERPs.

    Now if you were using adwords to drive traffic to your site, raising the amount you are paying for CPC, will raise the amount you earn from those visitors. This is not according to google, but what I have noticed.
    Signature

    Check top 300 Google SERP results free. WhatsMySERP.com tracks and graphs changes for multiple domains/keywords/regions. Also includes advanced keyword density tool.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9822727].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author SEOGhost
    Thanks. Very interesting. Where do you think the 300-400 page views I am getting everyday are coming from since I am way down on page 7 for the high volume search term? Low volume long tail keywords?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9823065].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author aygabtu
      Originally Posted by SEOGhost View Post

      Thanks. Very interesting. Where do you think the 300-400 page views I am getting everyday are coming from since I am way down on page 7 for the high volume search term? Low volume long tail keywords?
      Do you use google webmaster tools? It should show you what keywords and how much traffic is coming from google. Otherwise, do you have access to your logs or do you generate your own? Review those and see what the referrer value is.
      Signature

      Check top 300 Google SERP results free. WhatsMySERP.com tracks and graphs changes for multiple domains/keywords/regions. Also includes advanced keyword density tool.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9825188].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ezeonlinebiz
    In your webmaster tool also check for referral sites. This is where you'll know the sites driving such traffic to yours. If Google is on top of the list then certainly you are ranking very high in some search terms you don't know about.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9825572].message }}

Trending Topics