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No getting the right value for my clicks!!

by Jason_prz
5 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi All,

I need help again ("sigh"), so previously I realized with the help of some Warriors that the niche was the problem and the keywords that I selected were not of high value. They provided great advice and I decided to do some keyword research and came out with a good one to start over with.


Estimated Avg CPC is 18.50
Exact Search is volume is 2900 monthly (I know I should aim higher but there is a funny story about why)
Competition is almost non existent.

Here is the problem, I decided to have a friend do a test click on the ads (just one) to see if the amount would change when I logged in to Google Adsense's Overview page.

It didn't. Can anybody tell me why?:confused:

I got the same value for that click, that I was getting on my Video Game blog, which is really low.

I am thinking that I may need to change the plugins that use to add the adsense code or go about having it hard coded in the theme it self.

What do you guys think?
#clicks
  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    You swallowed the line about how you can tell and that somehow google
    owes you that. They don't. There are many ways that google shows an
    ad. You have to know how adwords works. They reward the best performing
    users with lower priced clicks. If you are blocking image, you may be blocking
    the highest paying. If you have less than 3 ad blocks, you are limiting the
    ad pool. If you tweak the settings, like targetable content, interest based ads,
    block certain companies, etc., you are limiting high $$$ per click. Google claims
    that 99% of its advertisers use the content network, but I can't see how this
    is possible. Content network ads are as a whole, cheaper than search.

    There is no way anyone can ever tell how much a click is going to be worth on
    any niche.

    Google:
    1. Many factors determine the price of an ad

    More than conversion rate goes into determining the price of an ad: the advertiser's bid, the quality of the ad, the other ads competing for the space, the start or end of an ad campaign, and other advertiser fluctuations.

    2. Clickthrough rate doesn't affect advertiser return on investment (ROI)

    The percentage of clicks that convert for an advertiser is the most important factor in an advertiser's ROI, so it's not only possible, but common, to have a low CTR and a high advertiser conversion rate. It's also possible to have a high CTR and a low conversion rate. Don't remove the AdSense code from your site just because it has a lower CTR - it may be one of your best converting sites.

    3. Google doesn't make money from 'smart pricing'

    In fact, we make less money, since the cost to advertisers is reduced in order to provide a strong ROI. Ultimately, this leads to higher payouts for publishers by drawing a larger pool of advertisers and rewarding publishers who create high quality sites.

    4. Remember the old chestnut: "Content is King"

    The best way to ensure you benefit from AdSense is to create compelling content for interested users. This also means driving targeted traffic to your site -- advertisers don't gain as much ROI when paying for generic clicks as they do for quality clicks that come from interest in your content. Good content usually equals a good experience for user plus advertiser, which can be much more valuable than CTR.


    Keep in mind that like most Google technology, our system for calculating advertiser pricing gets updated regularly. We're constantly improving our ad products to benefit both the publisher and advertiser communities; what benefits one side ultimately benefits the other.
    BTW: Never under any circumstances have a friend do a test click
    That's crazy with a capital C. Read #4 above, as well as realizing it's against TOS.

    Paul
    Signature

    If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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    • Profile picture of the author Jason_prz
      Thanks for the feed back!

      I thought you touched on some great points but there is one that if you don't mind, I would like to pick your brain about.

      "If you are blocking image, you may be blocking the highest paying."

      While not totally related, I was always under the impression that the text ads always performed and paid the best, was it that I was misinformed or has it changed or has does it have to really do the niche?


      "You swallowed the line about how you can tell and that somehow google owes you that."

      A little harsh but the above was never in my line of thinking, maybe the way that I wrote the initial post gave that impression, but it really wasn't

      I really just wanted to see some sort of improvement really from the usual 6 cents
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      • Profile picture of the author jcellan
        Bro, I've been doing adwords for quite some time now for a global agency. You really can't tell whether a click has more value for text ads rather than banner ads. Let me give you some samples.

        I got two clients both have text ads, both telco companies here in Asia. "1" has an average of 0.88 USD per click for a certain site - and this is in CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model. "2" has a CPC of 0.60 USD and this is in CPC. CPM cost me higher because I'm blasting the ads everywhere. Of course, there's no way for you to know if this certain advertiser is using CPM of CPC model on his adwords account. Point is: CPM and CPC models can fluctuate the value of your clicks because of the way advertisers are bidding

        Another thing about banners. I have the same client, "1". They created a banner ad - leaderboard. This type of banner occupies about 3-4 text ads I think. With this in mind, as an adwords advertiser, I would have to outbid those 3 or 4 ads for my ad to show up. So, in this case, this specific banner would have more value because I am bidding more for it. Point 2: In the presence of competing text and banner ads, banner would (more often than not) have more value.

        In the POV of an adsense advertiser, I think I would put in a couple of banners and text ads on the site.

        Also, If it's possible, you can also use Adwords to drive relevant traffic to your site. Go to the content network and bid at a low cost, maybe 5 cents? and see how it works. As long as your site is legit, Google will not tag you for arbitrage or any illegal stuff.

        And yes, don't test it over and over again because Google has technology that determines the same person clicking on the ad.
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        • Profile picture of the author Jason_prz
          Originally Posted by jcellan View Post

          Bro, I've been doing adwords for quite some time now for a global agency. You really can't tell whether a click has more value for text ads rather than banner ads. Let me give you some samples.

          I got two clients both have text ads, both telco companies here in Asia. "1" has an average of 0.88 USD per click for a certain site - and this is in CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model. "2" has a CPC of 0.60 USD and this is in CPC. CPM cost me higher because I'm blasting the ads everywhere. Of course, there's no way for you to know if this certain advertiser is using CPM of CPC model on his adwords account. Point is: CPM and CPC models can fluctuate the value of your clicks because of the way advertisers are bidding

          Another thing about banners. I have the same client, "1". They created a banner ad - leaderboard. This type of banner occupies about 3-4 text ads I think. With this in mind, as an adwords advertiser, I would have to outbid those 3 or 4 ads for my ad to show up. So, in this case, this specific banner would have more value because I am bidding more for it. Point 2: In the presence of competing text and banner ads, banner would (more often than not) have more value.

          In the POV of an adsense advertiser, I think I would put in a couple of banners and text ads on the site.

          Also, If it's possible, you can also use Adwords to drive relevant traffic to your site. Go to the content network and bid at a low cost, maybe 5 cents? and see how it works. As long as your site is legit, Google will not tag you for arbitrage or any illegal stuff.

          And yes, don't test it over and over again because Google has technology that determines the same person clicking on the ad.

          Thanks clearing that up!

          I will now work on adding the last of fresh content to add on the site and then start linking building some link building to get it to #1!

          However another question I have if any Warriors out there don't mind asking, is do you think hard coding the ads into the theme is better for tracking?

          I currently use two plugins because for some reason I couldn't get the preferred other one to work the way I wanted. (the text would wrap around the ad)
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          • Profile picture of the author jcellan
            Originally Posted by Jason_prz View Post

            Thanks clearing that up!

            However another question I have if any Warriors out there don't mind asking, is do you think hard coding the ads into the theme is better for tracking?

            I currently use two plugins because for some reason I couldn't get the preferred other one to work the way I wanted. (the text would wrap around the ad)
            Are you putting the adsense within a wordpress blog or something? Based on my experience, I have hardcoded the ads more often than using plugins and they work the same way. Not really an expert in adsense but I have a big hunch that it will still work (unless you change something on the code of course)
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