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How does Adsense CPC translate?

by OKFarmgirl
4 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I know there is an algorithm, and perhaps it's not something that's an exact science, but I'm seeing a lot of folks saying that you should only do keyword phrases that have a CPC of at least $1. Roughly, how does that translate to adsense earnings? And, if say the CPC is $10, would it be correct to assume that your click earnings would be ten times that of the $1 ones? I'm just trying to gauge whether I should be shooting for high volumes of lower CPC keyword sites or a smaller volume of higher dollar ones, if I can find them. Thanks in advance!
#adsense #cpc #translate
  • Profile picture of the author thecableguy
    Just posted a question about CPC that kinda relates to your question, unfortunately no one replied.

    IMO you might want to not target keywords that have to low a CPC like a dollar or less here's why. The CPC you're seeing is for the search network, Adsense is the content network, thus while you're getting 70% it's of a substantially lower CPC then what you think you're getting. The content network ads are substantially less for advertisers.

    All the courses/ebooks I've read on determining the CPC don't mention whether the CPC being displayed is for the search or content network.

    I hadn't really thought about it before, but it would seem that it's displaying the search CPC, while Adsense publishers are using it to calculate their CPC on the content network, which automatically would skew the calculations.

    Some people would say the lower CPC is due to clicks on lower paying ads is the reason for their low CPC, but I think this is the reason as well.

    I hope someone else shares some insight on this, or else it means a lot of people have been doing keyword research wrong (including me).
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi Eileen,

      The post by thecableguy was spot on.

      The keyword research data is based on Search Network CPC not the Content Network. While this is useful as a general indicator of higher verses lower average CPCs there is not a one to one relationship. There are other factors that come into play.

      On the Search network advertisers are competing for the ad position for the SERPs for a particular keyword. The CPC is determine by an auction for that limited ad space. However, on the Content Network advertisers may see their ads spread across many many pages and this significantly larger marketplace is controlled by rules of supply and demand. Advertisers can often purchase ad space at a tiny fraction of what it costs on the Search Network.

      There are many well known niches that have so many pages offering ad space that the average CPC is much lower than you might anticipate based on Search Network CPCs. And there are some lesser known niches that command much higher average CPCs due to a short supply of available ad space.

      You need to consider all those above mentioned factors to predict a rough estimate of your potential CPC.
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  • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
    Just want to reaffirm the above statements by thecableguy and dburk.
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  • Profile picture of the author thecableguy
    Thanks guys, I thought it only made sense in my head and the "translation" wasn't correct.

    Guess I should have aimed a bit higher. Seems to me that all those Adsense products that use CPC to determine the keywords to target needs to go a bit further then.
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