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A WebmasterWorld thread has complaints from some Google AdSense publishers of low click through rates (CTR) compared to the average.
I don't use AdSense that much, so my data looks fine but there are a few people complaining about a recent huge decline in CTR on their ads. One said their CTR dropped as much as 40%.
My CTR dropped 40% on Thursday Dec. 9.I don't know how they do it.
From 8% a few years back, to 5%, to 3%, to 2%, to ?%.
Reverse Fibonacci comes to mind - 13 - 8 - 5 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 0.
Is zero a number in the series? Here she comes.
One publisher said it is normal for December:
My CTR has dropped to that low too Sally, but this is normal for December and it might not pick back up until the second week of January. This is normal for at least for me and I know a few people on this board that know the same. I wouldnt panic over it.
Have you noticed a low CTR recently?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Comments:
Sarpras2005
12/13/2011 02:06 pm
Yes, my ctr doped this month...But cost per click increased. so my income not reduced ...
david switch
12/13/2011 02:12 pm
Its normal this time of year everything slows down especially if your content is US based. Move along nothing to worry about hear. Trust me Google isn't letting anything happen to their current cash cow.
Leila
12/13/2011 09:01 pm
I notice that whenever the RPM (what advertisers pay for the ads) goes down, the CTR goes down also.
Nika Gviniashvili
12/14/2011 11:14 am
:( My CTR droped this month too but, increased cost per clicks. I thinks It's temporary for this time of period, and it happens actually every Christmases.
boblaw
12/14/2011 02:14 pm
I have experienced a fairly significant drop in CTR and RPM. Not a great combination for the bottom line. The holiday season does seem to have that impact each year, but this is a larger drop than previous years.
Cozywebs
12/14/2011 05:40 pm
When my wife informed me that CTR had gone down for her sites I took a look at mine as well and then after comparing the past few years, I noticed that each year it happened the same way. It seems that there is a surge in certain marketing areas and basic information sites seem to suffer a little. After the first of the year it should be back on track. We hope.
Asjd
12/22/2011 03:08 pm
I done a lot of tests, it seems that the clicks are discounted (nothing to do with december, january, issues, ad rates etc). In my view it has to do with direct traffic. So if the visitor comes from search engines and click on an ad, you are ok, but if the visitor comes from a direct traffic source, then the click may be discounted. Please, stop with the "magical thinking" thinking that the drop on CTR is attributed to seasonality, ad position, time of the day, sunny day vs cloudy day, black cat in your path,friday 13th, itchy palm, or walking under a ladder . This has to do with google itself. In my opinion, If you have a better report on clicks and see the amount of clicks that are not counted, then you will probably realize that your ctr is probably the same as it was a year ago, just less clicks are being counted towards your income By the way, this has been happening since april, only now it is affecting publishers that do not make too much money with adsense
mai.ikaru
05/09/2012 09:54 am
Dx very low CTR rate now Dx ... what's the best adsense ad format now?