Sharp drop in Adsense CTR and CPC - any ideas as to why?

[androidsfinest]

Hey Web Babblers!

I've been having an issue lately, where for the past two days I've been getting unusually low CTR and especially CPC. My average before was around 3-5% CTR with a $0.45 CPC. This translated to around a $20 CPM, which I was getting daily. Now, my CTR has dropped to around 1.5% and CPC has dropped incredibly to around $0.15. Any help would be useful, do you have any ideas as to why my CTR and CPC have dropped?

Thanks!

[lee810]

I never really understood my CTRs until Google added the ability to look at performance by individual pages in Analytics. You won't find that in Google Adsense performance reports. So when you talk about CTRs, it's important to know which pages perform best and how much traffic you get on those pages. Some of my highest traffic pages produce a CTR that is 1/10 of other pages that have lower traffic and this greatly skews overall CTRs and CPCs. I think it has to do with what the people are looking for when they arrive at the page. In some of my review pages, they are looking to spend money on some product and hence they are in a buying mood and that's where my CTRs are highest. In my pages that talk about how to fix something (which, of course seem to get most traffic), they are looking to avoid spending money and hence the CTRs are much lower.

So even if your traffic hasn't changed, it's possible the ratios have changed, and it's important to know which pages are getting the traffic and what the CTRs are for those pages.

[lisa]

This is not unusual... especially during this time a year. Advertisers are spending less so your eRPM (earnings per thousands) will drop.

[milliondollar]

This is not unusual... especially during this time a year. Advertisers are spending less so your eRPM (earnings per thousands) will drop.

I'm seeing the opposite. November & December are my best months. This happen for the past a few years.

[androidsfinest]

@lee810 How can I enable the Adsense and Analytics pairing? When I go under the Adsense tab under Content in Analytics it reads - "This report requires Adsense to be enabled for this profile". How can this be? My Adsense and Analytics use the same Gmail account.

[lee810]

I found this by searching "Linking Google Analytics and Adsense" on Google. I'd post the link, but I am still to new to this forum... :-(

To link your AdSense account:

On the Home tab, visit the Account settings page. (in Adsense)
In the "Access & authorization" section, next to "Google Analytics integration," click edit.
On the “Google Analytics integration” page, click Link next to the Analytics account that you want to link to your AdSense account. A new window opens and you’re taken to your Analytics account.
In Analytics, click Link Accounts.
In the dialog that appears, specify your primary Analytics property and Analytics profiles, then click Continue.
Your primary and secondary Analytics properties are listed under the AdSense tab and your AdSense and Analytics accounts are now linked.

Lee
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[androidsfinest]

Thanks Lee, I was having some trouble earlier trying to link them but this method you described has worked for me. Kudos to you! Anyways, I'll have to wait a day or two to get any information from my Adsense, then I can look at the different revenues of pages.

[androidsfinest]

Hmm...although my Analytics and Adsense seem to have paired up, my Analytics isn't showing any data. Anyhow, my CPM has been really fluctuating this past week, and I don't know what to make of it. Unfortunately, I don't think there is much I can do about this.

[nancy29]

ctr depends on the user's location and the content of your site, entertainment is not the good niche if you wish to make some money

[Spirit]

But that doesn't explain the drop in CTR/CPC. I'm thinking less relevant ads.

[lisa]

But that doesn't explain the drop in CTR/CPC. I'm thinking less relevant ads.

That would definitely do it.