Google Ad Tweaks Benefit Publishers
I'm always amazed by the action-reaction nature of Web advertising. Something as simple as changing the placement of an ad banner can boost revenue or cut it off at the knees.Thanks to Google's recent alteration of its AdWords advertising program, this cause and effect ping-pong match is being played out on a much larger scale across thousands of sites. News.com says Google changed its AdWords policy to allow low-performing keywords to remain in rotation. Ads were previously disabled if they fell below a minimum clickthrough rate (CTR). Now, low-clickthrough ads can persist as long as they have a decent "Quality Score," a number that Google says is "determined by your keyword's CTR, relevance of ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors." In other words, the "Quality Score" is a behind-the-scenes ranking system that draws upon a slew of data -- data that people outside Google likely don't have.
News.com notes that the change has raised the ire of AdWords advertisers because many of the minimum bids for keywords have increased. For example, an ad that once cost $.03 per click (known as cost-per-click or CPC) might now go for $.10 per click. It seems like pennies, but multiply this increase over thousands of clicks and you can see why some AdWords advertisers are sweating.
But there's an upside to this, and it's an upside I'm personally enjoying. AdSense publishers -- i.e. the sites that show Google ads on their sites -- are noting increased revenue since the switch. It makes sense; higher minimum CPC rates means more income, part of which gets passed on to publishers.
For example ...
The AdWords change supposedly occurred around Tuesday, Aug. 16. Since then, I've seen a noticeable bump in my average daily earnings (I'm intentionally excluding numbers for fear of violating the AdSense terms of service -- so I hope you'll forgive the lack of firm data). Now, there was one anomalous day that saw a massive number of page impressions and clicks, so my overall increase is certainly suspect. Nonetheless, an increase appears to be afoot and it will be interesting to see how (and if) the new levels hold. -- Mac Slocum
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