Tuesday, March 22, 2005

What's Up with Google's AdSense?



Click here for AmazonThere's something odd going on with Google's AdSense service. And I mean odd in a good way, I think. Here's the mystery: I use Google to serve up ads on various of my web sites, this blog included. Google's AdSense produces the context-sensitive textual ads that you see on the right sidebar, for instance.

I've been using AdSense for quite some time -- since August of '03, really -- and have served up over 6 million impressions. My click-through rate -- meaning the percentage of ads that actually get clicked upon -- however, has historically been quite low. Lower than a bathysphere submerged in the Marianas Trench. Therefore, the earnings generated through AdSense, despite the number of impressions, has been relatively tiny: less than $1,000 since inception.

But starting in early March of this year, I noticed something odd occurring: my click-through rates were up... every day. Dramatically. Here's March, so you can get a feel for the difference. Instead of averaging, say, a dollar a day, the March daily average is nearly three bucks. What's weird? The number of impressions hasn't changed a bit.

So... what has changed? Are the ads getting better -- more 'contextually correct' than before? I don't know. But I'm not going to complain.

Takeaway: while one can't predict the future, if my results are indicative of AdSense overall, then Google's earnings are going to kick some serious butt this quarter. Act accordingly.

Tuesday, March 1, 2005 16,586 3 0.0% $0.04 $0.73
Wednesday, March 2, 2005 20,172 4 0.0% $0.03 $0.65
Thursday, March 3, 2005 19,448 8 0.0% $0.10 $1.93
Friday, March 4, 2005 15,098 13 0.1% $0.12 $1.86
Saturday, March 5, 2005 17,663 24 0.1% $0.22 $3.89
Sunday, March 6, 2005 17,861 30 0.2% $0.30 $5.38
Monday, March 7, 2005 17,915 25 0.1% $0.21 $3.79
Tuesday, March 8, 2005 17,508 24 0.1% $0.19 $3.26
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 15,965 13 0.1% $0.12 $1.88
Thursday, March 10, 2005 15,185 43 0.3% $0.34 $5.10
Friday, March 11, 2005 15,670 21 0.1% $0.15 $2.37
Saturday, March 12, 2005 13,857 18 0.1% $0.13 $1.77
Sunday, March 13, 2005 16,461 23 0.1% $0.17 $2.73
Monday, March 14, 2005 16,712 18 0.1% $0.17 $2.78
Tuesday, March 15, 2005 18,376 13 0.1% $0.06 $1.09
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 15,847 22 0.1% $0.17 $2.69
Thursday, March 17, 2005 14,477 18 0.1% $0.13 $1.87
Friday, March 18, 2005 14,554 39 0.3% $0.23 $3.35
Saturday, March 19, 2005 15,470 17 0.1% $0.22 $3.38
Sunday, March 20, 2005 13,545 16 0.1% $0.15 $2.06
Monday, March 21, 2005 14,876 21 0.1% $0.23 $3.46
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 13,681 21 0.2% $0.22 $3.00
Totals 356,927 434 0.1% $0.17 $59.02
Averages 16,223 19 $2.68

 

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