Guide To Google Adsense Smart Pricing

January 29th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

I was adding a comment to my post asking for advice on Google Adsense Smart Pricing that was getting so long I decided to turn it into a post.

I can’t believe that I hadn’t considered Google Adsense Smart Pricing before. This is where Google Adsense will serve lower priced adverts on sites that have poor CTRs, and higher priced adverts on sites that have high CTRs. This calculation is done across a whole Adsense account, not on a site by site basis.

I guess from Google’s perspective this makes sense as if an ad that has a high CPC is displayed on a site but doesn’t get clicked on, then because this will result in poor performing results for their advertising partners who they want to keep happy as well as their publishers, then they won’t serve those ads on that site again and instead will show ads from ‘less important’ advertisers with cheaper ads.

What does this mean for your blog? Well, by having ads displayed in poorly performing locations either on a poorly performing site or in a poorly performing ad slot, then this will only result in cheaper ads being displayed on average across all your sites.

Armed with this new knowledge, I’m going to remove some of my ads where I’m only displaying an ad because there’s a ‘blank space’, so that (hopefully) across my Google Adsense account my average CTR will increase, which should hopefully mean that I get more higher priced ads because Google sees my site as a good place to serve better ads.

I’m going to monitor the results for a few months to see if the average eCPM for my better performing ad units increases as a result. Hopefully, this will ofset the loss of earnings from removing the poorly performing units.

Let me know if you made/plan to make a similar change and if it improves your Adsense earnings.

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About the Author

Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK. He also writes for Windows 7 News.

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There Are 16 Responses So Far. »

#1

Comment by Dan and Jennifer on 28 February 2007:

Hey Everton,

I’m REALLY curious if you’ve seen any improvements since then…

We review all our revenue metrics from all income sources every 2 weeks, and that’s usually when we decide what new ad positions to try, etc.

Have an awesome day!
Dan
#2

Comment by Everton on 28 February 2007:

The cpm in my primary position has gone up a quid or two, but it’s my secondary positions which seem to do better with the cpm going up a few quid.

Although Google lets you add 3 units to each page my belief now is that rather than looking for ways to always squeeze 3 units onto each page in the hope that every now and then every unit will get a click, you should only add units that get a good CTR.

Makes sense to be honest, and your site design will benefit (and you’ll make more money!)
#3

Pingback by Wie man mit einem Blog Geld verdienen kann | Connected Internet on 4 April 2007:

[...] SEO & Adsense Optimisation Tips Fromâ€¦Google Creating A WordPress Robots.tct To Improve SEO Guide To Google Adsense Smart Pricing Best WordPress Engagement Plugin: Make Users Read More Posts Improve Adsense CTR - Remove Blog Ads [...]
#4

Pingback by Google Adsense Now Permits 3 Ad Link Units | Connected Internet on 11 June 2007:

[...] removed mine when I started removing Adsense units when I first learnt about Smart Pricing, although I’m not sure if Adsense Ad Link units are included as part of the Smart Pricing [...]
#5

Comment by Yael on 11 June 2007:

Thank you for sharing this important information. It’s surely helps to know
#6

Pingback by MyBlogEarnings For August 2007 | Connected Internet on 2 September 2007:

[...] of available impressions.Â Despite this, the CPM of my pages hasn’t fallen by much thanks to Adsense Smart Pricing. In fact, the CPM of my only remaining unit has increased to make up most of the shortfall. I think [...]
#7

Comment by Vassy on 7 September 2007:

I have 6 websites 5 of witch are in gaming. Few months ago i had a CPC of 10 cents a click and made about 60$ a day .. one day … boom … 1 cent a click. I hope by removing some low CTR like you’ve said will increase my CTR and hope CPC too. Thanks!
#8

Comment by m07 on 26 November 2007:

i earn better than you all/click.and i think thats good but a get lower clicks than you.
#9

Pingback by I Hate Being Called A Liar | Connected Internet on 8 December 2007:

[...] Guide To Google Adsense Smart Pricing [...]
#10

Comment by Psychic | TerryG on 29 December 2007:

Hello Everton,

I have two different web hosting accounts and found my cpc went down dramatically. What I did was I kept one adsense serves on one hosting account and with the other I use another ad server. This has been good for me as I can join different ad servers to see which one provides the better cpc. At the same time my one adsense hosted sites has increased in cpc so I concur with you that your idea is quite correct. For others they can do the same thing. High ctr pages keep adsense whereas low ctr pages use a differnet ad server.

As you know my thoughts are that no one will make any money, especially bloggers and webmasters, when they too, refuse to look at the ads served on other sites. It is ad blindness that drives me crazy. It does not hurt to have a click here and there for something that interests you. I have even bought stuff through a few ad clicks and have been more than happy with my purchases. Something I would normally not do, but now i DO.
#11

Pingback by I’ve increased My Adsense eCPM By 50% Using Section Targeting | Connected Internet on 20 January 2008:

[...] Adsense Section Targeting allows you to suggest sections of your text and HTML content that you’d like Google to emphasise or downplay when matching ads to your site’s content. This helps Google match ads to your content, increasing your clickthrough rates and hence your eCPMs. It can also drag your eCPM up further thanks to Smart Pricing. [...]
#12

Pingback by WidgetBucks - Worth Considering As An Adsense Alternative | Connected Internet on 6 February 2008:

[...] important, as they will drag down the earnings of your better Adsense units due to Google’s Smart Pricing. This is where Google will serve higher valued ads on sites with the best earnings potential, so [...]
#13

Pingback by How To Increase Your Adsense CTR by 1% With One Simple Change | Connected Internet on 17 February 2008:

[...] my ad positions to find the optimal positions, adding section targetting and making the most of smart pricing to maximise my earnings and I thought I had Adsense totally figured [...]
#14

Comment by STEREO on 21 February 2008:

So what your CTR is like, guys?
#15

Comment by Rhys on 23 May 2008:

You said -
“Google Adsense will serve lower priced adverts on sites that have poor CTRs, and higher priced adverts on sites that have high CTRs. This calculation is done across a whole Adsense account, not on a site by site basis.”
This is a most revealing comment thank you very much - It explains why my initially good earnings slowly dropped down to nearly nothing per click……
#16

Pingback by Testing Google Adsense Changes Recommended By….Google | Connected Internet on 30 May 2008:

[...] Adsense Now Permits 3 Ad Link UnitsDon’t Be Afraid To Delete Adsense Units To Make More MoneyGuide To Google Adsense Smart PricingConnected Internet Joins Forbes Business & Finance Blog NetworkHow To Double Text Link Ad [...]

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