Publishers are complaining about a significant decrease in revenue from Google AdSense

Many publishers using Google #AdSense report a significant decrease in their earnings and a drop in RPM (revenue per mille, revenue per thousand page views). The decline began at the end of February. This occurred several months after the Google AdSense team stated that the transition from cost per click (CPC) to cost per impression (CPM) in AdSense did not negatively affect publishers' revenues.

What is RPM?

RPM, or revenue per thousand page views, is calculated by dividing earnings by the number of page views and then multiplying by 1000. For example, if you earned approximately $0.15 from 25 page views (formula: revenue/page views * 1000), your RPM would be ($0.15 / 25) * 1000, or $6.00.

Publisher Complaints

On the Google AdSense forums, there are numerous threads of publishers complaining about the drop in earnings and RPM. One thread has several hundred posts where publishers report a 70% or more drop in earnings. The first post in this thread appeared on February 27 from a publisher who wrote: "My earnings and RPM suddenly dropped by 50-70% three days ago. Traffic and impressions are normal, ads are displaying."

Examples of Declining Earnings

Here are some reviews from the forum, note that this started before the core update in March:

  • "Previously my earnings were significant, now they've dropped to $1-2 per day."
  • "The decrease started on February 12 for click statistics and February 21 for earnings."
  • "Since February 23, revenue has fallen by 85%, nothing has changed and the same number of visitors."
  • "Now my income has decreased by 90%. Thanks for that, Google."

Important for Publishers

This situation highlights the need for site owners to carefully analyze changes in advertising systems and their impact on revenues. It is important to regularly check ad performance and be prepared to adapt to changes and have a backup plan. Publishers should also actively interact with the support of advertising platforms and the community.

Forecast

Given the current trends faced by publishers, they may need to change their approach to content monetization:

  • Tightening traffic quality control. #Google will continue to tighten policies related to identifying and blocking dishonest traffic to improve ad display quality and increase RPM for legitimate publishers. This also includes combating #MFA sites.
  • Changes in payout structure. There may be a reevaluation of the payout structure in favor of sites with high-quality, premium content, which will increase their revenues and encourage the creation of valuable content for users.
  • Development of new tools. The emergence of new tools and solutions for more effective management and analysis of ad placements can help publishers better understand and optimize their revenues. It is necessary to constantly seek new solutions and products.

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