AdSense Problems And The Economic Crisis: Guide To Making Sense Of Lost Online AdSense Revenues

As the whole online advertising landscape struggles with the economic crisis, AdSense is no exception: online publishers are experiencing a persistent drop of ad revenues. But why is this crisis emptying your pockets? To find out, I've brought together for you the best resources and articles to both make greater sense of the reasons causing losses in AdSense revenues and to evaluate effective strategies to compensate the economic downturn.

AdSense eCPM Worldwide Trend from January 2007 to January 2009 - Photo credit: Rentabilizar Web

So why AdSense revenues are diving? It's dead simple. AdSense is based on contextual, relevant advertisements. Having a huge pool of advertisers allows Google to put ads on your pages that match the specific content of your articles. But since the economic crisis is forcing many advertisers to stop their advertising campaigns, AdSense is no longer capable to provide you with 100% relevant, contextual ads anymore. Less targeted ads result in less clicks. Less clicks, less revenues.

The fact that AdSense is no longer able to provide the relevant ads you need, generates a chain reaction where both online publishers and AdSense are defeated:

• AdSense serves you less relevant content for your web site and makes your revenue drop.
• Less money is earned by online publishers, which also reduce the investments on AdWords campaigns.

But don't panic. There are still some small precautions you can take to avoid your AdSense revenues hitting the ground. Here are some valuable resources that can help you understand how much this crisis is damaging publishers, and how publishers can defend themselves.

AdSense Problems And The Economic Crisis

How Has the Economic Downturn Impacted My Blogging Earnings?

Economic crisis has impacted bloggers very differently depending upon factors such as their blogs topics, the life stage of their blogs and many other factors such as the demographics of their audience.

 

Are AdSense Publishers' Revenues on a Slippery Slope, or What?

For the time being, countless web publishers are getting hit head-on by the "financial crisis" and it's unclear when things will head back up... if ever. Though, what seems to be a must, is web publishers will need to take action to recoup their lost revenues.

 

Do Lower AdSense Revenues Make You Blue?

To fight the financial crisis Wall Street has engineered, publishers need to become even more creative in finding ways to stabilize and hopefully increase their revenues, as it may last for months, or even years. We're unable to tell now, so publishers must take immediate action.

 

The World Crisis Is Clearly Visible on AdSense eCPM

AdSense eCPM Trend in France from January 2007 to January 2009 - Photo credit: Rentabilizar Web

AdSense eCPM Trend in the United Kingdom from May 2008 to February 2009 - Photo credit: Rentabilizar Web

AdSense eCPM Trend in Spain from December 2007 to December 2008 - Photo credit: Rentabilizar Web

Spanish company Rentabilizar Web has graphically visualized the result of a study on the variations of eCPM on its sites during the last two years. The graphs refer to the trends in France, United Kingdom, Spain, and the general situation of eCPM fluctuations inside the Euro Zone.

 

AdSense Publishers in The Financial Crisis

The financial crisis will damage AdSense, but how dramatic the impact will be can't currently be said. What is certain, is publishers are unable to influence the negative advertiser trend, but some precautions might be taken to make sure that ads give the advertiser a high ROI.

 

AdSense Revenues Increase But Publishers Keep Less

On January 22nd, 2009 Google filed their 2008 Annual report which includes information for the 4th quarter of 2008. AdSense publishers will find these information interesting to make sense of the crisis of revenues.

 

AdSense Revenue Drop: Diagnosing The Possible Causes

The reasons for AdSense revenue fluctuations can vary a great deal, and learning which variables and factors should be monitored, can be of extreme value to any web publisher seeking greater sustainability and higher revenues.

 

The Effect of The Global Financial Crisis to AdSense and Affiliate Marketing and to Other Forms of Internet Advertising and Internet Marketing

Despite the crisis, there is no reason for you to give up on your web site. If you are a blogger, continue blogging, develop your niche, and post relevant articles. Sooner or later advertisements will come, and maybe the ones that are relevant to your posts.

 

The Crisis Comes to Google AdSense

Google AdSense suffers like any other advertising service from the economic downturn. But in the short to medium term, due to its huge pool of advertisers and publishers, AdSense is also the service which is likely to cope with the crisis more effectively.

 

Google Reassures AdSense Publishers via Email

On October 31st, 2008 Google sent all AdSense publishers a reassuring e-mail. While admitting the negative impact the economic crisis was having on online advertising they said they would work to boost publishers revenues.

 

AdSense Earnings Down?

Many webmasters blame Google for increasing the negative effects of the economic crisis with its smart pricing, a feature that lets Google automatically evaluate the worth of clicks on your site ("advertisers don't gain as much ROI when paying for generic clicks as they do for quality clicks that come from interest in your content." - Source: Inside AdSense)

 

The Online Ad Recession Is Officially Here: First Quarterly Decline In Revenues

It was the last part of the advertising sector to fall and may be the first to recover, but online advertising is now in a recession. With the four largest Web advertising companies (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL) having reported March quarter financials, you can get a pretty good sense of how the sector did as a whole.

Forum Discussions

Is The Global Crisis a Threat to AdSense Publishers?

From the forum: "Traffic is down a bit, CTR is down more, but average EPC is higher than I've seen it in years. Overall, my answer would be "Yes, but things could be worse." "

 

Financial Crisis Affecting Adsense Earnings?

Recession is causing serious damage (even more than 50% in some cases) to AdSense publishers earnings. From the forum: "Comparing October 2008 numbers to June the value of each click is down 75% for us."

 

Are You Noticing a Decrease in AdSense Revenue?

From the forum: "[On November 2008] the early days do not look promising. Not at all. Free fall for total revenue and eCPM seems to have accelerated where I would have expected a slowdown. Now I am seeing figures that make me think of removing AdSense completely."

 

Financial Crisis Taking Heavy Toll on AdSense?

From the forum: "[My eCPM on August 2008] has been a rollercoaster. $18 one day, $58 the next. [On July 2008] there were swings but not anywhere near like that. I think how bad you'll get hit depends on your niche."

Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia, and first published on March 25th, 2009 as "AdSense Problems And The Economic Crisis: Guide To Making Sense Of Lost Online AdSense Revenues".