Google Adjusts Click Spots on Adsense - Lowers CTR

Google has made a change to the clickable spots on their Adsense ads. The change might be good for the quality of their ad network, but it is not working out well for web publishers. In fact, Google is sacrificing revenue on their own to make this change.

Usually, almost the entire space of an Adsense ad (including the white space) was clickable. As it sits now, the only clickable areas of the ad are the headline of the ad or the URL. Any clicks on the accompanying text for the ad or the white space don’t do anything. Here is a graphic (courtesy of Blogoscoped.com ) that illustrates this better than I could:

In the long run, I think this is actually a good move. Unfortunately, on the short term, it is resulting in a lot of web publishers seeing pretty noticeable drops in their click-through ratio. And a reduced CTR means you make less money from Google.

I myself am noticing the change. My CTR has dropped by an average of around 0.3%. Not exactly huge compared to some, but the overall effect is a definite decrease in revenue. Yesterday I made about $30 less than usual. It was about a 30% drop. I will be watching today to see how the trend continues.

Yet more proof that depending on any one income source (including Google) is a bad move. One small change can have definite effects on your income.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.