AdSense update for March

Back in January, I wrote about a situation that had arisen around the use of graphics and AdSense and my site which you can read here http://wm8c.blogspot.com/2007/01/adsense-picture-update-january-12th.html . I had gotten called out about the use of graphics next to my AdSense ad units which came about with a change in policy at Google on my main site at http://www.wm8c.com.

Well I am happy to report that it has made no difference in CTR on my site, in fact my February CTR's have actually increased by about 1.5% since removing the graphics. Now this is not necessarily going to be a typical result for all sites as every one is unique, but for me it made no difference at all. In the end I would say that I actually came out ahead. Goes to show you that every idea is not always a good one for every site and the importance of good testing for your particular site.

Another topic that I touched on back in December and January was smart pricing and what it had done to my site. Well, I am happy to report that my site seems to be recovering nicely from that hit and I am on track in March so far to be at or above my earnings last November when it hit. My site visitor stats are continuing to climb and so are the earnings. I don't think that the smart pricing is totally lifted, as my eCPM's are still about half of November but the traffic increases are making up the remaining difference as well.

In a post that I will do shortly, I will cover a recent addition of Kontera to my main site and my initial reactions to that program.

Labels: AdSense, AdSense Graphics, AdSense TOS, AdSense Violations