Cruncher
Fresh User
joined:Apr 26, 2015
I’ve been using AdSense as a primary monitization platform of my website for the past year. Last week, my CTRs commenced to drop, very first on specific ads and leisurely it began to spread across the entire site.
After i did my digging i discovered that my ads (i only run text ads) became those Two clicks ads where the user need to click the arrow and then the arrow will switch it’s form into a ",Visit Website", button. In this type of ads a user needs to click Two times in order for a click to be counted. After Trio days like this my overall CTR dropped by 80%.
It happened both on mobile and desktop (not on tablets however).
Does anyone know why it happened? is it a penalty? is it another google test? will it stay forever on the domain? is there a way to get rid of it?
netmeg
Senior Member from US
joined:Mar 30, 2005
There was a post here about that, but somehow it seems to have disappeared. I guess the dual click option is some kind of invalid click protection. I find it odd that Google doesn’t have anything about it in their support docs. You should most likely contact support if you’re eligible for it.
MrSavage
Senior Member
joined:Aug Five, 2009
I think this is spam. If I click my own ads I might know about this. Who clicks their own ads? 2nd time here it’s been posted about, oddly enough. Nowhere else. Also, if Google was to do this, that would indeed switch the agreement wouldn’t it? When I put up ads, I know that link units require dual activity. Switching me to dual activity ",regular", ads after using code that is supposed to be a normal single click paying ad and without any communication from Google about it? I’m playing my BS card on this one. What exactly is, ",after my own investigation",? Like you are clicking your own ads?
Cruncher
Fresh User
joined:Apr 26, 2015
When you have a website with over 1 million page views per day and your CTR drops from 2-4% to 0.2-0.6% you do what you need to do in order to check what caused it. i’ve asked my users and a very frequant user send me the movie displaying it. before pull your BS card, give me some credit, i may be a fresh user here but i’ve been reading here for a duo of months.
zoidzoid
Fresh User
joined:Apr 23, 2015
I posted in the last thread on this subject, but that seems to have disappeared.
Two. It seems to hit certain geo’s, not always all
Three. The sites that I consult for typically use paid traffic, and through a multiplicity of geo and interest shaping have seen the initial drop little by little get better, albeit no site affected has returned to more than 50% normal ctr after a multitude of experiments over a VERY brief time scale.
Four. The dual click also effects the ‘apple’ variant ad [which remarkably I’ve never read about here despite the level of ‘pro skill’ on display with the ‘BS Card’ that just got played]
Five. All sites I’ve seen this on are 1m+ PV/M with a significant number being sub 1k on alexa/similar/rival
robzilla
Senior Member
joined:Sept 25, 2005
If that alone caused your CTR to drop by 80%, my guess is that you previously had a lot of accidental clicks.
ken_b
Senior Member from US
joined:Oct Five, 2001
Evidently this has been around for a few years. Here’s a Tech Crunch article about it from 2012.
netmeg
Senior Member from US
joined:Mar 30, 2005
I still say hit up support. If you’re getting that much traffic, you shouldn’t have a problem getting someone to at least listen to you.
Cruncher
Fresh User
joined:Apr 26, 2015
So, it seems like this ",issue", is spreading. here is another known site with millions of users (which i’m not connected to in any way) that got this kind of Two click ads:
netmeg
Senior Member from US
joined:Mar 30, 2005
No need to send. But again, I’d ask support if it’s affecting your own site, because they’ll be the only ones who can truly give you any answers.
HowYesNo
Utter Member
joined:May Two, 2006
All my sites are affected with this ",visit Website", ads, ctr >,>,>, -30%. Good job G.
MrSavage
Senior Member
joined:Aug Five, 2009
If this is flipped out, for those ",special", publishers, I would only feel slightly betrayed. As in, link units require a secondary activity, we all know this. Ads that I’ve had up for years or even as latest, how can the terms be switched without notice? As in, I might make better use of the space on my site rather than be displaying ads that require secondary act, which as anyone knows, is a superb way to earn less. It doesn’t seem fair in that sense. Does it say anywhere that some of the ad units ",might", require 2nd click before being counted? I suppose next it will be only clicks that convert pay publishers. A read the techcrunch article. No idea what to make of that. Unless told otherwise, why would anyone think that their ",one click = pay", might switch to ",two clicks = pay", on a random, semi-permanent, permanent, this way, that way, only on Wednesdays, type of ad units? Some days, my unreal low earning and lack of clicks would indicate something like this is plausible, but truly? If this is more common these days, then wow, at this point do I feel like a lab rat. If desperate times are near, then I can see how this testing is best done now, rather than later. For F sakes. BTW, what is a Chrome console!?
netmeg
Senior Member from US
joined:Mar 30, 2005
For F sakes. BTW, what is a Chrome console!?
ken_b
Senior Member from US
joined:Oct Five, 2001
How do you guys know these ads are appearing on your sites?
MrSavage
Senior Member
joined:Aug Five, 2009
(and you can detect it with the Chrome console, no need to click on the ads)
netmeg
Senior Member from US
joined:Mar 30, 2005
Like I said – you have Google, just like the rest of us. You can find a browser instrument that will let you inspect the code of the site. Either the one that’s built into Chrome or Firebug for Firefox, for example.
MrSavage
Senior Member
joined:Aug Five, 2009
Thanks for the explanation. I’m familiar and use firebug. I took a look with the Chrome Java console. I just think if the OP knows how to inspect an ad and determine that it’s a dual click, then there should be an explanation here for people (like me) who don’t know how to do this. It’s just a text ad only issue?
netmeg
Senior Member from US
joined:Mar 30, 2005
If you get fewer clicks, then Google gets less money. So if this is indeed happening on your site, it’s not random because Google has determined they don’t like you – it’s because of a perceived issue that could potentially lead to invalid clicks. Google does some sneaky sh*t, but I haven’t heard anything yet to make me think this qualifies. For that matter, you don’t even know if this is your issue, I’d be willing to bet it isn’t.
trebuchet
Senior Member
joined:Mar 17, 2015
If Google is doing this because of ad placements masquerading as navigation then that’s A-OK with me. I see that around a fair bit, mainly on those click-baiting ",top list", sites. I’ve even been suckered into mistakenly clicking an ad or two, despite my practice in online advertising. I suspect those sites have artificially high CTRs and Google has had enough. More power to their arm, I say. Better for us genuine publishers too.
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