In all the Gmail flurry last week Google sent around an email to their AdSense providers alerting them to a potential change in payouts known as “Smart Pricing.”
What do you think about the new Smart Pricing?
The day after this email announcement Google released news that they would separate bidding between their search and contextual ads, a long awaited decision that has been a point of contention with Google’s advertisers since AdSense debuted.
Smart Pricing, through undisclosed means, adjusts the value of clicks based on a number of factors such as time of day, type of content and conversion tracking.
The example Google gave in their email was, “a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras.”
The pricing change should, according to Google, reduce the cost of clicks that are less likely to deliver business results.
Some content site owners who run AdSense ads complain about Google’s lack of communication regarding the pricing shift, and the fact that Google offers no information on how they determine pay rates and ad performance.
Many AdSense providers who post in WebMasterWorld have reported declines in their revenue, while a few reported an increase.
Google’s quote in the email about the value of an ad next to product review content is likely to spawn many new review sites as content providers scramble to cash in on the AdSense pay adjustment.
Garrett French is the editor of murdok’s eBusiness channel. You can talk to him directly at WebProWorld, the eBusiness Community Forum.
