Do the Google certified ad networks actually make us more money in the long run? That's a tricky question, because we cannot see when those ads are displaying, not to mention we don't know if they are CPC or CPM based ads. The best option for us is to see trends in our online earnings and whether or not we are making more or less money than before.
My experience has been this thus far: I have 4 websites with Adsense. One is fairly high traffic, and 3 are lower traffic. All have made decent revenue, especially off the CPC ads. My CTR has been steady and decent across all 4 sites.
Since the inclusion of other ad networks competing with Adsense, I have seen a decline in earnings across the board. So after about a month of this, I have been able to look at the trends on each site. For the three lower traffic sites, my earnings have been squashed by CPM ads. Where my CPC earnings were doing quite well, I have seen an 80% decline in revenue due to CPM ads. The CTR is actually higher, but the clicks are not generating any revenue, thus my Adsense CPM is now lower. The higher traffic site is seeing a split between CPC and CPM ads, with slightly less revenue coming in. CTR is a smidge higher again, but revenue is down.
So, for me, the ad networks approved by Google are NOT currently helping me out, so I have opted to disable them all for the time being. I will continue to monitor this and other news related to these networks each month, and if a different trend emerges, I will be sure to write about it.
Keep in mind what is not working for me may be working for you, so I encourage you to keep a close eye on your Adsense reports. If you have a method that is working, keep with it. If not, ltry and experiment and see where it goes. If anyone is actually seeing improved Adsense revenue from these ad networks, I'd love to hear about it.
