What's Up with Google's AdSense?

There's something odd going on with Google's AdSense service. And I mean odd in a good way, I think. Here's the mystery: I use Google to serve up ads on various of my web sites, this blog included. Google's AdSense produces the context-sensitive textual ads that you see on the right sidebar, for instance.

I've been using AdSense for quite some time -- since August of '03, really -- and have served up over 6 million impressions. My click-through rate -- meaning the percentage of ads that actually get clicked upon -- however, has historically been quite low. Lower than a bathysphere submerged in the Marianas Trench. Therefore, the earnings generated through AdSense, despite the number of impressions, has been relatively tiny: less than $1,000 since inception.

But starting in early March of this year, I noticed something odd occurring: my click-through rates were up... every day. Dramatically. Here's March, so you can get a feel for the difference. Instead of averaging, say, a dollar a day, the March daily average is nearly three bucks. What's weird? The number of impressions hasn't changed a bit.

So... what has changed? Are the ads getting better -- more 'contextually correct' than before? I don't know. But I'm not going to complain.

Takeaway: while one can't predict the future, if my results are indicative of AdSense overall, then Google's earnings are going to kick some serious butt this quarter. Act accordingly.

Tuesday, March 1, 2005	16,586	3	0.0%	$0.04	$0.73
Wednesday, March 2, 2005	20,172	4	0.0%	$0.03	$0.65
Thursday, March 3, 2005	19,448	8	0.0%	$0.10	$1.93
Friday, March 4, 2005	15,098	13	0.1%	$0.12	$1.86
Saturday, March 5, 2005	17,663	24	0.1%	$0.22	$3.89
Sunday, March 6, 2005	17,861	30	0.2%	$0.30	$5.38
Monday, March 7, 2005	17,915	25	0.1%	$0.21	$3.79
Tuesday, March 8, 2005	17,508	24	0.1%	$0.19	$3.26
Wednesday, March 9, 2005	15,965	13	0.1%	$0.12	$1.88
Thursday, March 10, 2005	15,185	43	0.3%	$0.34	$5.10
Friday, March 11, 2005	15,670	21	0.1%	$0.15	$2.37
Saturday, March 12, 2005	13,857	18	0.1%	$0.13	$1.77
Sunday, March 13, 2005	16,461	23	0.1%	$0.17	$2.73
Monday, March 14, 2005	16,712	18	0.1%	$0.17	$2.78
Tuesday, March 15, 2005	18,376	13	0.1%	$0.06	$1.09
Wednesday, March 16, 2005	15,847	22	0.1%	$0.17	$2.69
Thursday, March 17, 2005	14,477	18	0.1%	$0.13	$1.87
Friday, March 18, 2005	14,554	39	0.3%	$0.23	$3.35
Saturday, March 19, 2005	15,470	17	0.1%	$0.22	$3.38
Sunday, March 20, 2005	13,545	16	0.1%	$0.15	$2.06
Monday, March 21, 2005	14,876	21	0.1%	$0.23	$3.46
Tuesday, March 22, 2005	13,681	21	0.2%	$0.22	$3.00
Totals	356,927	434	0.1%	$0.17	$59.02
Averages	16,223	19			$2.68