I get quite a few questions about AdSense earnings, and a lot of people set their sights on earning a living with AdSense.
But how realistic is that today?
Can you make thousands of dollars per month with AdSense? Yes. I am. And I know of other bloggers who are doing so. Nevertheless, I would never set a goal to earn a living from AdSense alone.
It’s just too risky.
The Good Ole’ Days!
In March 2012, I had a record month of $10,000. That was the only month I ever hit the 5 figure mark.
Right after that, Penguin hit. Even though my site was not affected, AdWords spending declined. So that sent my earnings back to my usual $5,000-$7,000/month average.
Today I consider a $3,000-ish/month a standard for me, but I would still estimate that is above average for most people. I think it’s important for newcomers to know this because they jump into AdSense expecting to make a living quickly and easily.
If Your Earnings Are Down You’re Not Alone
Another reason I wanted to do this post is I keep getting questions from concerned readers about their drop in earnings over the last year. So if you are worried that it’s something with your site, don’t be.
There definitely seems to be a downward earning trend with a lot of Publishers.
Some are tweaking ads, adding more units, etc. Not me. AdSense is great, but just not the priority it was several years ago, and it feels good not to worry about it.
If your earnings are down drastically, check your rankings. It could be that you aren’t ranking for the keywords that were sending the traffic that converted. Also, advertisers in your niche could be spending less. There are many different reasons.
A Warning About Screenshots
This probably won’t apply to a lot of you because there would be no reason to show your earnings. But some bloggers who blog about Internet marketing do disclose, so I wanted to share.
I got a warning in my AdSense account last year for posting a screenshot of my earnings on a blog post.
In the past, you could display a screenshot of your earnings. And yes….I still have the email Google sent with permission from 2007! Uh huh… I was covering my butt big time!
I don’t know why I still have this since their terms have changed. Maybe I was just stunned to actually get a reply from The Big G. 🙂
This was back in the day when Google had an easily accessible contact link for everyone (not just top-earning Publishers like they do now).
Well the policy has changed a bit. You can still mention your ballpark earnings like I did in this post, but if you show a screenshot you must show your FINALIZED earnings.
And if you are concerned about losing your account, be on the safe side and don’t show anything.
There’s More Than Just AdSense
We all love the concept of AdSense because it’s easy to implement. I get it.
But it’s also not reliable. Earnings fluctuate and accounts get disabled all the time. Here’s a video I did last year where I held nothing back about my feelings toward AdSense.
Don’t forget there’s affiliate marketing, selling your own service, Kindle books, e-courses, P.O.D. programs like Zazzle, Spreadshirt (my favorite), etc.
Speaking of Spreadshirt, I’m working on a course. I’ve done really well with the program in the last year and have had so much fun with it. I’m looking forward to sharing what I know!
Update: The course is live!
I’ve been kind of M.I.A. lately, but I just needed a break and have been spending more time working on course videos.
So What About You?
How have your AdSense earnings evolved over the years? The same? Earning more? Less? Let me know!
I think a lot has to do with all people being partnered, when back in the old days you had to work hard to become partner so you could advertise your vids. On top of that there is adblocker, and I don’t understand it’s allowed and why YouTube doesn’t block it if it’s legal with their block-adblocker gadget. But it is what it is, my earnings decreased by half since it’s pak days and this year (2016) it has gone to a 3rd of the peak days, by next year i won’t even make monthly paout. Since I do instruction video’s on how to make jewelry I decided to also start making pdf patterns on etsy hoping to fill up the gap. Fingers crossed, I do want to be a profesional jewlery artist in the end. My motto “Do it or die trying”
Yes ad block is HUGE now and I agree it has had a big effect on AdSense.
I am one of those people who have seen a massive drop in earnings in the last 18 months. At the height of earnings I was doing nearly £700 a month. My worst month in the last six months was less than £200. However, the last three months have seen a gradual increase in earnings. I don’t know whether this will carry on or not. Like other people, I’ve been trying to pinpoint what has caused this downfall. I actually think it’s got a lot to do with people moving over to mobile devices, especially mobile phones to browse our websites. In the last 18 months I’ve seen a truly massive increase in people using mobile phones to browse my website, it coincides with my drop in earnings. Now we’ve got other things to think about. Our websites need to be responsive in order for people to be able to browse them properly on mobile devices. That’s complicated things with AdSense now. A large non-responsive AdSense unit isn’t going to look very good on a mobile device. I use responsive module units on my sites which resize a lot of the units I use. However, I found that using non-responsive AdSense units still work really well, I just don’t go over 300 pixels wide. I’ve actually resorted to more aggressive advertising with AdSense now, especially with impressions.
This post is very interesting . I have had the same experience on Google Adsense.Lisa Irby thank for your great post sharing.
Great post as well. I have been wondering about earning with Google adsense and it seems like it has really gone downhill since the good old days. Seems like most of my clicks are invalid as well? All well, hope to get some feedback about what else can work and any other recommendations you have. Thanks.
Great post Lisa!
I use Adsense since 2010. I have a how-to tutorial website about tech-related topics (and some other niche websites) but the tutorial site is my main website.
This year my traffic of my how-to turorial website increased a lot (compared to other years) but my Adsense earnings dropped so much that I’ve decided to take Adsense off and only use affiliate marketing and promote software (that I use in my tutorials).
This website gets around 1300 visits a day (it’s not that much) and my Adsense earnings this year were between 0.50 and 1.20 USD a day (so it’s very low). Two years ago I earned more with less traffic and since 2014 it’s getting less and 2015 is a joke!
Maybe when Adsense gets better, I will give it another try. But for now I leave it off, because I don’t want to advertise for pennies.
Regards,
Mickel
Now a days…. its too hard to earn thousand dollar per month from adsense in country like India….. you are really lucky if you are earning more than that…………… btw great post
Agree with you
but you can still earn good money through adense, if you are from India
it depends on the choice of niche
grab some good niche with semrush, now they offer google india search database as well
Yes, I also noticed this trend and it is comforting to know I am not alone in the club. Probably there is such a global tendency of getting lower adsense earnings in comparison with previous years and I am also thinking to consider other adsense alternatives.
Comparing the first 6 months of this year to last year on adsense is revealing. Traffic is up by 50% CTR is up by around 40% and I am earning more than I did last year thanks mainly to building up my traffic. But CPC is down by around 30% which of course is disappointing as on last years CPC I would be a lot happier.
It was June of last year that I saw an increase in cpc which lasted through to the end of the year and I am seeing the same thing again this year but rather strangely CTR has dramatically discreased for June whilst traffic remains consistent.
my adsense drop half since blog traffic drop 50%. BUt I do agree with you we cannot focus on one income source. That why now I focus more on affiliate product.. 🙂
Try Bidvertiser if your Adsense drops, I’ve gone for it lately, and it’s very reputable and earnings are great as your traffic stabilize.
i have used bidvertiser was never able to earn more than 10$…. so i would not recommend that
Hey Lisa,
Adsense still works pretty much all right with niche websites – but if you still do like $3k a month, you are surely doing a lot better than most others.
Excellent mentions about teespring alternatives, surely worth a try. Good to know that you have a diverse online business that covers so many verticals.
Coming back to adsense, I like it because it is the best passive income source – nothing else can be as passive.
Hey Shobha
Glad you recommends Adsense. I have also made passive income recently with Adsense on my previous blog but hence, my account just got disabled for no reason. On my newly found niche blog, I haven’t applied for Adsense though since it’s still premature. Steve here said my account was disabled due to invalid activity from my account, but I have not clicked on any of my ads since I know what to do and what not to do. Maybe besides invalid clicks, or if there are no invalid clicks then what made them disable that account for me?
The CPC in my country is very low compared to other countries so I think that’s the reason I am not able to make enough money with Google Adsense.
However, I have started working on articles that are targeted towards visitors from USA, UK and other countries that have a high CPC.
So I am hoping for the best.
I found some articles and videos about invalid click activity and how to deal with that. some websites recommend to block the ads in problematic countries, that seam to be source of that invalid activity. do you recommend that too?
can adsense be filtering valid clicks?
thanks in advance.
Hi Steve
Thanks in advance for your reply. I also seen those articles. But I have also realized that now Google just bans even legitimate clicks with no reason. Can anyone come up with the advice on why Google is doing that, they penalizes even very legitimate sites without any copyrighted or sexual explicit content.
Thanks
another issue. in youtube, there are MCNs, multi-channel networks, that claim they offer premium CPM rates to their affiliates. to me, MCNs are a superfluous intermediary.
but basically, they leave everyone else with the lowest ad rates, even if they are creating quality content.
maybe that’s affecting what happens outside of youtube as well…
Hi Lisa
My previous blog was permanently banned from Google Adsense. I think Google does not want to work with anyone outside US coz they just banned a lot of accounts in South Africa for no reason. I would like to teach my blog’s readers on how to approach Adsense to avoid being banned – any advice on how to address the issue?
“Nevertheless, I would never set a goal to earn a living from AdSense alone.” I agree. My wife and I are able to live off what we make with AdSense, but it’s not a good I idea to trust that it will always be there. What if you were MySpace and then Facebook came along?
After read your article, I started with Spreadshirt tonight though I haven’t got Photoshop yet and zero design.I will work on my series of tee shirt.Thanks a lot!
Awesome! Let me know if you have any questions. If you take my course I show you how to use Paint and it’s free. But Photoshop is best.
Since many people that I asked from a certain forum had advised me to focus on Google Adsense, it is actually the main source of my online income right now. But, after reading your post here stating that it is “not reliable”, I got this feeling of “fear” that my account will soon be on the next line of being disabled. I hope that it will not, at least it should give me some time to shift into Affiliate Marketing before that time comes.
Anyway, the only thing that gives me some motivation in working with Google Adsense is that, I keep on the belief that my account will stay on the safe side as long as I am not doing anything wrong that goes against their terms of policy.
I am earning so much less, Lisa (if that make any sense) that I have turned away from expecting anything from Adsense! I still add them to my sites, but I am putting way less efforts into the program and more into other services I currently offer, and can offer in the future. I rarely check to see if I have made any money…that’s how bad it is now. I use to be able to pay a bill or two from it…not anymore!
Hey Lisa, I am still not sure why Adsense earnings have dropped this year? any idea why Big G is giving so less
Could be many reasons but the number one reason is usually advertisers are spending less.
I was doing a search to learn more about what average Adsense earnings are and found your site. The question I was looking to be answered is what is a reasonable RPM one can expect from a blog and why does my RPM fluctuate wildly daily even when my traffic is steady? For example the difference in RPM between my best and worst day last month was $8.00 – is this normal?
Hi Deane
There is no reasonable RPM or average earnings for AdSense. The reason is the advertisers and click thru rates vary SO much… even from sites within the same niche, it would be misleading for you to try and compare your results with others. I wrote an article about fluctuating RPM here http://www.2createawebsite.com/money/low-adsense-earnings.html
Excellent — I will check that out. Thanks for your prompt reply!
Hi Lisa
My adsense earning took a big hit when the Penguin game and took 75% of all my traffic. AdSense has never been the same sine that day. Thank god, I have my normal day job 🙂 For me adsense is just a fun hobby. I am glad that it is not my living because it can change very fast. I think adsense should be treated as an extra income and not as the primary income for anyone. It is just not reliable enough for that. I have sometimes had luck changing the ad size on my blog to make some improvement in my earning, but only for a short time. Then everything is back to normal.
As always you are a big inspiration for all bloggers out there Lisa 🙂
I really want to do that but I don’t even know how. could someone tell me how? I love to write but I have never think that it could make money as written by Lisa here.
Hi Disty
So you need help. First, choose a niche, write on what’s best for you and what you believe in. You may also visit my blog, I will take you step by step until you become a guru like Lisa. I’m looking forward in helping you, but remember, to get more involved, you should get daily newsletters from professional influencers like Lisa, I can also get you through though, check http://www.onlinemoneykeys.com today Disty, surely it will help you go through easy short coachings.
Happy blogging Disty
Hi Sandile,
It is great to find someone who wants to help me. I have just submit my name and my email there and I have just read (even just the title of every blog) it sounds interesting. I’ll read it latter after my work-time has done. Do you think that to earn money by blogging in English only? or we can earn money by our local Language. Bahasa for instance. It is my native language and I can do it better. Please your advice 🙂
Thanks a lot for your response 😀
Disty
Glad I could help. Using local language depends on the type of monetization you use, for instance, here we are talking Google Adsense, then you should check with the list of all available languages with them, then if yours is there, yapee! Your’re in.
I hope I would be also of valuable help. Thanks.
Disty
I hope you’re still in for help. I would recommend Bidvertiser for you if Adsense is steep.
Yes you are right we never depend on adsense last year i have also started blog and work very hard its give me earning in enough dollars after 3 months i got huge clicks and views on my blog increase my traffic and all keywords are in top. My earning reaches more than 1000 dollar par day but sudden Google disable my account and i lost my whole earning its bull shit for me. never depend on only Google ad-sense because they change their guidelines and methods of earning also.
This year i increase my ad-sense earning in same views
Ethan
You’re not alone in being disabled. They have disabled mine too for my previous blog. On the new blog that I have started months ago I don’t even think of applying for Google Adsense
I have Adsense on some local niches but as you can imagine there’s a glass ceiling on the earnings because the audience is limited.
I hope i can make thousands of dollars per month with AdSense like you liza :-). Building my traffic is my first priority.
Jake, surely you’re right. Earning in any sort on a blog requires targeted traffic, and remember, either than Adsense, you may also make money on affiliate marketing too, but the difference between the two is that Affiliate marketing will only benefit if your ads match your niche, if you talk about computers, then refer your visitors to computer softwares and so forth. I believe in you Jake, I also have topics on how to grow your traffic spontaneously. Check me out at http://www.onlinemoneykeys.com
Hi,
Nice post , I am earning from adsense. I won’t say I am earning huge amount from it but yes it is good amount which I get from adsense.
Initially it is very hard to believe on one can earn from adsense or not. But with proper guidance and and lots of time can help to get extra money from adsense .
Good post Lisa !!
Thanks Lisa really give us some good tips and I am following your blog since 2009 and I really love the way to explain and you get into the shoes of the front person, I mean what they think and what they want to do that because you have been there and you know all about that
Cheers and keep up the awesome work Lisa!
I am just working on starting my new website ,and i am finding lisa’s posts very useful as she explains everything in a simple ,short and honest way.
thank you lisa
saurav yadav (india)
I have Adsense on some local niches but as you can imagine there’s a glass ceiling on the earnings because the audience is limited.
I rank number 1 for most of my keywords and over hlaf the traffic is direct so that’s good. But Adsense is just one monetisation strategy.
For other mew and unrelated sites with lower traffic it seems pointless to put Adsense units on the sites because it will drag down the overall CTR and negatively affect earnings.
Hi Lisa,
After read your article, I started with Spreadshirt tonight though I haven’t got Photoshop yet and zero design.
I will work on my series of tee shirt.
Thanks a lot!
West
My earnings have definitely shrunk over time. I am blasting more traffic, but the earnings per click is lower. In addition, I find that people are now less likely to click on Adsense ads. Still, I have it as a secondary income source. Regardless of the problems, it is still a good passive income.
Hi Lisa,
So jealous that you can make such good money out of Adsense! 😉
I have never like Google for the fact that my Adsense account was disabled for almost 4 years by now WITHOUT REASON and despite appealing 3 to 5 times, it still not approved.
I still believed that they are arrogant in a way because everyone has no choice but to utilize their services. There is a Chinese saying, “Fengshui cycle is always turning” so one day someone will replaced Google. 😉
Hi Lisa, i noticed from last month my ctr rate dropped from 3-4% to 1 to 2%, no new change made by me and also my traffic doubles but still ctr seem to be stuck at 2%
This is true for me, talking about the Adsense issue. It is great time to look to grow other source of income.
I recently started playing with Spreadshirt stores, adding designs and style thanks to you.
Thanks for sharing
Lisa, I started my spreadshirt shop, and I am so excited. Thank you for all your sharing, Oh, one of my shirts says, “Handle Your Scandal!.” LOL!
LOL! I love it!!
I have had the same experience on Google Adsense earnings. But now I see some small rise…
Hi Lisa, your post is easy for me to understand. I also post google adsense in my website in a small conner 🙂 Nobody can see. I will have another strategy to replace its position.
I am studying a course a bout affiliate marketing from you. It is great.
Your articles are very informative. I am very new to blogging and read anything that I can related to blogs and monetizing them for income. Thanks!!
Recently my adsense earnings also dropped suddenly, i don’t understand why? Anyway, thanks for the post. Will you please publish more helpful articles related to make money online. Thanks!
I started my first website in 2006 and I am earning less now than I did then, needles to say I do not rely on adsence alone, roughly how much traffic to your website would you need to get those kind of earnings Lisa.
Heather
justcrochet.com
patternsforcrochet.co.uk
Hey Heather,
Traffic is irrelevant. I know someone who has half the traffic I have and makes more with AdSense because he is in the finance niche. So you can’t estimate earnings by someone else’s traffic. Every niche is different and all ads pay out differently. It’s impossible to estimate based on that. That’s one reason I never reveal traffic with regards to AdSense anymore because people often use it as a benchmark and it’s really useless.
Thanks once again for another great post.
I earn from GA as well but my earnings are so dismal. It could be worse, no doubt, but it could be better too.
These days, it takes me 2 months to reach payout LOL! I’m trying to tweak and update many of my articles, and I share my articles now, much more than I ever did in the past . . . But the results are still so upsetting. Oh well…
Looking forward to your Spreadshirt update. Can’t wait!
“Speaking of Spreadshirt, I’m working on a course.” YOWSA!!
OK Lisa.. you’ll think this is crazy but I’ve started with Spreadshirt after reading your article about it. No, that’s not the crazy part.
I’ve had to piecemeal.. even tho I’m willing to pay to have stuff done, most pp don’t know how or what on Spreadshirt.
Anyhowsie, over the weekend (here’s the crazy part) I thought to myself “I wish Lisa would just make a course about it!” Haha. 🙂
When, when, when do you think it’ll be ready?? … and if you need beta testers, I’m in!
My daughter sells her art on tshirts.
I have a Spreadshirt shop for AustinFan
Want to go full speed ahead in Spreadshirt with my beach website.
darlene
HI Darlene! That’s too funny! What a coincidence. I don’t want to say when just yet because I have so much going on but hopefully within the next two months. And if I need beta testers I know who to ask! 🙂
Weeeeell… I’ll try and be patient. 🙂
If you happen to see this… did you add the Banner “Free Standard Shipping?” (napturallycurly.spreadshirt.com/)
It seems like Spreadshirt added it but it’s not on mine (darlene.spreadshirt.com)
I am SO excited about doing the shirts. I think it’ll be a blast.
And your Spreadshirt course should be a homerun, btw. NO ONE has one. I looked everywhere…
You’re right. No one does and that’s exactly why I wanted to do it. Plus I don’t have a lot of content out here on it so it will be fresh. 🙂
You have to add the banner yourself. If you go under the “Banners” section in your account they give you the code to place in your header if you want to advertise all their specials. It updates automatically.
Perfect.
thank you so much Lisa
Wow that’s great!!!You have worked so hard over the years, therefore you deserve it all…