The Best Traffic Source for Ad Revenue
In 2015, there were 3.17 billion internet users, that’s just under half of the entire world’s population. Year after year, people are continuing to plug in, and make the online world part of their everyday lives. According to the 2015 Strategy Analytics advertising forecast, 28% of the 187 billion dollars spent on advertising in the US was digital. And, Publishers want to know what piece of that pie is most valuable. So what is the best traffic source for ad revenue?
How do traffic sources break down by spend?
One thing’s for sure, this is a great time to be an online publisher!
Online traffic can come from a variety of places such as search engines, social media platforms, paid sources, referrals, in-house email lists, etc. As a publisher, you might be asking yourself, which online traffic sources will offer the best return for my ads?
The truth is, not all traffic sources are created equal. What makes each traffic source unique is the type of audience it brings, and how they engage with your content and your ads.
“…if your site doesn’t have any video content, referrals from youtube to your site, will likely result in users bouncing before they click on any ads. “
Let’s consider referral traffic for a moment. Visitors from different sources of referral traffic may have more or less of a tendency to click on your ads. Take Youtube for example, a platform that caters to users who are watching videos for a variety of reasons. What’s important to realize, is that all visitors to YouTube have one thing in common, they’ve come for video content. So if your site doesn’t have any video content, referrals from YouTube to your site, will likely result in users bouncing before they click on any ads.
On the other hand, users coming from social media platforms like Facebook, are likely to be more engaged in your content, and thus more inclined to click on your ads.
For publishers looking to make the most from their users, it is important to remember that the most profitable visitors come from organic search.
Organic search packs The biggest bang
- It’s the number one driver of traffic. Organic search is by far the number one driver of traffic to content web pages. Search engines beat out social media, the second runner-up by more than 300%.
- More valuable Clicks. Targeted traffic is better for earnings/EPMV. Similarly, the more high-CPC keywords you are ranking for the more your ad revenue will increase.
- Google protects its advertisers. Advertisers using Google Adsense (and other ad networks) want to reach potential buyers. If the users coming to your site are not considered “quality traffic” by Google, ads that are clicked on will be worth considerably less. Additionally, clicks on ads from these ‘unsafe’ traffic sources might be marked as invalid clicks, and the revenue will likely be withheld from publisher.
Improving your search engine traffic is one of the most valuable actions for your website. Organic traffic is considered by many to be the best traffic source for ad revenue.
A few things to keep in mind…
Content is King
It is essential to write compelling and value-adding content to attract interest and compels visitors to share or return to your site. Quality content has the best chance of going viral, and Google rewards content virality heavily in the search ranking algorithms.
Keywords are Key
It’s important to know what words and topics you want to rank for, and how valuable they are to advertisers. A good approach starts with a list of 10-15 topics that fit your niche, and from those topics, compile a list of the highest-CPC keywords you want to rank for.
Social Media can help in the rankings
Social marketing has become one of the best ways to boost your audience and promote your content. Google and other search engines, take into account the importance of social presence and are taking social media as a great signal to rank content. Make an effort to provide social sharing links on your posts, and keep your social accounts up to date with relevant information to attract visitors.
Measuring the best source of traffic for ad revenue
The path to higher earnings starts in a search box, and if you want to make the most from your ads, it’s worth taking the steps to build your organic traffic. Be aware of what value you are providing to your viewers, and what keywords pay the highest within your niche. Take advantage of social media and spread the word about your awesome content.
Lastly, measure this all for yourself. If you don’t have the ability to track this right now, your efforts will be wasted. Ensure you can determine the value of each traffic source before you put effort in improvement initiatives.