New Interface Wednesdays: Analyzing earnings by page views vs. ad requests

If you’ve spent time wandering around the Performance reports tab in the new interface, you've likely stumbled upon the Columns button. This button lets you customize your report to view earnings by page views, ad requests, matched requests and individual ad impressions. Selecting one of these options will change the columns and data shown in the table and graph. All other metrics, like CTR & RPM, will be based on the selection you choose.

We’ve received some questions about understanding these reports, especially when viewing by ‘page views’ and ‘ad requests’. To get an overall sense of your ad performance, view your earnings by ‘page views’. When looking at specific ad units or channels, however, we recommend using the ‘ad requests’ view. This will provide you the most accurate numbers for specific reports like ad units, ad sizes, custom channels, ad types, targeting types, and bid types.

Why is this? When analyzing the performance of individual ad units, the ‘page views’ view may show you inaccurate CTRs and RPMs if you have multiple ad units on one page. Each time a user views a page with multiple ad units, your reports will log only one page view and associate it with the first ad unit on the page. This means that when you’re viewing more granular reports by ‘page views’, the CTR and RPM of the second and third ad units on the page will be calculated based on “zero” page views, resulting in invalid data. By using the ‘ad request’ view when looking at specific ad units, you’ll ensure that you’re reviewing valid CTR and RPM values.

Try it now! Navigate to the new interface and click on the Performance reports tab, then select the ‘Columns’ button from any report to change the metrics you’re viewing.

Today marks the last post of our New Interface Wednesday series. We hope you're now more familiar with features available in the new interface, and how you can use them to better understand your ad performance and manage your account. You can review any of the previous posts in this series by visiting the New AdSense Interface label at any time, and learn more about specific features in our Help Center. As we continue to develop new features in the new interface, we'll be sure to post updates here on our blog, so please check back frequently!

Posted by Guillaume Ryder - AdSense Engineering