As we all know, the income a webmaster makes from Google AdSense is largely determined by the Cost Per Click (CPC) of ads. The higher the CPC, the higher the income. On the contrary, if the CPC is low, the earnings will suffer.
In an effort to improve advertising revenue, many website publishers try to put more ads on a single page. However, the result is often disappointing. So now here comes the big question: If we reduce the number of ads on the page, can we effectively increase the CPC and thus increase our overall ad revenue?
The short answer: It’s probably not the case.
According to a quick test we’ve done on sites that we own, reducing the number of ads per page does not see a significant increase in CPC. On the contrary, the decrease of the ad number seemed to have caused the drop of ad clicks. In addition, it seemed like CPM is also reduced due to the decrease of the number of ads. Our test time didn’t last long, so the result might not be convincing enough. But I think it at least offered an angle on how things work here.
There are many discussions and debates on this topic around the Internet but few has drawn a solid and convincing conclusion that’s backed by data or results.
One important fact I have to point out here though: Google has removed the per page ad limit back in 2018, which I think says a lot about the company’s view on ads number. More ads don’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. Plus, what Google auto ads do is also to put more ads on a page when it sees fit. so that also proves that more ads is not evil, right?
So I guess the conclusion here is: Don’t flood your visitors with ads, which will turn them off. But also avoid showing them too few ads, because you won’t be able to make enough money. Put yourself into your visitors’ shoes, and ask yourself: Will I be annoyed if I see this many ads? Do some experiments and I’m sure you will find your ideal number of ads per page.