Google adsense has to be the best thing to hit online business since the invention of the internet. The service has allowed average people and huge corporations alike to make a very decent income online with very little trouble at all. Put in a little effort to create a decent site that gets a little traffic and you can be in the money. Make better sites with more traffic and you can really rake in the cash.

However the key to any business success is to be able to track where your business is coming from and how it is interacting with your websites. Unfortunately the stats that google provides for you in your adsense account are VERY weak. In fact they provide just enough information to make it seem like you are actually getting all the information you need to succeed. Sadly that just isn't true.

In fact, relying on google's adsense stats could very well be killing your business. Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm absolutely NOT accusing google of doing anything wrong, far from it. However the information they provide just isn't anywhere nearly enough to let you make informed decisions about how to develop your web business in the ways that are most profitable for you. Below are explained some of the main reasons why relying on google's adsense stats could be a critical business mistake. At the end of the article we offer an explanation of what you can do to 'rescue' yourself from adsense stat doom.

Here then are some of the critical elements missing from google's adsense stats.

1) They provide only vague information.
The stats only show page impressions or #'s of ads loaded on a site. To get any kind of precise information you need to set up channels for EVERY ad unit you display on EVERY page of EVERY site. Not likely.

2) They are updated very slowly
While it is getting faster, stats are still on a delay. If you run a high traffic site and want to test a change which turns out bad, you could stand to lose hundreds of dollars in the hours that it takes google stats to update.

3) You have NO IDEA what pages are generating revenue and which aren't
- As I said before, yes you can have channels for specific pages, but if you have a site with more than a few dozen pages it becomes a HUGE hassle, and if you have several sites with several hundred pages each...well it just doesn't work. So there you are spending hours and cash getting traffic to certain sections of your site, but you have no real idea if that section is actually generating revenue without resorting to the clunky channel system.

4) You have NO WAY TO KNOW what ads are being clicked.
Lets face it you want to have people clicking on ads that pay you the most, not the ones that are paying out .05/click. But you can't get this info from your adsense stats. Without this info how can you possibly 'block' low paying ads from showing on your site with your adsense 'competitors' block list. And if you don't block these..well google's got to serve the ads to someone, and they're very happy to send you the .05c/click ads.

5) It is IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL where your traffic is coming from and what it is doing on your site.
- Oh sure you can look at your web stats, but there is absolutely no way to match that to your adsense stats. Perhaps your stats show that you are getting lots of referral traffic from http://www.antivirus-report.com, but how can you tell if they are actually clicking on your ads. If they aren't that traffic isn't really worth anything.

6) Visitor behaviour is unknown.
You have no way of telling if your adsense revenue is coming from a few active visitors who click several ads on several pages or if it is coming from single clicks from every visitor. Why does this matter? Well if only 1% of your visitors actually click an ad (but they click lots), you have 99% of your visitors that you have to 'convince' to click at least something.

7) Content relevance of your pages.
Do your pages show all the ads possible, or is your content not relevant 'enough' to qualify for full ad quota displays? You MUST know this information. The less relevant your content means google will send you fewer ads, or PSA ads just to fill the space. You ain't gonna make much on PSA's (actually you make NOTHING).

There are other reasons why google adsense stats just aren't enough, but I think the 7 above should be enough to make the point. Rely on google's stats at your own expense.

This isn't the right place to go into a detailed explanation of how to fix this cash killing problem. However it isn't all that difficult to solve all these problems and more that come from depending on google adsense stats. Simply said, all that is required is to add a little code to your web pages that grabs the extra essential information you need to be able to properly and accurately track your adsense earnings. Getting your hands on this vital information will let you see exactly what you need to do to make a dramatic change in your adsense earnings.

For a more detailed explaination of what you need to do here: http://www.newbie-guides.com/adsense-stats-lifeline/

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I wish you all the very best of success.