Impact of Machine Learning On Website Traffic Monetization Over Time
Study: Impact of Machine Learning On Website Traffic Monetization
The websites we are studying today
- All study websites below are all from different topic verticals (niches)
- They all derive +75% of traffic from organic search
- They have not made any other website changes — other than adding content to their sites — during the study period
- They all used Ezoic’s [Layout Tester](/?page_id=1174) to learn from visitor behavior and adjust website layouts, ad positions, and ad density over time
With all these elements in common, these 5 sites should offer some insight on the benefits of applying machine learning to website traffic monetization. We will look at what was adjusted and what benefits they may have offered these websites.
**What we will be measuring in the study:**
- How overall session revenue is impacted over time (Earnings Per Thousand Visitors — the total amount of [revenue earned per visitor](https://support.ezoic.com/hc/en-us/articles/203082167-What-Is-EPMV-))
- How organic traffic and SEO is affected by these efforts
- How visitor experience metrics like (pageviews per visit, bounce rates) were affected
What did these sites do in the study?
Website 1 – A website focusing on math education
Website 2 – A website focusing on US History
Website 3 – A website focusing on word puzzles
Website 4 – A website focusing on science & technology
Website 5 – A website focusing on psychology
What we learning about website traffic monetization and machine learning
It would be awfully self-serving to simply paint this as an end-all-be-all solution for every web property; however, the two-year examination of this cluster of websites demonstrates a**n unquestionable correlation between machine-learning-based website adaptation and…**
- Increases in overall website ad earnings
- Improvements in organic website traffic
- Objectively better visitor experiences
These websites all had multiple factors in common and were largely untouched during the study period; which is what made them such great subjects for this study. There are millions of variables at play in the web publishing business so it cannot be stated that all sites will experience these same types of results; however, studies like this continue to make the case that **with so many variables in play, it is impossible to treat all visitors the same without harming revenue,** UX, and traffic to some degree.
Questions, comments, thoughts? Leave them below and our researchers will respond.
[**Learn more about Ezoic’s Layout Tester**](/?page_id=1174)