My smartlink earnings dropped — and I can't see why. Help?

My smartlink earnings dropped — and I can't see why. Help?

Q: A reader's smartlink earnings-per-click fell 40% over a month. A smartlink hides which offers it routes to, so they felt blind.

A: That blindness is the smartlink's weak spot. We asked their manager for a breakdown by country and offer. Turns out one high-value geo (Germany) had quietly been swapped to a lower-paying advertiser inside the smartlink.

We carved Germany out into a single direct offer at a better rate and left the rest on the smartlink.

Result on 120k clicks/month:
— Before: $0.009 blended earnings-per-click
— After: $0.014 — back above the old level

Short version: smartlinks are convenient but opaque. Periodically request a geo breakdown and pull your best countries out into direct offers.

More Qs? Send them in.