Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions about estimating AdSense revenue. Each answer reflects how the estimate above is built.

What is a good ECPM?

It depends almost entirely on visitor geography and niche. US and Western European traffic typically returns $3–$6 ECPM. Traffic from developing markets often lands at $0.5–$2. High-intent commercial niches such as finance, insurance and legal can run several times higher than the average; wallpapers, lyrics and download sites run far lower.

How much does AdSense pay per 1,000 page views?

AdSense pays per 1,000 ad impressions, not per 1,000 page views, so you need one extra input: how many ad units each page loads. A page with three visible units at $4 ECPM earns $12 per 1,000 page views, while the same page with one visible unit earns $4.

How many ad units can one page have?

Google recommends at most three ad units per page. In practice, slots below the fold frequently fail to register a viewable impression, so counting two effective impressions per page is often more realistic than three.

How much traffic do I need to make $100 a month?

Reverse the formula. With $4 ECPM, 2 pages per visitor and 2 ad impressions per page, you need roughly 210 daily visitors. With $1 ECPM and 1 impression per page, the same $100 takes about 3,300 daily visitors — which is why audience geography matters more than raw traffic.

Is this estimate accurate?

No calculator can be accurate without access to the site's own AdSense dashboard. This method aims for the right order of magnitude. Practitioners report results usually landing within roughly a 2× band of reality. Use it to compare niches and set expectations, not to value a business.

What is the difference between UV and PV?

UV (unique visitors) counts distinct people; PV (page views) counts pages opened. One person reading five pages produces 1 UV and 5 PV. Estimation needs both: page views drive ad impressions, but unique visitors constrain how many page views are possible.

Does the niche affect AdSense earnings?

Substantially. Advertisers bid more for keywords with commercial intent — insurance, loans, legal services, B2B software — often several times the ECPM of entertainment, downloads or wallpaper traffic. Before committing to a niche, run this calculator with a niche-appropriate ECPM and compare the outcomes.

Where does this method come from?

The terminology and the 30-dollar baseline follow a method published in Chinese by SEO practitioner Gefei (哥飞) in August 2023, titled How to quickly estimate a website's AdSense revenue. The case study on this site reproduces his worked example using publicly available Similarweb estimates.