How to Check Your Website Earnings (It's More Than Just AdSense)

So, you’ve built a website, you’re getting traffic, and the money is starting to roll in. That’s an incredible feeling. But if your revenue comes from multiple sources—a few AdSense ads here, an affiliate link there, maybe a digital product sale—it can quickly become confusing to get a clear picture.

"How much am I actually making?"

Unlike a social media platform with a single dashboard, checking your website's total earnings means piecing together a puzzle. But don't worry, it's a puzzle you can easily solve. This guide will show you where to look for each piece of revenue and how to bring it all together into one clear financial picture.

The Big Picture: Your Website's "Earnings Dashboard"

There is no single "Earnings" tab on your website. Instead, your financial dashboard is a combination of several key tools:

1. Your Ad Network Dashboard(s) (e.g., Google AdSense, Ezoic, Mediavine, AdThrive)
2. Your Affiliate Network Dashboards (e.g., Amazon Associates, ShareASale, Impact)
3. Your E-Commerce or Payment Processor (e.g., WooCommerce, Shopify, PayPal, Stripe)
4. Google Analytics 4 (Your source of truth for connecting traffic to revenue)

Let's break down how to find your earnings in each of these places.

1. Checking Your Advertising Revenue (e.g., Google AdSense)

For most websites, ad revenue is the starting point. Your ad network's dashboard is where you'll find the detailed breakdown.

How to check on Google AdSense (the most common network):

1. Go to adsense.google.com
2. Log in with your Google account.
3. On the homepage, you'll see a graph of your Earnings over time.
4. Click on Reports for a detailed breakdown. Here you can see:
   • Earnings by day: Your daily revenue.
   • Earnings by page: Which pages on your site are generating the most ad income.
   • RPM (Revenue Per Mille): Your estimated earnings per 1,000 pageviews. This is the most important metric for ads.

Pro Tip: If you use a premium ad network like Mediavine or AdThrive, their dashboards are even more sophisticated, offering deep insights into page performance and RPM trends.

2. Checking Your Affiliate Marketing Revenue

This is where it gets tricky because your earnings are scattered across different programs. You need to check each affiliate network individually.

Common places to check:

• Amazon Associates: Log into your account to see clicks, conversion rate, and earnings from Amazon products.
• Other Networks (ShareASale, Commission Junction, Impact): Each has its own login portal where you can track clicks and commissions.
• Individual Brand Programs: Some brands have their own affiliate portals. Keep a list of your logins.

The Big Challenge: There is no native way to see which specific affiliate link on your site earned a commission. This is where dedicated tools come in.

Solution: Use a link cloaking and tracking tool like Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates, or Voluum. These plugins let you create trackable links and see exactly which links on which pages are making you money, all inside your WordPress dashboard.

3. Checking Your Product & Direct Sales Revenue

If you sell digital products, courses, or services directly from your site, this revenue is tracked in your e-commerce platform.

Where to check:

• WooCommerce: Go to WooCommerce > Reports in your WordPress admin to see sales, revenue, and top products.
• Shopify: Your Analytics dashboard shows sales reports.
• Payment Processors (PayPal/Stripe): Log into your accounts directly to see transaction histories and payouts.

The Magic Connector: Google Analytics 4

While the above tools show you how much you earned, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the tool that shows you why you earned it. By setting up conversion tracking, you can connect your revenue directly to your traffic.

What you can track in GA4:

• E-commerce Purchases: See which traffic source (Google, Pinterest, direct) drove the sale of your product.
• ** affiliate Link Clicks:** Set up a "goal" or "event" for when someone clicks a key affiliate link.
• Page Value: This advanced metric shows you which pages on your site contribute the most to revenue, even if the purchase happens on a different page.

FAQ: Your Website Earnings Questions, Answered

Q: Why are my earnings different in Google Analytics than in AdSense?
A: This is completely normal. AdSense shows finalized, payable revenue. GA4 shows estimated revenue based on user activity and can be affected by ad blockers, cookie consent, and data sampling. Always trust your ad network's number as the source of truth for payments.

Q: What's the best way to see all my earnings in one place?
A: For a high-level view, a simple spreadsheet where you manually input numbers from each source each month is often the best and most reliable method. For automation, you can use a business dashboard tool like Google Data Studio (Looker Studio) to connect data feeds from AdSense, Google Analytics, and other platforms.

Q: What is a good RPM for a website?
A: It varies wildly by niche. Tech and finance sites can have RPMs of $30-$60+. Lifestyle and hobby sites might be in the $10-$20 range. Don't compare yourself to others; focus on growing your own RPM over time by creating valuable content and optimizing ad placement.

Q: How often should I check my website earnings?
A: Avoid the trap of checking daily—it can drive you crazy! A weekly check-in is good for spotting trends. A monthly deep-dive is best for正式 accounting and planning. Remember, ad and affiliate earnings often have a 30-60 day payment delay.

The Bottom Line: It's All About Connection

Checking your website earnings isn't about finding one number. It's about connecting the dots between your content, your traffic, and your revenue streams.

1. Use your ad/affiliate dashboards for the hard numbers.
2. Use Google Analytics to understand which content drives those numbers.
3. Use a spreadsheet or dashboard to bring it all together for a complete financial picture.

By mastering this process, you can make data-driven decisions to create more of what your audience loves and ultimately, increase your website's earning potential. Now, go log in and see how you're doing