Google is “Retiring” AdSense Referrals
July 2, 2008
By: Brad Andersohn
Author's Website: http://www.activerain.com
Google will be retiring the AdSense Referrals program during the last week of August. Are you a Google Affiliate or Publisher? Here are some alternative options they are asking users to consider before this version of AdSense goes away:
The Google Affiliate Network as part of the integration of DoubleClick, the DoubleClick Performics Affiliate Network, will now operate as the Google Affiliate Network for advertisers targeting users located in the United States.
The AdSense Referrals program enables publishers to apply for advertiser programs and get paid based on advertiser-defined actions instead of clicks or impressions. For further details, please visit: www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork.
AdSense for content ads *NOTE: If you have less than three AdSense for content ad units on a page, you may wish to replace the referral ad units with standard AFC ad units. If you currently use referral ads, either to promote Google products or offerings from AdWords advertisers, AdSense Referrals code will no longer display ads beginning the last week of August. Google is encouraging you to take the following steps before the product is retired:
1. Remove the referral code from your site(s): Remove all referral code from your sites before the last week of August, so you can continue to effectively monetize your ad space.
2. Run and save all referrals reports on your desktop: Create and save all reports related to the referrals program on your desktop, so you continue to have access to your valuable campaign information.
…..
Why is this happening?
We are constantly looking for ways to improve AdSense by developing and supporting features which drive the best monetization results for our publishers. Sometimes, this requires retiring existing
features so we can focus our efforts on the ones that will be most effective in the long term. For this reason, we will be retiring the AdSense Referrals program. If you have any additional questions, contact the Help Center.
The Google AdSense Team”
So could this effect what you earn from your referrals? You might want to check your AdSense Account and make the necessary changes as announced by Google.
Source: Google
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- Categories: Communication, Google, Impression Advertising, Keyword Advertising, Marketing
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Comments
5 Comments so far
Brian Rothenberg on July 2, 2008 3:32 pm
Brad,
Your blog title is a little misleading, Google isn’t retiring AdSense, they are retiring their AdSense Referrals product. This is their current (soon to be retired) Cost Per Action ad network which they are integrating with DoubleClick’s CPA ad network. Makes sense to combine the two and do away with the smaller one given the DoubleClick acquisition - this is simply part of the integration.
-Brian
Brad Andersohn on July 2, 2008 4:31 pm
Brian - you are correct, the original title was misleading, but it did get you to comment! lol~
Having been an AdSense publisher, I wanted to get the word out to others who will have to run through this process on their sites as well.
What’s your thought on the DoubleClick acquisition other than it is just part of the integration?
Ralph on July 2, 2008 6:01 pm
Hello,
I have a question regarding what Brian said above. If this is simply an integration, will the current referral options, such as Google Pack and Firefox with Google Toolbar be available under the new Google Affiliate Network? Any information on this would really help. Thanks.
- Ralph
Brad Andersohn on July 2, 2008 6:48 pm
Ralph, I’m not sure how the integration will affect Google Pack or the FF tool bar, there is a Google AdSense Blog that might shed more light on that.
It’s @ adsence.blogspot There is some great information with multiple posts and comments regarding their changes.
Brian Rothenberg on July 3, 2008 11:18 am
@ Brad - The DoubleClick acquisition obviously gets Google into the display advertising game in a big way. While they dominate the search and text ad market, this is an area where they generally lagged the competition (Yahoo!, Platform A). I think this will provide publishers with more options in the long run whether it be text ads for content, traditional CPM display ads, or CPA ads.
@ Ralph - There’s no way Google will do away with their Google Pack or FF tool bar referral programs, they’ll likely just be accessible via the DoubleClick interface rather than the former AdSense Referrals interface. You’ll likely have to retire the old AdSense code and replace with the DoubleClick code.