Changes To The Google Adsense Referral System

Guest Post by Matthew Tutt

Although this was announced on the 8th of January 2008, some people may not have been aware of the changes that will soon be implemented by Google regarding the Adsense referral system (I had only noticed an e-mail from Google the other day mentioning their changes), and some of you may not have realised how/why Google is changing the system.

Basically, Google have decided that the Adsense referral system isn’t working well enough for them (not making them enough money, no doubt). Therefore, they have decided to scrap the referral system for those of you who are based outside of Latin America, North America, and Japan. This hardly seems fair that someone should be favoured based on their geographical position, but that’s the stance that Google has taken.

If you do live in Latin America, North America or Japan, then congratulations. However, there is still some bad news for you. Google will be reducing the payment structure to that of previous years. You will now only be earning $100 when your referrals earn $100. Obviously this is quite a drop from the previous system, but at least you can still earn from the referral system. A lot of people will be forced to remove their Adsense referral units from their websites and will probably end up resorting to promoting other advertising programs, too.

Obviously, this won’t affect everyone. Not all people will have Adsense referral units on their websites, but I’m pretty sure that those of you who do will be pretty annoyed with Google. As of yet there seems to be no real alternative, so it seems that some webmasters will simply have to suffer a drop in revenue from their website. However, it appears likely that the main blogs and sites that will be affected are those who discuss ways to make money online, just like the Can I Make Big Money Online blog does.

Dear Google, Bite Me!

I found this funny conversation about the whole Google paid link war (via Andy Beard), and thought I would share it with you:

Composing the Perfect Letter of Surrender

What was even more funny to me is that the conversation sounded similar to the conversation I had with my wife about this topic last week. Which makes me wonder, “Are women less scared of Google than men?”

Anyway, I have to agree with both my wife and Jennifer who said:

Dear Google, bite me!

That about sums it up for me.

Now, it’s time for me to get back to being a sheep in the Googlesphere...

This Week’s Google Bomb

There has been a lot of talk this week in the blogosphere about Google dropping the pagerank of prominent blogs. I wrote about it earlier this week. Instead of my normal Internet marketing tips from the web post, this week I am going to share some of the posts I read this week about Google’s actions:

My opinion on Google “slamming” folks for paid links
I am going to start with Jason Calacanis, who I mentioned in my previous post. I disagree with Jason on this. I understand wanting to comply with Google, but in my opinion webmasters should be able to interlink their sites for promotional purposes. They shouldn’t have to tell Google about these links; it’s Google’s problem- not the blogs.

Google PageRank: Joke Of The Blogosphere?
Andy Beard’s post was my favorite read on this topic so far.

The Great Google Bitch Slap
I found this post via Andy and it is a very entertaining look at the situation.

Competition: Create a Slogan for Bloggers Hit by the Page Rank Slam of October 07
Darren Rowse is running a competition to create a slogan for bloggers hit by the page rank update. Pretty funny, and it has a really good reward. Go check it out.

Court offered a couple of posts on this topic:

Alternate Theory For Google PageRank Drops

Google Slapping Entire Internet Marketing Industry

Both of Court’s articles are good reads.

How Did eMoms at Home Come Out of This Page Rank Scandal Unscathed?
Wendy asks the same question that others have been asking, “Why haven’t I been hit by Google?” Who knows why everyone hasn’t been hit. Maybe she has been hit. Maybe on the next pagerank update emomsathome was going to be a PR6. The answer is that this is probably just a partial update, but we will see.

I mentioned in my post last week, “Am I A Sheep In The Googlesphere?” that it seems like a bad idea to tick off so many bloggers. It will be very interesting to see what happens next…

PS. If you are looking for some real excellent information on making money online, check out Chris Garret’s series on making money online from the last two weeks. It has been an excellent read.

Google Attacks Blogrolls

TechCrunch announced today that Google is lowering the Pagerank of blog networks. A large number of blog networks rely on income from selling text link ads. Google hates text links ads. So it’s not a big surprise that this would happen.

I had a conversation once about my initial concerns about interlinking blogs with the founder of Weblogs Inc., Jason Calacanis. In the comments of this post, Jason said:

in term of interlinking out blogs we always did it in an honest way. It’s totally acceptable for NBC to tell you what’s on Bravo or the SciFi channel, and it’s fine for blog networks to have their own blogrolls…

We both agreed that interlinking blogs shouldn’t be a problem.

So is lowering the pagerank of blogs that interlink ok?

In my opinion it is fine. Lowering the pagerank for blogs that interlink seems like a legitmate thing to do, but I don’t think it should affect the blogs Search Engine rankings. I guess we will find out if Google thinks the same thing.

On the other hand, I understand why bloggers would be upset about this, because it does affect their livelihood. I personally wish Google would just forget about text link ads and work on improving their algorithm. If Google doesn’t improve their algorithm, then companies like Proximic will stand a chance at taking away their business.

What do you think?

Thanks to Matt for the heads up on this news.

Am I A Sheep In The Googlesphere?

There were some rather interesting posts and developments this week. Most of them were about Google. So instead of my normal “Internet marketing tips from the web” post, this post should be titled “Internet marketing tips from the Googlesphere”.

Hmmm… Did I just create a new term?

I will have to go “Yahoo” it… back in a sec.

Nope, Yahoo shows 999 results for Googlesphere, rats!

Anyway, the biggest news of the week across the blogosphere was that Google is lowering the pagerank of sites that sell text link advertising. I don’t know if this includes buying and selling banner links or not, but it should since banner ads normally don’t use the no-follow tag.

I think that those who made this decision at Google don’t understand how powerful the blogosphere really is, or they expect most bloggers to act like sheep and fully support Google.

Here are some of the many posts I have read this week about paid links causing websites to lose Google page rank:

Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings On Google (I read it here first)

Part Three – NoFollow is for Blog Spam…no Paid Text Links, wait…Paid Ads…Aww Heck, Just Stop Linking and Let Calacanis Decide the Rankings

Penalty Confirmed – But I Don’t Sell PageRank

Dancing With The Gevil – Defamed By Google?

Garry Conn and Google

How to Profit from Google’s War on Paid Links

Last, but not least, Aaron Wall pretty much takes the words out of my mouth on this topic:

Google is Becoming Wikipedia Without the Talk Page

So, what am I going to do about this issue?

I haven’t decided yet. On the one hand, I have come up with a plan that could REALLY tick off Google, on the other hand I can be a sheep. Decisions, decisions...

In other news…

Tiny start-up rival to Google?
A new company called Proximic has come up with a very cool new technology. From the sounds of things it might become a great way to monetize your site and be a huge competitor to Google’s Adsense. Microsoft, Yahoo, Google… let the bidding wars begin!

Lastly, I got an email from Google’s Adsense program last night about a new service that lets you make money from YouTube videos. I am very excited about the possibilities for some of my other blogs.

That’s it for now…

Google’s Will

I mentioned earlier that on Garry’s blog I participated in this long conversation on pleasing Google. Well, in the comments of a recent post Rob A. just left the following comment on my blog:

I thought you’d get a kick out of this post I did after going through the pains with a friend of getting a site SERPs stricken from Google. Google Redemption

Oh my goodness, is Rob’s post funny or what?

I especially liked step number 3:

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Google as we understood Him.

and number 11:

11. Sought through prayer (links) and meditation (content) to improve our conscious contact with Google, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for our sites and the power to carry that out

Anyway, the post had me laughing out loud. Check it out and then let me know if you are submitting to the “will of Google” or if you are sinning in Google’s eyes.

Internet Marketing Tips From The Web 5/25/2007

This week I spent very little time reading Internet Marketing blogs. Monday my wife had to take two of our kids to San Antonio for a dentist appointment. I watched the rest of our kids that day. Then Wednesday was a vacation day for me. Lastly, Thursday night my daughter had a dance recital for her ballet class. So between all of that, and keeping up with Stompernet assignments, I was very busy.

I did get one reader submission for an article to include in this week’s tips (and it is a good read). Without further ado, here are some of the interesting online business articles that I read this week:

Blogging Competitor Analysis
This was my first reader submission. It was submitted by Jon Symons (Art of Money). An often overlooked method of using competitive analysis to improve your blog and your earning potential. Some things covered are: can I compete? how do they monetize their traffic? how can I differentiate myself?

Google Buys Feedburner For $100 Million
I saw this news first on Jack Humphrey’s blog. Like Jack, I think that Google is buying them for their huge user base.

Top 25 Article Directories and Free Content Sites Ranked by Alexa and PageRank
I saw this in one of Ralph Wilson’s recent newsletters. It came at a great time, because I was about to start researching the latest and greatest article services to submit your articles to. This saved me a lot of time.

How to Create Your Own Niche Blogging Masterplan for Long Term Profit
Interesting post by Maki. I look forward to seeing how things turn out for him.

That was it for this week…

Internet Marketing Tips From The Web 5/11/2007

Here is some of the reading I did this week. I also really enjoyed many of the top 5 posts in Darren’s group writing project…

The Paid Link Blog Meme
Excellent counter to Google’s position on paid links. Found via Andy Beard. The truth of the matter is that the Search Engines have to come up with a revolutionary way to rank sites. The current methods won’t be acceptable five years from now.

Indirect Profits, Business and Corporate Blogs
Chris Garret’s series has been really good reading all week. If you haven’t kept up, then start with the article above and work your way through the series.

Long Overdue Praise For PayPerPost
John Reese wrote an excellent post on PayPerPost on his new blog. My favorite part was when John says:

IT’S NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS WHAT SOMEONE ELSE CHOOSES TO PUT ON THEIR BLOG!

So true…

My Top 7 Blog Monetization Methods
It was good to see Yaro’s top monetization methods listed out like this.

Update on Me
Interesting update on Amanda’s blogging income. I haven’t tried any of the review systems, but Amanda’s post makes me think that I could make a fairly decent amount of money doing paid website reviews.

Marketing Tips and News From the Net - 2/2/2007

Here are some interesting Internet Marketing articles that I read this week. The first post by copywriting guru Michel Fortin is a MUST read for bloggers. Not only does he give good advice, but he offers to rewrite one of your blog headlines for free!

Are Headlines Tangling Your Readers?

Don’t Be The Best… Be The First!

Thinking outside of the box

What ProBloggers Can Learn from TechCrunch 20

Google Stops Google Bombs

Campaign to Reduce Wikipedia’s PageRank to Zero via (jazzcatseo)

Google Adsense Might Have Broken the Camel’s Back

Google Adsense Terms of Service have just changed. Jensense has this great post about the ramifications of the change. Jensense should be in every Adsense advertiser’s list of feeds. She has always given great updates on the TOS for Google. At first she did it via posts on webmasterworld, but now she does it from her blog.

Anyway, Jennifer does a great job of making sense of the Adsense TOS changes and I highly recommend you check out her post.

It looks like none of the changes will affect my sites and blogs, but with all the restrictions I can see why Darren Rowse (who I first found this story from) says:

I’ve already heard from a number of publishers that if given the choice between AdSense and YPN that they’ll jump to YPN because of the less stringent requirements – this change has put one too many hoops to jump through in front of some publishers.

Google might have just added the straw that broke the camel’s back. Personally, I really like Adsense and I don’t plan on switching to YPN. However, the constant changes to the Adsense TOS are getting to be annoying. I do plan on experimenting with YPN at some point. It certainly has the advantage of being less restrictive and there is something to be said for that.

Which Google Adsense advertising placement annoys you the most?

In my last poll I asked you:

Which Google Adsense advertising placement annoys you the most?

Here are the results:

• At the Top of an Article: 50% (34)
• In the Middle of an Article: 25% (17)
• At the End of an Article: 0% (0)
• At the Top of the Site: 4% (3)
• In the Navigation Bar: 4% (3)
• Don’t care: 16% (11)

Total Votes : 68

I am not sure how this is going to affect my Google Adsense placement.

Personally, I find it most annoying when ads are in the middle of an article, because I have to pause and stop reading in the middle of an article.

Ads at the top of articles make me the most money, so it’s hard to move them. In fact, this poll showed that Adsense placement that makes the most money is also the placement people find the most annoying. Adsense placement that makes the least amount of money is also the least annoying.

So all website owners are faced with the problem of making money vs. annoying our visitors. That kind of makes sense, since nobody really wants to see advertising.

What do you think of the results?

Some Marketing Tidbits

I am going to be out of a town a few days. I thought I would leave you with some good reading from around the net:

Do You Have the Time to be an Internet Marketer or AdSense Publisher

Its not that hard to make $100 US Dollars a month part time

Marketing Your Business on Craigslist

And just for fun, these two blog posts:

Google Copies Yahoo

Yahoo Copies Google

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