Google today announced they are changing their referal payout system and some big publishers really feel its a slap in the face.
Here are the 2 key points:
If you’re in North America, Latin America, or Japan, the pricing structure for AdSense referrals is changing.
What does it mean? Basically that you are going to make less money… a lot less money. Ill sumerize it for you. The current payment structure you get $5 who makes $5 (in 180 days). You get $250 for referring someone who makes $100 (in 180 days) and if you refer 25 people who make $100 within 180 days you get a BONUS PAYMENT of $2000 WOOT.
What is it going to? Well its going back to the old you only get $100 if you refer $100.
So why does this suck? Well I am guessing 80% or more of the people refered make less then $100 in 180 days. This means you get BUTKUS:
OK so I hear you foreigners… This doesnt effect you right… Well technically right this rule does not apply to you. Ohh but Adsense has something for you.
If you’re outside of North America, Latin America, and Japan, AdSense referrals will be retired.
They are terminating your referral program completely…. thats right… If you are not in the Americas, or Japan… your done.
From Australian based Darren Rowse AKA Problogger:
Yes you hear me right, its about the location of you as a publisher that excludes you from participating in the AdSense referral system. It’s got nothing to do with your audience’s location, the topic you write about, the quality of your blog or any other factor – it’s about where you blog from.
I’m not privy to the reasoning for this – they simply say ‘We’ve found that this referral product has not performed as well as we had hoped in these regions’ – but in my mind this is stupidity to the ultimate degree.
Hey Indians, Australians, Germans, Brits
What did the five fingers say to the face?
Google Adsense = Rick James
that was…….. coooooooldblooooooded
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2690 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Jeremy "ShoeMoney" Schoemaker is the founder & CEO of the ShoeMoney Blog, Elite Retreat Internet Conference, & the PAR Program. In 2013 Jeremy released his #1 Amazon Best selling Autobiography titled "Nothing's Changed But My Change" - The ShoeMoney Story. Jeremy currently lives in Lincoln Nebraska with his wife and 2 daughters.
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{ 152 comments… read them below or add one }
So glad I never bought into that referral programme.Thanks to you and John CHow, I’m rocking kontera,linkshare and etoro instead which are doing pretty cool for me.
This seems like it could have a large impact on things. Google is always moving and shaking…
Google always change her business method but still one of the best internet earning for me…
I have no idea why they would want to do this. Why cut off the rest of the world?
Just another reason for people using AdSense to find other forms of monetizing their websites. I personally have found CJ to be much more effective and have consistently been making 4 time more then what I was making with AdSense.
Google seems to be making some awfully stupid decisions lately and pissing off a lot of people. It can’t be all that great for their business to irritate so many on so many fronts.
Wow. That is positively absurd!
Just another brick in the wall for google who’s only concern is to support their valuation. I’ve had adsense revenue go down to less then 20% of what it was a year ago without any explanation at all from the adsense team.
People should be careful when relying on them for anything.
It most likely their incentive to get other publishers to refer new publishers didn’t have any good results for them, so the refferal program was running a loss for them so they canned it.
Speaking as an Australian pro-blogger, this decision is disappointing but not surprising
Internet marketers in the USA always seem to get beta access to search engine, affiliate programs, other features and preferential treatment compared to equivalent people overseas
And yet the Internet is supposed to be a global system which breaks down arbitrary barriers …
Ooops!! I love adsense refferals. Someone please sent me a us immigrant visa!!
Google is stupid for pissing off bloggers like you Darren. Have they completely lost their mind?
Ouch Ouch and Effin Ouch! Referrals have made up the biggest portion of my Adsense revenue, and so basically unless I relocate to the USA or Japan I’m boned…yay for Google..
Talk about alienating a big percentage of your publishers
guess they have enough signups…
How utterly, utterly stupid.
Hey, Google does what works for Google.. god knows its happened often enough.
The solution is simple. Either stop using their programs, or shut the f*ck up.
Unlike their index, you don’t have to give a damn about their affiliate programs. There’s a thousand alternatives out there. If you know how to look past what is now dated preschool branding, and I’m presuming you do, then go make some REAL money.
Great video to go along with the post!! That really made it cool
Ditto. Glad to see someone can see past the cute colored letters.
This completely boggles my mind. Is higher fraud in certain regions a possible cause? Google is definitely not making any friends lately.
glad i never bothered with that referral system.
Wowww I’m moving to England soon
lol. for some reason I just see some high google exec petting his cat and yelling “SQUUZE MORE PROFITS” to his minions and this is what results. yea conan inspired if anyone saw that episode
Google is sinking their ship with nonsense like this. I give them 2 to 3 more years and they’re done. The only product they really have isn’t a product at all, it’s advertising revenue and it’s going to dry up eventually. The begining of the end.
That’s str8 ^ lamesauce….thanks for sharing this info.
BTW>>>I’m really Rick James
Well just plain stupid if you ask me – next they’ll be cutting down the amount of blogs and sites that ads are displayed on because we’re located in Europe and Australia! silly, silly google. – let’s hope that doesn’t happen though
Google doesn’t realize that this is people’s livlihoods they’re playing with. People in Latin America depend on this income, and Google rips the floor out from under them. There needs to be more transparency and more forewarning, and less quick decisions.
CJ is actually a good alternative but it also has issues for foreign publishers. Most of the opportunities provided are for US markets only.
Lost thier minds completely! Darren has been such a loyal adsense publisher for the past several years. And not to mention being a big influence in creating a lot more adsense publishers in the US.
2008 the year Google falls.
At Google Adsense Headquarters:
Hmmm…. let’s see. We have a good program that is generating a lot of referrals. Too much so because we’re spending a lot of money to the referrers. I know – let’s change up the payment structure – that just might make it less successful. Then we won’t have to pay out so much.
Oh and the Europeans… they can suck on it.
It is astounding that Google does something like this. Pinching pennies to save a few bucks? Unbelievable.
This really sucks. From now on it´s going downhill for google
.Well you just got those money else where.
Are they planning on informing people about it, or what?
I haven’t heard anything yet….
This just plain sucks….!
I just started, but, mh, oh well.
At least I can advertise now whoever I want, no?
My CTR went downhill this month anyway.
*scratches head and goes looking for something else to promote
*
I just now read it again.
It’s the referral program that gets dropped, not the whole thing, no?
@ Nicole – They did tell people, not sure why there’s no link to it in this post, but here’s one for you: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/01/upcoming-referrals-changes.html
re: the article
So, what exactly is the problem here? They paid everybody what they promised to pay them right? Does a business no longer have the right to offer only the programs it desires? Their reasoning is right there in the post: “We’ve found that this referral product has not performed as well as we had hoped in these regions.” What’s not to understand.
Google is a business. This was a business decision. If you don’t like the way they do business, stop using their services. It’s as simple as that. They don’t owe the blogosphere anything (other then specific revenue they promised and apparently delivered).
hopefully they will come to their senses.
love the rick james skit.
Segregation of the Internet. Part 1.
I believe there is still more seclusion going to be done by dominant U.S companies in regards to online monetization methods. It’s time for the rest of the world to start thinking of and using other than U.S based affiliate networks monetization methods for making money online.
As a ninja I am obliged to assassinate Larry And Sergei.
I don’t use Adsense personally, but hey!
This is totally ridiculous. I don’t understand what they are hoping to gain by doing this. It just seems like they’re annoying a whole heap of people for no reason.
Does Google have any shortage of liquidity to take such a drastic step?
Google sux!!
Hmm, I wonder if this is due to the sliding USD more than anything else? That’s really the only logical reason I can see for this as ads focussed on non US destinations are likely to generate more when converted back to USD. I won’t go into the math behind it, but I’m pretty sure overseas publishers would be more likely to generate more new overseas publishers who in turn appeal more to overseas advertisers for whom in turn the USD has taken at least a 30% drop, so advertising in USD is cheap for a lot of these companies. Makes it a bit easier to hit the magic numbers.
Either that, or Google has frikkin’ gone and lost it’s mind. Way to be a global organization; focus on less than 10% of the world…. hmmm???
Wait just a damn minute, Sergy and the other guy! Didn’t Google just see another record quarter for profits? Is this greed or just forward-thinking?
I’m kinda scratching my head about this one… In terms of domains, the UK and Germany are the biggest, and just read some crap on Sedo the other day about how Australia is really starting to boom.. More domains = more websites which you would think is going to mean more business for Google.. Ok then.
I’m going to guess that it does have something to do with the low value of the USD compared to other currencies now.
(uk and de being the biggest after .com .net that is)
Well you really dropped a bomb shell.. I was thinking “oh thats ok I’m in the UK” when I started reading.
Oh well Googles cut has been increasing for years, payouts on Contextual advertising is at an all time low because of them. This is just the iceing on the cake if you ask me
It is so fairly unfair.
This is a true example of discrimination
done in a world wide scale.
problogger is right
this is “stupendous stupidity”
This probably going to piss off those who are using Adsense referral…
This is pure bullshit. I’m from Argentina and we are making less money than guys from other countrys. Just making enough for hosting payment, and now we are going to make LESS?! What the fuck is this?! Grr, that’s the bad thing on depending on Google.
I think they’re out to pinch pennies and in the process are losing a lot of love.
What a bunch of c***s! This will have a huge impact on my earnings, not to mention the hundreds of pages I have to go through and remove Adsense affiliate code from.
I’m seriously considering cutting all ties with Adsense, my earnings have dropped 40% in the last 3 months with the same impressions and same CTR. They’re just not paying as big a percentage to publishers as they used to. Wonder if that’s because I’m in the UK as well?
When it is there game, it’s there rules.
Google sucks … I’m glad to see that they are further irritating the very people who use them the most … the sooner they are cut down to size, the better. I don’t promote Google products and I’m glad. It would just be more code to remove. I don’t bother with Adsense either. There are too many alternatives that pay better. Wouldn’t it be a real kick if no one was displaying their products or ads … lol.
If Darren Rowse isn’t the kind of partner they would like to work with, I honestly don’t know who could “qualify”.
Indeed, with this kind of an attitude, it’s only a matter of time until the “too much is too much”-effect starts kicking in.
I doubt that a high fraud rate is the reason behind their decision, since if it were, they wouldn’t limit that many countries.
Indeed, if they keep it up, they will eventually have to face the consequences of their decisions. Sure, it’s their company and they can make whatever decisions they feel like making. But there can and will be consequences if they don’t wake up.
I personally doubt that we will see something of that magnitude in 2008 but who knows what can happen in a couple of years
Yes, the referral program for people not located in North America, Latin America, or Japan
I’m speechless… I can’t believe that… I was about to implement Google referrals on my blog… now I just will remove all my Adsense Ads with immediate effect.
Kenneth
Google should find more ways to please their customers by finding more ways for them to MAKE money (the more referrals users are motivated to make, the more moolah for the G team, right??) Instead, they’re starting a potential PR fiasco, angering or at least annoying some of their best customers.
LOL, guess its time for people to learn how to earn w/o adsense ref’s . No more easy ways to scam the Goog, but I know how upset most of these 3rd world $1USD a day people must feel. I hope this helps all these wishing to make easy money from the Goog, because everyone in a Internet Cafe does it, learns how to make money that will be consistent (maybe even get them there own computer!! WOW!). This is just like when the guy lost his apartment back in mid 2007, when Goog said your not allowed to bid on the keyword “Google Toolbar” (promoting the $2 GPack install on adwords would get $400+ a day in conversions) Now this person has not even been back on the internet, Don’t put all your egg’s (or goat egg’s) in one basket (or bag). Everyone who is crying or Mad, take that energy, and make a Biz plan. Layout your next 6months on a month by month basis, putting items into List’s so you know what you will need to get done. I say to Anyone who is upset, Goto Audible.com and for $7 you can download a Book by Brian Tracy called Eat The Frog … This is a great basis to help ANYONE to focus and have better time and project management and completion.
There are so many more advertising models to Google than there were just 2 years ago. They had better wake up!
Google Does make money, remember when you get paid for your click’s, its because someone is paying for that in Adwords, someone who is trying to make money like you, its not Google throwing money for the advertisers. And if you consider yourself a “customer” of Google, that says that you pay for ads on Adwords ? ? And this is no PR fiasco, if it was then goto your local food store, ask 10 people about this issue, they will laugh, even more when you say you get paid to get stuff clicked (why take 10cents to have someone leave your website? if you spend time on it just to have someone click out, its pointless) Google is always hiring people http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/index.html
And just when you were getting absolutely sick of seeing “YOU HAVE 1445235123 CLICK! – YOU EARNED 1.17 today!”
Bleh. Google suketh us all dry. I wonder if the kid with the lemonade stand would throw me 5 bucks for my adsense space sometimes. How’s Yahoo! doing ?
While it may injure them, I highly doubt Google will fail over this. They continue to have the referrers in the U.S., Japan, and Latin America which apparently converted better. They continue to have a majority of their AdSense business. They’re still the most popular search engine, and they stilll own YouTube.
Indeed, while their decision will hurt them, it will not be enough to cause some serious damage, but if they keep it up, you never know
The problem is the fact that they eliminate long-term business partners such as Darren Rowse from the equation in this manner. If you don’t value your business partners, you will definitely have to lose in the long run.
How can they run the program at a loss if they allowed foreign publishers? I don’t get it, it didn’t cost them a dime, it’s the same automated process that works in the US. Am I allowed to say fuck on this blog?
Then fuck, this is annoying.
You have to believe that Google has researched the impact and has figured they would be ahead by doing this.
I guess google is feeling the economic crunch also. LOL!
Because, its rumoured they are struggling to maintain a solid cash flow whilst paying out these fees to users.
I wonder if they consider Antigua and Barbuda a part of Latin America. While we actually are not part of it, many people and businesses in the United States tend to put us in that category.
ha i doubt that
you dont say
Google obviously screwed up on this one. Maybe a few publishers on the international scene messed up, but to not look at a big publisher like Problogger and give him a break is just incredibly witless.
Men, that Rick James video is seriously funny. That dude was whacked.
Fuck you, My heart got stopped for awhile. It is about the AdSense product only, not the whole AdSense referrals program. You should elaborate on this.
the falling dollar must make it a real B!%^& to pay overseas folks.
Agreed. It’s a good thing though. Competition = google better make people happy or they will lose users.
This is just plain ridiculous. Unbelievable.
All Corporations have meetings to count the money and how to squeeze more out every Friday..didn’t you know that?
Yeah, I felt pretty safe myself when I started reading (I’m located in Norway).
OT: If you put some work into your ads, and place CPA ads (from Tradedoubler or CJ) instead of CPC (from AdSense), you’re bound to make a lot more money. AdSense is fit for random traffic and parked domains. In all other cases, CPA programmes will give you a higher ROI.
so when is google going to start not paying for adsense?
i’ve had mine go up – but i think its just my niche? and my traffic is better
i think i already got that audio book
I guess you didn’t read the post, it is pretty clear that the big change refers to internetional publishers.
Darren’s post is a great read, especially since his bottom line is directly affected.
It’s also one more example of why you shouldn’t have all your income eggs in one basket. ESPECIALLY if that basket is owned by the increasingly greedy Google.
I’ve been saying they’re evil for years, it’s nice that Google has begun providing me with some company.
Well higher traffic would usually translate into higher earnings. How has your ecm done?
Of course, if your traffic has improved a lot, it is only natural that your earnings from ad networks such as this one go up.
I don’t know about all that. Everyone hated Microsoft and it’s still around. Maybe in 2 or 3 years everyone will look at them only as another giant monopolistic company rather than some benevolent god of the internet. But they’ll still be around.
Even if they will end up having higher profits for the time being, things will definitely be going downhill if they don’t change their attitude.
not just the Europeans… the Ausies, Africans, and most of the Asians as well.
That’s just the thing though, the more people they piss off like this, the more people WILL stop using their services.
As far as figures are concerned yes, but how can you take them seriously as potential long-term partners in the future considering the fact that they are willing to drop people such as Darren Rowse as referrers even though they have been a great asset up until this point?
Personally, I doubt that such a point will be reached but then again, with G, you just never know
yeah, I mean they are obviously entitled to do whatever they want, but I just don’t get the reasoning behind it.
I doubt that such a point will be reached but then again.All Corporations have meetings to count the money and how to squeeze more out every Friday.
Does somebody knows why google did this? I am from germany and there are many german bloggers who have english language sites. So they have the right audience, but live the wrong country.
hahaha i love the Rick James video!!!
It’s really a slap in the face and a lot of people are getting angry over this. But that what did the five fingers say to the face video was hilarious! My anger shifted to laughter! LOL.
as a foreign web developer I had to switch to other PPC network because Adsense payouts become to small…
Yes I’m also foreigner and its not really good new for me.. will have to switch to something else.
hi
Since it is outside the US that they are doing this with, I wonder if it is due to people or ISPs somehow gaming the system.
Damn I was really looking forward to becoming a member of the adsense referal scheme but I am from New Zealand, what is this Countryisim?
CJ make similar move few months ago. referrals are no longer value for ads networks?
I was happy with Google Adsense and Adwords. I regret to say that the decision taken by Google has made me change my mind. It was the referrals or the user’s promotion that helped Google gain market on this. All the users who referred Google spent a good amount of time putting up write on website and blogs explaining the Google Adsense system. I spent time in putting up blogs or websites and educating people. All the hard work every one has done is now Zero. I strongly protest against this. I am planning to shift from Google completely to a new PPC service like Yahoo or Bidvertiser. I do not see any point in sticking to Google because now I think they will start making more changes and you may never know what Google will come up with tomorrow. It is a Tight SLAP for all the webmasters who are not from North America, Latin America, and Japan.
It was the users who promoted Google, now Google thinks it can work without them.
I live in Ireland; yes, the little tiny European country that Americans only seem to acknowledge once a year, on Paddy’s day.
So, Google is shutting down referrals; I guess I will have to live with that, that is just another program that will not be accessible to us.
You gotta love us tiny little Europeans for trying so hard to make dollars (which are only worth peanuts to us at the moment, thanks to George Bush and his foreign policy. Why, but why did you have to vote for him?) online when everybody in the U.S (not only Google) is trying to slap us in the face (well, that is when they even notice us, we are so damn tiny!)
[ .. ] Logging in to Google, it shows, that Google stops referrals for AdSense. Ok, the only referral I am currently in is for the firefox browser, but I never promoted AdSense in the referral program, but in case you are doing, you probably want to stop advertising for AdSense. [ .. ]
http://blog.coldtobi.de/blog/coldtobis-blog/monetizing-a-blog/2008/01/24/google-ceases-adsense-referral-in-germany
Google is a self-righteous and pompous company that is fast becoming a dinosaur!
The Mad Ape
Hmm .. I just started earning from adsense… shoe I wonder Why you are not using it.. Hmmm I didn’t see. May be thats a trick? So is it not that profitable ?
Lolzz. Maybe Googles policy on referral changes will increase the number of US immigrant visas
AdSense is a horrible decision for any small business and all but a few bloggers. This is especially true if you’re actually making money from it.
There are several reasons why small companies should avoid doing business with Google at all costs:
1. Google won’t talk to you. In fact, your company isn’t even important enough for them to provide you with a phone number.
2. Google reserves the right to ban your account and keep all your earnings for any reason it sees fit and/or no reason at all.
3. Google doesn’t differentiate between you fraudulently clicking your own ads and your competitors fraudulently clicking your own ads. In either case, your account will be banned and your money withheld – and that includes anything revenue generated by legitimate clicks.
I suspect Google will start to raise the barrier on which sites get access to Adwords. Imagine if the minimum number of daily unique visitors was 500 per day? I suspect that would cut their numbers and management expenses by 90% for very little drop in Adsense revenue.
AdSense sucks. That’s why I decided to start my blog advertising network.
This sucks, good time to start looking at alternatives for PPC
Why are we all so pissed off by google? If they have changed the rules for AdSense, then
everybody else should change too. My thoughts are international Webmasters
1. Simply use a forwarding address service from the USA, use an address in the US and have your google cheque forwarded to you anywhere in the world.
2. This is where JOINT VENTURES should come in big time. Get a partner in the US use their address and they send your goolge cheque to you whare ever you live.
3. If you have relatives in the US then it makes things even easier.
What do youn people think.
The rule on their hand so they will take what can make them take all the money.
Damn… Google-Imperials nearly could change whatever they want.
Damn! This sucka
Thanks for a very informative post. I will send your blog link to my readers!
adsense sucks big time !!
Thanks for the info, I noticed that info on my adsense, specially foreigner like me
As a proud South African am used to getting the short end of the stick, sort of like the poor cousin nobody talks about too much….sometimes living and working in a third world country has its advantages and disadvantages!
Google Adsense is really ripped off. I have a cousin in Kansas and she told me that she wasn’t paid by Google. Imagine that, she’s already there…
I like how YouTube put up the detail that the video was scrubbed by a claim from Viacom. Let’s you know who to vent to.
Thanks for a very informative post. cool .. tnx
Cool … Thanks for a very informative post.
I am from Germany and I follow your posts from time to time. It’s a very good site. Keep on good work and the informative posts!
thank you for your information. Hope to know more information from it.
You the abstract person
a great site. I too enjoy. I wish you success
I like very much how YouTube put up the detail that the video was scrubbed by a claim from Viacom. Let’s you know who to vent to.
Adsense i hate it. It pops out whenever i try to go to a certain website. And it annoys me a lot. For God sake i realize it does make a profit everytime they pop out.
Cool … Thanks for a very informative post
Thank you good post. very nice
I like very much how YouTube put up the detail that the video was scrubbed by a claim from Viacom. Let’s you know who to vent to.
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