The End of Referrals

Today marks the final day of referral ads from Google.

Earlier this summer Google posted the following on their Inside AdSense Blog.

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. Similar to the AdSense Referrals program, the Google Affiliate Network 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: http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/.

In case you didn't notice, they sneaked this in there " get paid based on advertiser-defined actions instead of clicks or impressions".
When I say "sneaked" I mean that you probably were so fixed on "referrals" and were trying so hard to understand what it all meant that you that you didn't notice what would affect you even more. Google has ended cost per click . This means that you will now only be paid for actions.

Getting paid for actions means that somebody has to sign up for something or purchase something thanks to an ad they saw on your site. Has this ever happened in the past for you?

If you are unhappy about this here is an alternative for you to consider:

• "AdSense for feeds" option. This means you can now use AdSense to place ads in your RSS feeds . Google says that they will sell cost-per-impression (CPM) ads directly to the largest advertisers, while the rest of your inventory will be filled with contextually targeted cost-per-click (CPC) and CPM ads. This means that more of your feed items will be sold and with higher overall revenue, than with any other feed network.

AdSense for feeds offers:

• Receive higher CPMs and maintain a positive user experience by displaying ads specifically optimized for RSS feeds.
  
• View detailed stats on your feed audience, distribution, and more through FeedBurner when you set up your feeds with AdSense.
  
• Manage monetization for your feeds through the same account that you use to manage other AdSense properties.
  

On the downside.....

• If you already have a feed with someone other than FeedBurner, you will have to start all over and convince your readers to re-subscribe.

• If you do not have a reader base for feeds, it can be hard or may take time to establish one where you'll actually have enough feeds going out to make some advertising money.

Visit Google's Help Center for more information.