It appears from a series of posts in the forum at WebmasterWorld
indicates that Google could finally be cracking down on AdSense
arbitrage. Some owners of AdSense accounts involved in arbitrage claim
to have received emails from Google advising them that they have an
unsuitable business model for AdSense and that their accounts will be
disabled within a few weeks.
In essence AdSense arbitrage involves bidding for advertising on Google
AdWords at very low ‘per click’ prices, then directing that traffic to a
site designed with the primary purpose of having the visitors click on
similar advertisements but hopefully those a much higher bid price,
sourced through Google’s AdSense contextual advertising program.
It can be argued that the key to successful arbitrage is to not provide
any substantial or quality content on the landing web page. This means
that when a visitor comes they are more likely to want to leave
immediately and click on one of the AdSense ads to make a quick exit.
Jennifer Slegg, who keeps a blog on contextual advertising at
JenSense.com, sheds some light on the reason for this latest action.
“From a business perspective, it does make perfect sense for Google to
make this move, since so many Google AdWords advertisers refuse to
advertise on the content network because there are so many “Made for
AdSense” style sites as well as those doing arbitrage. So in the long
run, it could mean more money for publishers if/as advertisers return to
the content network.”
So just how widespread is arbitrage? We’re not just talking about a few
dollars here. I did a quick search on “AdSense arbitrage” yesterday
(yes, at Google’s very own search engine), and there at the top of the
results is a product being promoted with the bold claim, “How I Use
Google Adwords to Drive Traffic to My Adsense Sites Making Me $1,324.79
a Day on AutoPilot.” That’s big dollars.
And over at WebmasterWorld this week, one forum member joined the
discussion about the account closures with this comment, “Got the same
email here. I just reached my 70k-month... That sucks.”
Jeremy Luebke of Marketingpilgrim.com had this to say, “This move is
long overdue. The quality of the traffic coming from the Adwords content
network has been terrible for years. There is not a single campaign any
of my clients run on the content network where they are willing to bid
more than the minimum bid. I’m sure by doing this, Google is hoping to
restore confidence on both the advertisers end and the end user.”
This has all happened during May of 2007, so if you are reading this
some time later you should catch any latest developments on the sites
mentioned above.
What does this mean for web site owners and other advertisers? For
webmasters using arbitrage or other dubious techniques this is a wake up
call. In the long term quality will be rewarded and the rubbish will be
thrown out.
I think these webmasters had to know this change had to come one day. As
one forum user known as “potentialgeek” wrote, “For those who've been
making money off arbit, if you're honest with yourselves, you must have
known you built your business on sand, and guessed this time of hard
rains would eventually come and wash it all away”.
For advertisers, Google’s AdWords and AdSense programs just took a big
leap forward in terms of quality. I am excited to see what difference
this makes.
No doubt there are many webmasters looking for a new strategy right now.
Let’s hope they have learned a lesson and develop some new strategies
based on good techniques and quality content.
Instead of using advertising for AdSense arbitrage perhaps these
webmasters could use their advertising expertise to direct traffic to
sites that contain real content that is of value to visitors. And how
could they make money doing that? Well, the old-fashioned way of course.
They could actually sell one of their own products or services. And if
they really have nothing of their own of value to sell, perhaps they
could recommend good quality affiliate products.
It’s another day, another development, in the online business world. I
think it’s been a good day for all concerned. It’s been a good day for
the quality of Google’s advertising network. And it’s been a good day
for the average Joe Citizen, who will not be taken to so many trashy web
sites whenever they click on an advertisement.
Do
you want to make more
money AND live the life
you dream about?
Over the past
two years
I
have made a small fortune with Affiliate Programs. By marketing affiliate
products through Pay-Per-Click search engines. And you can read all
about it in my book
Affiliate Adventure.
