AdSense Referrals Now a Lot Less Lucrative

Everyone is used to Google being generous, for lack of a better word, in the way they treat their users and customers. Therefore it’s a rare occasion for them to discontinue a service, but this is what has happened today for users outside of North America, Latin America and Japan - the AdSense referral program is simply not available to them any more.

Furthermore, users who are still eligible to participate in the program will found their bonuses greatly reduced. Here’s the official word from Inside AdSense:

“About a year ago, as an experiment, we changed the pricing structure for AdSense referrals so that when a user you referred to the program earned $5 within 180 days of sign-up, you would also earn $5. When that publisher earned $100 within 180 days and removed all payment holds, you’d receive $250. We have decided to conclude this experiment and return to the original pricing structure. As a result, we’ll soon no longer be offering the $5 bonus or $2000 bonus, and the payout for referring a user who generates $100 with AdSense in the first 180 days will return to $100.”

The reason for all this is obviously poor performance of the AdSense referral program; the folks at Google “hope it won’t cause you any inconvenience,” but I’m sure that, for example, Darren Rowse, Australian blogger and head of popular make-money-online blog Problogger, won’t be too happy about the change.