Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Google pays Affiliates via AdSense

Google is now requiring clients of the Google Affiliate Network to link their account to a Google continues to consolidate its two web advertising systems: Goodle AdSense and the less well known Affiliate Network. Google is now requiring that Affiliate Network payments are made via an AdSense account.

Goodle AdSense and Affiliate Network both pay web publishers for putting ads on their web sites. AdSense pays per click on the ad, whereas Affiliate Network pays when the customer buys a product or registers interest. Google acquired Affiliate Network long after setting up AdSense and the two have had separate registration and payment systems.

I found this very confusing when I got the first notice asking me to link my Affiliate Network account to Goodle AdSense. When I went into my AdSense admin system I couldn't find anything about it. Then I got one saying I would receive no more Affiliate Network payments if I did not link the accounts, so I looked into it more. It turned out that I had to go to the Affiliate Network account and enter the AdSense details, not the other way around.

This should be an improvement for clients, as the AdSense payment system works well, allowing for electronic payment in Australian dollars to an Australia bank.

I have not found Affiliate Network that useful. Its advertisements are not as well targeted as those of AdSense and are therefore much more annoying. Affiliate Network was known as DoubleClick before being acquired by Google and had a controversial history. Also very few of the people who click on a Network ad actually end up buying a product and so payment is infrequent.

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