The Death of AdSense?

So there's a free document being promoted called The Death of AdSense that tells us that AdSense is, well, dead. As your ever-faithful reporter, I decided to obtain the document (you have to register) and look at what they're saying.

First, this document is Part 1 of a two-part document. The second part hasn't been released yet. The second document will include links to some kind of “solution” to this “death”. Hmm.

Anyhow, the document is only 18 pages long. Its fundamental premise is that AdSense stopped being a cash cow for people when Google changes AdWords (remember, that's where the ads come from) and allowed advertisers to exclude the “content network” (AdSense) from their bids, letting them place ads only on Google's own sites (mostly on the search engine results pages or SERPs). The document could have also mentioned site-targeted advertising for good measure, but it doesn't.

There's certainly some truth to the assertion that things changed rapidly for big-time AdSense publishers after this change was made. It didn't take long for advertisers to start excluding their ads from the content network, especially for pricey things. But it's kind of like crying wolf — after all, many (most) of the big-time publishers were making their money using MFA (made for AdSense) sites that really didn't profit the advertisers when compared to the ads that were shown on the SERPs. So the smart advertisers use split campaigns now, paying less for ads shown on the content network than those shown on Google's sites. Why not? It's what I'd do (and in fact what I do do) as an advertiser.

AdSense isn't dead by any means, of course. It contributes too much to Google's bottom line. Gone are the days of making a quick buck by deploying reams of generally-useless sites. That's the document's real complaint. We'll see what Part 2 brings, but I suspect it's about making money via affiliate sales. They're taking the shock-the-reader-into-wanting-more approach, kind of like the Rich Jerk used to take. At least you don't have to pay for this one…

Eric Giguere is the contextual advertising expert who wrote Make Easy Money with Google and Uncommon AdSense. If you like this posting, why not link to his blog or bookmark it as one of your favorites?

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