Don’t worry US and Japan publishers as this move does not affect you. However, publishers outside US and Japan can start removing referral units promoting AdSense from your blog/website.

Google has decided to drop Adsense referrals scheme for publishers outside US and Japan with the reason that referral product has not performed as well as Google had hoped in these regions. It is a shame that Google has taken this step as Adsense referrals program is proven to be a good income generator for a lot of publishers. I am not affected as I did not participate in this program but I do feel that pain for those who spend a lot of their time promoting Adsense.

Meanwhile, users who are still eligible to participate will find their “bonuses” greatly reduced. Read more here…

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.

Seems that Google is getting less generous these days .. and let’s hope that they will not do something “silly” to the PPC program.

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Popularity: 39% [?]

My second payment from Google Adsense via Western Union is ready for collection. For those who miss my previous guide on how you can setup your Adsense account in order for you to receive payment through Western Union, you can read it here.

Also, click here (and here) to read on how you can receive your money through one of Western Union agent, CIMB. I will probably collecting my payment from RHB this time to see if they have same procedure as CIMB. Will post it here soon.

Update

Yup, it is same procedure for collecting your payment from RHB but the service is slower. Will return to CIMB for my next Adsense payment.

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Popularity: 33% [?]

It is sad to know that Gokul Rajaram, also known as one of the Godfathers of Adsense left Google on Nov 2.

Although I do not know him personally, I appreciate his contribution to the Internet which benefits both Google (Adsense generates 1/3 of the Google’s revenue - US$ 1.43 billion) and us, the publishers.

So, this is a short post to say “Thanks!”

Read more

Popularity: 24% [?]

Google is about to make a move to reduce accidental clicks by the changing the way clicks are counted. The background of a text ad will no longer take users to the advertiser’s site. Only clicking on the Link or Title in an ad is considered as a valid click.

Some of the publishers may not welcome this move as it will reduce their income but I find it necessary to protect Advertisers interest. I am once an Adwords customer and at times I wondered if the clicks generated from my ads are genuine or accidental. Not being able to make a conclusion, I decided to stop using Adwords until Google takes a proactive step to reduce accidental clicks.

So fellow publishers, let’s look at the bright side..
With this change, it will attract more advertisers (like myself) who are willing to pay more for a genuine click. If advertisers pay more, you will earn more.

[Hat tip : HTNet]

Popularity: 25% [?]

Google Adsense has rolled out its new ad management feature which allow publishers to manage ad units from within their account. However, some may not be able to experience this feature as Google is rolling this feature in phases.

According to Inside Adsense:-

This new ad management feature means that your ad unit settings (such as colors and channels) for new AdSense for content ad units will be saved in your AdSense account every time you generate ad code. Then, if you’d like to change any of these settings in the future, all you do is make the update within your account — you’ll no longer need to manually replace the ad code on all of your pages. For instance, you can quickly change the borders of all your 300×250 medium rectangles from red to blue with just a few mouse clicks. Fancy! We hope that this new feature will help you save time and will simplify the process of optimizing your ad units.

How do I find out if this feature is available for me?
Login into your Adsense account and click on Adsense Setup tab. If it is available for you, you will see “Manage Ads” link in your the sub menu.

If you prefer to stick to your “old” style of managing your ad units, you may do so as the old version of code will continue to work. You can read more about this new feature here or see it in action by viewing the video below.

Popularity: 20% [?]