Manga - 2:06 pm on Sep 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

It does seem as though they want to get rid of affiliates. If they don't want you to link to a landing page, or directly to the sponsor, then they don't want affiliates at all. It seems the only affiliate they will tolerate is someone with a content site that links to sponsors on the side, rather than someone who exists primarily to drive traffic to sponsors and make money through the commissions. If this is the case then Google needs to make an announcement that they will no longer accept affiliates. Simple.

I have done this sort of thing for a very long time. The thing is I also run the online marketing for a big multinational company and we spend millions of dollars on Google every year. In managing this budget and seeing both sides through my other activities, it is pretty obvious to me that Google would just want the big companies that have multi-million dollar budgets and not worry about the smaller players who may spend $100k per year. Less headaches for Google in the end and they still make lots of money. Again, if this is the case then Google should say so and not play these silly head games with us.

Business is all about relationships. Right now Google is the big player and everybody has to do what Google says. Things change though. I remember when Infoseek was the big player, and Yahoo and AltaVista. It would serve Google well to respect its customers, regardless of how big they are, as they may wish they had those customers in the future. If Google wants to change things, and that is in their right to do so, then treat people with respect, thank them for their business, and move on. Don't do it in this obnoxious and disrespectful way.