Want to sell site that's running AdSense

but I don't know how to go about it

[birdstuff]

My main site (the one that initially got accepted into AdSense) is doing great, very profitable in fact via AdSense and affiliate programs.

A few months ago I built site #2 around a completely different topic area. I added AdSense to it, but I don't really have time to dedicate to promoting and expanding it, hence little AdSense revenue from it.

Site #2 is a high-quality site with good content, but I want to sell it to place all of my efforts into site #1. Now my questions:

1 - If I sell the site, will it forever be associated with MY AdSense account? If so, I might risk losing my AdSense account if the buyer places his/her own AdSense code on the site and goes on a clicking spree (or some other TOS violation).

2 - If the answer to #1 is no, should I just delete my AdSense code from site #2 and forget about it or let Google know that the site has been sold and it is no longer associated with my account?

Thanks.

[itisgene]

You cannot sell adsense account.

What you can do is just remove the code and tell the (potential) buyer about the site only not the adsense. If the buyer doesn't know anything about adsense, you don't risk anything.

[birdstuff]

I'm not talking about selling the AdSense account. I will definitely remove the AdSense code before offering the site for sale. But AdSense is so ubiquitous right now there is a good chance that the new owner will already know about AdSense and place his/her own AdSense code on the site, perhaps causing problems for MY account later because Google has "linked" my AdSense account with that domain. That is my concern.

[ronin]

When you sell the site/domain, both you and the new owner can write to AdSense with a copy of the updated DNS records. I think once you do that and there is different AdSense number on the site it'll be fairly clear to them that the site has changed hands.

[Dan_Norder]

Why would you need to write to them or anything. Just let them put up their code. Not yours anymore, no problems.

[esllou]

ok, I think google associates people with their account numbers, not the sites where the adsense code is placed.

also, it is not a realistic proposition to remove the code and not tell any buyer about adsense, as I imagine the revenue from it is one of the selling points of the site in question. Just tell the buyer the site will come code-free and they would have to put in their own code on receiving the site.

[SlowMove]

Just show the site, and tell them all the content is theirs with the exception of the advertising. It will seem obvious that they can also run adsense on the site if that's what they want to do.

[birdstuff]

Thanks for the responses. They have been a big help!

[jaxomlotus]

I posed a similar question to google recently. There response was that you should make sure the domain name and whois info is processed first, before telling google that it's been sold, in order to clear any red tape that might otherwise arise.

[dauction]

I sold a website that I had adsense on, no problems .. I simply removed my code and new owner moved website to his servers and then add his own adsense code..

no problems at all..

[SlowMove]

Of course, there may be other reasons why someone might want to buy the site. For example, they might have a similar site that sells products that visitors of the site would want to purchase. I wouldn't even talk about advertising without finding out why they want to buy the site. Sell them the site that they want to buy.

[div01]

I recently sold a site that used to run Adsense (though it wasn't the site I signed up for Adsense with). I simply removed all my code when I handed it over. Now its up to the new owner to do what they wish with it.

[spikedo55]

I don't think its a big deal to Google. I've bought several sites and just deleted the old code and put in mine.

[Powdork]

Sell it to them with the code, tell them how to change the publisher id without changing anything else, make as small a deal out of it as possible, and hope they don't change it.;)
Seriously, if you are worried about them doing something untoward with the domain, there are other folks you should worry about more than Google. Especially if there are folks that would associate the domain with you or your business. This would include DMOZ, Yahoo, your current clients, etc. If you are a webmastery type person and put a link to your webmastery site on your pages that will remain online in caches and at places like archive.org for a while or longer, though with your content.

[JoeyBall]

Where would you find sites for sale? i'm interested in buying sites that run adsense or any other programs.

Thanks

[vabtz]

I recently changed my sites domain name and wrote to google about how I should handle the adsense ads. The y responded that they didn't care where I put my adsense code as long as the site was mine and it met the guidelines set forth.

This leads me to beleive that they will know via automatic monitering that their is a different advertisor and query them if there is a problem.

[just1dave]

You could go to ebay and do a search on adsense in the title and description and find active adsense sites for sale.

[Oetzi]

Do you already have an interested buyer? If you do not, there may be people interested to buy it in this forum. Can you tell us what the site is all about?

[birdstuff]

Thanks everyone. I already have a buyer. That's why I started the thread.

[blairsp]

hate to disagree with earlier posters but this IS a big deal to Google. They tie the site address into the person which could possibly mean banning both if something goes wrong on your "old" site. I tried to sell my domain to someone who was interested in purchasing it until he found out that google wouldn't accept him as a new publisher because the domain had been disabled(long story which is detailed on other threads). My thoughts therefore is that if you sell the domain, then google will still associate it with you and your NEW site could be disabled by google if anything goes wrong with the old one.