Google Affiliate Network Payments to be Through Google Adsense Accounts

[Marcia]

It'll be available later this month, consolidating payments if valid Affiliate and Adsense accounts are linked.

Google Affiliate Network publisher payments will soon be made through Google AdSense accounts. AdSense will offer you a wider range of payment options, improved ways to manage payment information, and consolidated payments from Google (if you're working with other Google products).

Web page with new payment option announcement [view.emailcomm-google.com] has details. The original email came through the Google Affiliate Network Publisher account.

If the Affiliate and Adsense accounts are then both tied in with Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools, it should facilitate improving affiliate sales for Network merchants.

[edited by: Marcia at 11:11 pm (utc) on Aug. 5, 2009]

[ken_b]

Also at

[webmasterworld.com...]

[edited by: ken_b at 11:42 pm (utc) on Aug. 5, 2009]

[swa66]

The Google Affiliate Network ("ConnectCommerce") is requiring their publishers to link their account to an Adsense account as they'll route payments that way soon.

The deadline to link the accounts is short: Sept. 21st in order to get paid for the July 2009 earnings without delays.

The announcement was an email, so I can't reproduce it here.

Maybe it's a sign of more integration to come down the road, hard to predict at this point.

[edited by: martinibuster at 11:12 pm (utc) on Aug. 5, 2009]
[edit reason] Fixed formatting. [/edit]

[Marcia]

swa66, the email is re-published on a web page, which I linked to.

At first read, it appeared to me that linking the is two optional, but on second read I'm not so sure it isn't mandatory. That's a problem, since not everyone has (or wants) an Adsense account, and some people have been kicked out but still have Affiliate Network accounts.

And some people may like having different ways to get paid from different revenue sources.

[netmeg]

The impression I got from the email I got was that it was mandatory; I'll have to re read it now.

[celgins]

I got the email and this is an interesting move by Google. I have asked a few questions similar to Marcia's:

That's a problem, since not everyone has (or wants) an Adsense account, and some people have been kicked out but still have Affiliate Network accounts.

It appears that Google will force affiliate network users to use Adsense accounts. There are thousands of affiliates who only use the affiliate network and receive payments via EFT/check. Maybe it's an effort to get more legitimate sites hosting contextual ads?

Some of those affiliate network users may have never been interested in Adsense ads, but it appears Google will give them new Adsense accounts and offer text-based ads with banner ads from the affiliate side. How much more diluted will the publisher pool become now?

[farmboy]

I went to the Google affiliate network and went through the steps to "merge" the two accounts. I assumed I could then use my AdSense login information to login to the Google affiliate network. Every time I try, I get an error message.

FWIW

FarmBoy

[La_Valette]

We had an Adsense account we never used much (balance never exceeded $100). Eventually it was banned. We think the reason for the ban was because of a few invalid clicks - we never were told. If it was invalid clicks, the number of clicks would have been trivially small - maybe 5 or 10. One of our people clicked on our ads a few times when he was learning his way around. Stupid but minor. Since we were not really using Adsense we never paid much attention to this (beyond trying to submit an appeal - our appeal was rejected).

However it now looks like this will jeopardize our Google Affiliate Network account. There does not seem to be any alternative to using Adsense for payment from Sep 21 - it will be mandatory after that. We really are honest folks and we lost our Adsense account because of a stupid error on our part which really caused no damage to anyone - at most the clicks in question would have resulted in a few bucks worth of charges, if that. Something should be done for publishers in our situation. We've had a great relationship with Performics (now GAN) for years and have sent many merchants there lots of business. Interrupting those relationships would really be senseless and bad for all sides.

[Lame_Wolf]

Something should be done for publishers in our situation.

Why is it down to Google to do anything ?
They supplied the TOS, it was down to you to read it.
If you have staff working for you, then it is down to you to inform them of the TOS and not to click on them.

Sorry, but it's not Google's fault, nor are they to blame for your error.
As far as they were concerned is that you (as an account holder) were self-clicking.

[Marcia]

It's now official, the email came today (as promised) about linking the Affiliate Network account to the Google account and here's the blog post:

Announcing Google Affiliate Network payments through Google AdSense [googleaffiliatenetwork-blog.blogspot.com]

This whole thing could be made clearer on their part, and a lot less arbitrary.

[edited by: Marcia at 8:00 pm (utc) on Aug. 13, 2009]

[La_Valette]

Lame_wolf: we're not asking to be readmitted to Adsense. For what it's worth, we think the TOS violation there was trivially minor but that's not the point here. We gave up that battle a long time ago and we've moved on - we have no interest in running Adsense ads anymore.

We broke no TOS etc on Google Affiliate Network, and it makes no sense to effectively terminate our account there because the only option now will be to get payments via Adsense. It's bad business for all parties concerned (us, our merchants, and Google).

As regards your other points/comments: we're not trying to say this is Google's or anyone else's "fault" or "blame". We're just pointing out that it is totally senseless to end good publisher-merchant relationships on a different platform over a completely unrelated issue like this.

[Marcia]

totally senseless to end good publisher-merchant relationships on a different platform over a completely unrelated issue like this

Can't argue with that point! Affiliate sales are performance based and only get paid when there's a purchase (or valid lead).

That's got nothing to do with clicks, which are worthless unless there's a specific action resulting in merchant revenue and aff commission.

[netmeg]

Needless to say, my AdSense Google Account is different from my GAN Google Account. Here we go again.

[La_Valette]

To clarify, we're fine with our lifetime ban from Adsense if Google wants to keep it that way (although we certainly think it's extreme). It would be fine with us if Google opened a deactivated Adsense account for us in which the feature to place Adsense ads is disabled, with only the ability to receive payments from GAN active.

[coolfx35]

I totally agree with La_Valette.

I actually was a publisher way before connect commerce was acquired by google and turned it into google affiliate network.

This is not good, looks like it might be the ending of my google affiliate network since I was banned from adsense.

[coolfx35]

and what about the site that was not eligible for adsense?

[La_Valette]

We are being told that since we don't have an Adsense account we'll be terminated from Google Affiliate Network after 10/31/09. I don't even know what to say here... we don't want an Adsense account anyway. We just need a GAN payment option and Adsense has now been made into the only one.

[maximillianos]

Sounds like G is doing some house cleaning.

[La_Valette]

maximillianos: We are good affiliates and take pride in what we do. I find your comment insulting and uninformed. Maybe you'd care to read the earlier posts in the thread?

[farmboy]

maximillianos: We are good affiliates and take pride in what we do. I find your comment insulting and uninformed.

I don't think he meant it personally. I think he meant that, well, is sounds like G is doing some house cleaning. There are threads/comments here from time to time that seem to indicate that G is doing some house cleaning of one sort or another.

We are being told that since we don't have an Adsense account we'll be terminated from Google Affiliate Network after 10/31/09.

I'm curious if others are getting this notification? Is it accurate to say that Google is terminating all GAN affiliates who don't have an AdSense account?

FarmBoy

[La_Valette]

The options given are have an Adsense account or be terminated. So if the Adsense team won't let you have an Adsense account, there (at present) is no other way to continue with GAN.

(House cleaning means taking out garbage by the way - when you use terms like that, people tend to take it personally...)

[aleksl]

Sounds like Google, who supposedly "sold" COnnectCommerce/Performics to some french outfit in 2008 (many press releases online), is enjoying the affiliate revenue stream. A blatant conflict of interest for a Search Engine which everyone seem to accept now.

How would a Search Engine increase revenue of its affiliate network? Hmm..let's see, gee...I guess they could:
1) not penalize thin affiliate sites that use Performics links vs. every other thin affiliate
2) use other ways to influence their algo based on participation in Google affiliate network
3) ban/demote etc. affiliates in SERPs who use other network's thin content
4) collect tons of conversion data, and based on that expand their own services
5) based on conversion data bump up cost of Adwords advertising
do I need to go on?

Maybe Google needs to go back and rethink their position on Performics.

[maximillianos]

House cleaning means taking out garbage by the way - when you use terms like that, people tend to take it personally...

Sorry if my words were harsh. I meant no harm and only to imply that G seems to be doing this for a reason... that reason is yet to be determined.

We are being told that since we don't have an Adsense account we'll be terminated from Google Affiliate Network after 10/31/09.

I'm curious, were you told by G directly this statement above? If so, it would seem they are out to remove you from their network for some reason... and they might be using the Adsense angle as a loophole.

Again, if the above is a direct response from G regarding your sites in particular, I would inquire for more details. Ask them if there is anything wrong with your affiliate account, etc.

[La_Valette]

No, the reason for all this seems to be pretty clear and determined already from the emails we've received from Google - they're just integrating the billing system with that of Adsense. It appears to be standard cost-cutting procedure, not any ulterior reason. This is normal after acquisitions like that of Performics.

I'm royally miffed, but I don't think there are any conspiracies here - bureaucracy would probably be more accurate a descriptor. Nothing in the communications we've received indicates our affiliate account is specifically being targeted. It just so happens that our Adsense account was previously disabled, and there currently is no provision in the system for these situations.

A simple fix would be to reconsider disabled Adsense account appeals for GAN users. Or reopen their Adsense accounts with the Adsense feature disabled just so they can receive GAN payments. Either way would work. Unfortunately so far we haven't heard anything back from GAN except the aforementioned note to the effect that our account would be disabled 10/31/09.

[edited by: La_Valette at 8:04 pm (utc) on Aug. 14, 2009]

[maximillianos]

Perhaps our local G AdsenseAdvisor can help. I would drop him/her a PM and see if they can figure out an alternative for you.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[La_Valette]

Thanks. I tried sending him/her a message but got an error saying that his/her StickyMail box was full...

[celgins]

We are being told that since we don't have an Adsense account we'll be terminated from Google Affiliate Network after 10/31/09.

I'm curious if others are getting this notification? Is it accurate to say that Google is terminating all GAN affiliates who don't have an AdSense account?

When you login to your ConnectCommerce/Perfomics account, you get a message saying GAN earnings will now be distributed through Google Adsense. It then provides two links: 1) Link to an existing Adsense account; 2) Apply for a new adsense account. Instructions that follow this is where banned Adsensers might have a problem.

Google states that you will receive an email containing instructions to complete the AdSense application process. Meaning, GAN affiliates (previously banned or not) will go through the same Adsense approval process.

It may be that previously banned publishers will be removed from GAN, while new publishers go through typical site review processes.

Either way, it does look like Google is bringing out the mops and brooms.

[La_Valette]

celgins: It makes no sense to go through the Adsense approval process and review a publisher site to decide if it would be a good fit for Adsense if the publisher has zero interest in Adsense anyway and only wants to use GAN.

Likewise, a prior ban from Adsense because somebody at Adsense believed the site is not a good match for that program, for whatever reason, should not constitute a ban from GAN, which is a completely unrelated product.

[buckworks]

La_Valette, did you actually work through the steps that GAN provides for applying for a new AdSense account? If yes, what happened?

[La_Valette]

Of course we did. Given that our appeals to Adsense to have our account with them re-enabled were rejected earlier, we reapplied for a new Adsense account as instructed in the GAN emails, and a few hours later received a message saying that our Adsense account appeared to be disabled and our GAN relationship would be terminated on 10/31/09. When we reapplied, we did not try to hide the fact that we already had an account with Adsense once that was disabled - we applied for a new account in the same company name, address, etc. as the old one. So somebody at Adsense must have seen that and dismissed our application without further thought.

We tried contacting GAN through their support system about this issue but received no reply yet. (We also put in another appeal to Adsense to have our old account re-opened, just so that we can receive GAN payments - no reply there yet either, except an automatic ack that since we already submitted prior appeals, we might simply not get any reply to this one.)