Back in April, I wrote about Google's new "pay-per-action" ads. The ads were designed to work through Google's existing AdSense publisher network and would have worked in a very similar manner to many popular affiliate programs. The program has been running for a few months now, but I've got t wonder if Google is having a hard time finding publishers to run the ads. Why? Because according to a discussion at the Digital Point forums, they are now forcing some AdSense partners to run these ads.
The thread started when Jim Karter posted an email he had received from the Google AdSense team.
The letter reads, in part:
Your account has been selected to participate in a limited test of an exciting new targeting feature for AdSense. In the next few days we will enable cost-per-action (CPA) ads to compete in your AdSense for content ad units on a limited portion of your traffic, 5% or less of all ad impressions. These ads will look identical to your current AdSense ads, so there will be no visible changes to you or your users.
Your account has been selected because we believe that you'll earn more by having these additional targeted, high-quality ads competing in your ad units .
Rather than generating earnings for a click or impression, you'll be paid a larger amount for each conversion with these new ads. A user who clicks on your ad must complete an advertiser-specified action, such as a purchase or a lead, in order for you to be paid. Remember that these ads do compete with cost-per-click and cost-per-thousand impression ads, so a CPA ad will only win in an auction when we expect it to perform better than a CPC or CPM ad.
Granted, the email does include a line that says he can opt out of the program by sending an email request to the AdSense team, but I have to wonder what this email really means.
I see a couple of issues here.
1.) It would appear that while Google may have a lot of interest from advertisers wishing to run these affiliate style ads, they may be having a hard time finding publishers who are willing to give up the current cost-per-click ad space. After all, the potential earnings on a pay-per-action ad are based largely on issues outside of the control of the publisher. Google's move to automatically opt 5% of their AdSense partners into the new program may be their way of trying to force a foot in the door.
2.) The publishers that DO allow themselves to be thrust into the test group will have no way of knowing how well these new ads have performed. Google will not be providing separate reporting on income from each type of ad. Instead, they'll simply lump all AdSense earnings in together. That means that content partners have no way of testing how well the new system works on their site making it nearly impossible to decide if it's worth continuing in the program or not.
I find this disappointing on two fronts. First, I'm a little disappointed in Google for pushing the issue. Perhaps Google has simply gotten so used to having people stand in line to try their offerings that they weren't sure how to react when the line didn't stretch down the street. Second, by blending all of the earnings into one report, they've made it virtually impossible for publishers to judge the new system. Granted, Google has never been one to operate in full transparency, but still. If you want people to sign on to your program, you need to give them enough information to make a good decision.
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