Any US publisher with a domain name he or she isn’t using (yet) can now squeeze a couple of extra dollars out of it by using Google AdSense For Domains, another way for the search giant to make more money from online real estate and give some of it back to people with parked domains. The company is opening up to ‘English-language AdSense publishers located in North America’ in phases, but says it will soon expand to other regions and languages as well.
If I remember correctly, Google AdSense for Domains has been around for many years under the name ‘Domain Park’, but the program was previously reserved exclusively for owners of domain names wielding in a lot of traffic (1M+ monthly pageviews), up until yesterday. GAFD received a lot of criticism for returning advertisers poor quality traffic in the past, and yesterday’s launch won’t exactly reduce that criticism. You don’t have to be a genius to know this will attract more domain squatters to expand their questionable business. Here’s a step by step guide for advertisers who want to block domain parked sites on Google AdWords.
If anything, this shows Google is scrambling for every penny it can get its hands on these days even if it means lowering their quality standards, but I have to add that I can’t exactly blame them for it either.
I’m surprised it took them this long to formally launch the service. Advertising on squatted domains is a big business, albeit not a business I’m a fan of since they take all the good domains from entrepreneurs looking to build actual products.
Yes, I’ve been waiting for this to be available for a long time now. I guess they are doing this because of the economy. They’ve probably seen a drop in their revenue.
I prefer to use the term “sleuth.”
Domain Name Sleuth
Domain Name Sleuths
Domain Name Sleuther
Domain Name Sleuthers
GeniusLocator – Get Wit
“albeit not a business I’m a fan of since they take all the good domains from entrepreneurs looking to build actual products.”
Take them? You mean they beat them to the market and then give the entrepreneurs an opportunity to buy them? Tell me, do you also dislike people who buy land under the presumption that someone will one day want to build something on it?
yikes, way to go google and legitimize the despicable process of domain-squatting.
this reeks of desperation.
can you say bubble?
Yea I don’t think you can blame Google since Techcrunch has two giant ads in the bottom of every feed post including the same damn one almost every time for converting .psd to html. I would think most people who managed to add techcrunch to their feed reader are above the tech level of needing an ad to tell them how to convert a photoshop design to html. At least put an ad for web hosting or something.
Is advertising “questionable”? How about buying and selling real estate? Why would it be any different with domains? It’s a shame that someone with the right to post articles on TechCrunch doesn’t even know the definition of a “squatter”. Domain squatting is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a TRADEMARK belonging to someone else. Stop the ignorance of labeling everyone that buys a domain and parks it a squatter.
I guess if we want to go with the real-estate analogy, parking a domain name would be equivalent to buying up all the valuable property in town and instead of building something of value, just filling it with a bunch of billboard advertisements.
I still like to develop my domains into legitimates sites.
But while my undeveloped domains are waiting in the queue, GAFD is a good thing.
Am I the only publisher in America who doesn’t see this option in their AdSense account yet?
‘in phases’
‘Now Available For All US Publishers’, sorry.
i was wondering when adsense would launch this, hope its available for non-us publishers soon though.
Why don’t you call it what it really is? Spam ads… I really think Google is going low here… Getting consumer who accidentally enters a site to click on other spamish advertisers… Google will probably only send its long tail ads (other word for spam advertiser), and make the consumer thinks there is something interesting on the site he is in…
Well done a**holes
Perhaps you are being a bit harsh, but I agree that this is kind of low. I would never put this crap on a domain I intend to use for a real business, but as we can see in the comments here, the business of domaining is alive and well.
As an existing Adsense publisher, I am very excited about this. My current earnings with Google are substantial and I look forward to increasing my earnings with domains which I am not using (currently parked at Sedo). I have enjoyed Sedo but I find their cost per action is very low compared to other programs. I think Google opening up the doors will lead to a little more open-market in the domain parking area and maybe even push other companies such as Sedo to increase the amounts they pay to domain holders.
While I have not checked my Adsense account today to see if it is open yet, I intend to later this evening.
Thanx
Google is really desperate for new ways to advertise. AzureJournal was reporting yesterday (http://www.azur...very-intrusive/) about the new autocomplete feature: embedded TextAds. Yuck!
Really nice ! I guess it’s gonna increase domain value on the Web…
Squatters? People need to get a clue: http://www.goog...fine%3Asquatter
From what I understand, squatting is the same as “stealing”, and most domainers don’t steal.
Domain “Investors” pay for the domains they get (at least we do) and then either work to make some money from owning this Internet Real Estate or to find buyers.
“Spam ads”? Spam is geneally defined as unsolicited commercial email. I don’t see how this applies to parked domains that contain ads. No one is putting those domains or links to those domains in your inbox. As far as the ads being spam, they are also paid for.
I see that people have some strong opinions on the subject, but until you actually get to know some domainers or try domain parking for yourself, your opinons are just that: Opinions. And opinions without facts to justify them are little more than spam, in my opinion.
This isn’t going to make anyone hate you any less.
This isn’t going to make you any less ignorant.
Well, I don’t “hate” domainers, but to come to a tech/ startup focused blog and wonder why there is animosity toward the business of domaining seems silly. Therre is absolutely ZERO innovation or technology in this business, and most of us that come here are extremely passionate about these topics.
When we get ideas for a new online product or service only to find some slick business guy that wants $5-250k (currently earning !$300/ yr) for the domain best suited for the proposed business it becomes irritating. Many startups now have famous misspellings for their domains because of this problem (eg. flickr).
“When we get ideas for a new online product or service only to find some slick business guy that wants $5-250k (currently earning !$300/ yr) for the domain best suited for the proposed business it becomes irritating.”
I could never put into words why domainers rubbed me the wrong way. It just felt “wrong”. This sums it up nicely.
“When we get ideas for a new online product or service only to find some slick business guy that wants $5-250k (currently earning !$300/ yr) for the domain best suited for the proposed business it becomes irritating. ”
Well, then I suppose you know how some real estate developers feel. Except there’s nothing to whine about because it’s an acceptable business practice.
Buy the way, say it’s the late 80’s and you noticed that pizza.com was available. Would you buy it? Or would you skip it simply because you don’t have any interest in developing the website? Or, worded differently, would you elect to skip spending $9 and 2 minutes of effort to make millions? Hmmmm…..
It’s not really available for all US publishers. I don’t see AdSense for domains in my account.
‘in phases’ X2
‘Available For All US Publishers’
it is definitely not yet available for all US publishers but should be rolled out to all by 12/18/08
well, it’s bad news for companies like godaddy.com and others who previously charged for the very same service….very bad news for them.
Of course. I will surely switch all my parked domains to google.
I will be switching too
.
Yeah, Godaddy sucks, sure, but they’re the only company charging (!!!) for parking.
But IMHO Google-aggregators like Sedo.com, Domainsponsor, Parkingpanel etc. will continue to pay higher due to their rev shares and offer better value including domain selling…
Google just wants to misuse their monopoly and cut the middle man out and then they’ll lower the rev share to like 10% for all the domain owners…
Hey Google BOD. Get greedy. Real greedy. Take over as much as you can. Extract as much as you can from everyone so that you lose all support. Then, based on current anti-trust and other law, historical experience, and political climate, America can justify taking you over. In the public interest.
I think it’s cool for Google to let folk with parked domains to advertise on them. Not all owners of domains that don’t have sites are evil, it’s just that some of us don’t know how to build them (sites) =(
I have domains that I plan to use for websites in the future. So it’s good news that I can monetize them in the meantime.
Domain parking is $1billion + a year industry- Rob is right on that Google aggregators are generating the majority of that revenue and google is probably trying to weed out the middle man- Domainsponsor alone made $208 MM last yr in revenue. Aggregators will continue to innovate but ultimately, google holds their fate in its hands
It reminds me of other providers that are doing the same and I think it cab hurt Google’s brand as it is a bit spam in my opinion.
By the way, godaddy made a lot of money here (for years I think), Google were a but slow in developing the business, and I think it was due to the reason above. It may show that times are harder for their ads business.
From my experience with AdSense, I guess that unless you have a lot of traffic, revenue will be rather low from this channel.
Coming up with a good business name just got harder…
testing FB
The ignorance of TechCruch writers knows no bounds.
Robin, you may ask Mike (who most likely hired you), what he did for a living prior to launching TC?
Calling Domainers squatters, makes you look stupid for who you are – Stupid.
MikeA worked for one of the biggest “squatters” at Pool.com
too rich!
Unfortunately, i have wait it for long time because i’m not live in US
Advertisers should be pissed! No quality leads.
What are you talking about?? Direct navigation traffic (type-in traffic) is the best traffic there is on the planet. Worlds better than that of which a search engine can bring. Are you telling me that HomeLoans.com and CarLoans.com (both of which gets thousands of daily type-ins regardless if a site exist or not) produce low quality leads?
If the traffic is bad, there will be no clicks. Trust me.
Its about time!
However, this will have huge ramifications for the domain parking industry. Now all the middle men who created parking systems for the smaller domainers will likely disappear. I’m sure the assumption by domainers will be that they will received a larger split of ad revenue, without parking with a middleman.
Now the question is, will this be true? If it is, expect the other parking companies to disappear almost overnight.
The best thing they have left to do is to compete on features which might have a chance at a higher conversion rate. Many of the parking companies have slick templates now that allow you to add graphics and text content. I’m guessing Google will only put up lists of ad links.
I hate these sh*tty parked domains, shame on you google
Do you like at an undeveloped lot of land and go, “look how shitty that is!” I hope not…
I’ve set up a dozen domains for a test I plan on running for a few months – we’ll see if its worthwhile. I will keep a running update on clicks and revenue on http://pbarnhar...se-for-domains/
I’m up 64 cents so far
Good to know
I never knew it wasn’t for all US publishers o.O
yes but adsense for domains ..is it effective?
I dont think so,if you have domain that is quite popular then why you do this?
It’s great news for people who have parked domains.
Most of the people register domain with great enthusiasm to start a website but nothing will happen. Some people will keep renewing the site.
I believe that’s how some hosting companies make some good $$$$.
I ‘m just wondering how publishers will market parked domain. even google.
I’m going to be trying out google adsense parking as soon as my subsription runs out at godaddy cash parking. I was taking a look at google’s example page and really like how they made it look just like thier search results. I don’t make much on cash parking, but i’m sure the layout of google’s parking is going to incrase my revenues.
Very nice information. Thanks for this.
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