Are you currently displaying a referral unit for AdSense on your
website? Then read on, because there are some upcoming changes to the
referral program that you should be aware of. But first let me clarify
that only referral units promoting AdSense will be affected by this
change; referrals to other products and services remain unaffected at
this time. This change to referrals promoting AdSense will differ
depending on your location, regardless of where your users are
located.- If you're in North America, Latin America, or Japan, the
pricing structure for AdSense referrals is changing.About a year ago,
as an experiment, we changed the pricing structure for AdSense
referrals so that when a user you referred to the program earned $5
within 180 days of sign-up, you would also earn $5. When that publisher
earned $100 within 180 days and removed all payment holds, you'd
receive $250. We have decided to conclude this experiment and return to
the original pricing structure. As a result, we'll soon no longer be
offering the $5 bonus or $2000 bonus, and the payout for referring a
user who generates $100 with AdSense in the first 180 days will return
to $100.These pricing changes will take place during the last week of
January. A referred user who reaches $100 within 180 days of signing up
and who removes all payments holds before the change occurs will
generate earnings of $250 for the referring publisher. Any referred
user who meets this conversion criteria after the change occurs will
only generate $100 in earnings for the referring publisher. In
addition, the $5 bonus will be removed at that time. Please note that
the date a user was referred will only affect where the 180-day window
is set but not necessarily the payout the referring publisher receives.
For example, it's possible that a user referred in early January will
meet the conversion criteria before a user referred in early November,
and so the resulting payout may differ.- If you're outside of North
America, Latin America, and Japan, AdSense referrals will be
retired.For publishers not located in any of the three regions detailed
above, we'll soon be retiring referrals promoting AdSense. We've found
that this referral product has not performed as well as we had hoped in
these regions. Again, please keep in mind that you can still generate
referrals for the other products listed under the 'Referrals' section
of your AdSense Setup tab.Soon, you'll no longer see the option to
create a referral button for AdSense in your account, although existing
buttons will display as normal. This specific referral type will then
be retired during the last week of January - any users who meet the
conversion criteria (reaching $100 in earnings within 180 days of
sign-up and removing all payment holds) before the change will generate
earnings of $250 for the referring publishers. Any conversions which
occur after this change is made will not be recorded in your account.
You may wish to begin replacing any existing referrals promoting
AdSense with referrals for another product or an AdSense for content
unit.We appreciate your support of this referral product, and hope it
won't cause you any inconvenience.Posted by Talia Brodecki - AdSense
Product Marketing

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Posted By Inside AdSense Team to Inside AdSense at 1/08/2008 12:43:00 PM