Google Adsense Now Offers CPA Affiliate Marketing

The other day I was poking around in Google Adsense and clicked through to the ‘Referrals’ section, something I usually don’t do because I’ve never had much luck with them. Immediately I noticed that there was something different, Google was now offering CPA (Cost Per Action) Affiliate Marketing.

Google Referrals allow you to choose specific products or groups of products to advertise on your site, allowing you to match ads to your content.

Choose up to 15 products or specific ads to rotate in the referral unit. You can also choose categories and keywords to ensure you get newer ads as they become available.

CPA (Cost Per Action) Affiliate Marketing differs from CPC (Cost Per Click) Advertising in that the user must take some sort of pre-defined action for you to earn any money. This action can be anything from signing up for a newsletter, requesting a quote, to purchasing a product. The amount of money you can earn depends upon the affiliate and the action that is required, and can usually range from $1 to $100.

Here is a screenshot of affiliate categories that Google currently offers.

You can add an entire category or search through them for an individual product.

Clicking on an individual product gives you more information on what action is required, how much that action pays, and what ‘Text Links’, ‘Text Blocks’, or ‘Ad Banners’ are available for use.

I think this is a great step for Google Adsense and honestly I’m surprised it has taken them this long to get into CPA Marketing. While I have no doubt that the service and products will only get better with time, there are a few things I would like to see Google add.

1. The ability to search for affiliate products based solely on available ad size. (show only 125×125 banners)
2. The ability to search based upon ‘Performance of Network’ (show all 5 star products)

I think just adding a comprehensive ‘Advanced Search/Sort’ function would take care of these items and a lot more.

What do you think? Has anyone tried these new referrals? Has anyone had any success with them?