The Adwords Update…. Received in this mornings e-mail. Google AdWords™ Announcement: Improved Smart Pricing & Expanded Content Network Hello from the Google AdWords Team: We're pleased to introduce two improvements to AdWords that will help improve your ROI and help you reach additional targeted prospects. First, we're adjusting the price of certain clicks based on expected value to help ensure better performance for advertisers. Second, we're extending the reach of contextually-targeted advertising to ads in approved email programs, including Gmail and HTML newsletters. Keep reading for more details. Improved smart pricing We're introducing automatic price adjustments for certain clicks you get from the Google Network. Google's smart pricing model has always provided better placement for better performing ads, and reduced the cost of a click to the least amount possible to stay above your competitor's ad. And now, with no change in how you bid, Google may reduce the cost for a click if that better reflects the value it brings to advertisers like you. How smart pricing works We are constantly analyzing data across our network, and if our data shows that a click is less likely to turn into business results (e.g. online sale, registration, phone call, newsletter sign-up), we may reduce the price you pay for that click. You may notice a reduction in the cost of clicks from content sites. We take into account many factors such as what keywords or concepts triggered the ad, as well as the type of site on which the ad was served. For example, a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras. Google saves you time and hassle by estimating the value of clicks and adjusting prices on an ongoing basis. With improved smart pricing, you should automatically get greater value for clicks from ad impressions across our network, all with no change in how you bid. Content network expands to email The Google Network already includes such sites as USATODAY.com and over 50% of the Media Metrix Top 100 that show advertising—sites that reach over 80% of U.S. Internet users. And now, we're adding more ways for you to reach prospects interested in your products or services: email and newsletter ad placements. Just as when your ads are shown alongside Google search results, your contextually-targeted ads will now show alongside approved newsletter and email content, such as iVillage newsletters and our new Gmail. [Learn more...] As we're still growing inventory of email pages, email will likely remain only a small source of additional clicks for some time. You don't need to do anything to participate in this opportunity. To view your selected preferences, simply visit your Campaign Settings page. We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available. Sincerely, The Google AdWords Team
Isn't this essentially the same thing as Shawn posted yesterday at http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=230 ?
In other words... if a user clicks on "camera" from *my* web page, Google charges the advertiser $.70 and pays me $.15. But if the same user clicks on the same ad from Google's own search page, Google charges the advertiser $1 and pays itself $1. It seems like the publishers / webmasters are being sqeezed here. Voyager Webmaster: The Hack FAQ
Well since it's Google's system, everyone plays by their rules... If people don't like their rules, the best thing to do is not participate. Not meant as a dig on you, but as long as their terms/payout are better than anyone else, they will still dominate. - Shawn
And from what seen/experienced, no one can touch them. If there is a better program, I've yet to come across it.
As far as I can tell google pays consistently some of the lowest PPC rates to webmasters. However, they are reliable. Too many of the companies/people offering to pay for click throughs vanish in the night. Just my humble opinion.