Adsense described as Google’s “Shadow Payroll”

by Duncan Riley

Interesting take on Adsense by the NY Times with this article: “Google’s Shadow Payroll Is Not Such a Secret Anymore.”

They also claim that Google pays 78.5c in the dollar back to Adsense sites, which honestly I find extremely hard to believe.

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  1. By Anthony posted on January 16, 2006 at 3:44 am
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    I’ve never bought into the Google taking a massive cut of Adsense earnings.

  2. By Duncan Riley posted on January 16, 2006 at 3:54 am
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    Given the returns I see on YPN per click neither do I :-)

  3. By Anthony posted on January 16, 2006 at 4:23 am
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    Sorry my comment should have read:

    I’ve never bought into the theory of Google taking a massive cut of a publishers’s Adsense earnings. I’ve always thought Google gave back a 70-80 percent cut to publishers.

    Duncan you need the preview button for people like me that need to re-read comments for submitting.

    Are you saying from what you’ve seen is that YPN give a greater percentage?

  4. By Duncan Riley posted on January 16, 2006 at 7:00 am
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    certainly on YPN per click I’ve gotten far better returns, although the CTR is much lower. I just cant believe that Google returns nearly 80%, I’d think its more like 30-40% for most people, particuarly given the whole “smart pricing” thing. I’ve bid and bought ads on Adwords as well so I’ve got a decent idea on what publishers pay for the ads, there is NO way in the world that they pay over 50% for most people.

  5. By Cary posted on January 16, 2006 at 11:59 am
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    What I don’t understand is how two ad formats that look so incredibly similar (Google, Yahoo) can get such a different CTR…

    Somebody explain this to me :(

  6. By Anthony posted on January 16, 2006 at 7:14 pm
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    From soemone not running YPN ads but observing them at other people’s sites I’ve noticed YPN’s targeting is a bit more diversified and not quite as focused as Google’s at the moment.