Seriously big news in the affiliate marketing space today. Google announced that they will be shutting down the Google Affiliate Network.
Here it is in their own words:
We’re constantly evaluating our products to ensure that we’re focused on the services that will have the biggest impact for our advertisers and publishers.
To that end, we’ve made the difficult decision to retire Google Affiliate Network and focus on other products that are driving great results for clients.
We’ll continue to support our customers as we wind down the product over the next few months.
source
Here’s what we know from the announcement
- It’ll be taken down over the next few months
- This does not affect Adsense
- They’re encouraging the continued use of “CPA oriented” tools like Product Listing Ads, remarketing and Conversion Optimizer
I tried to do a little more research on the topic but it’s literally so new there hasn’t been a lot said about it yet. This was what a search in Google News showed…
So let the jokes and snarky comments about how Google hates affiliates begin.
Shout out to Ruck from imgrind.com for sharing the news first!
We were talking about this in our local PPC circle a few months as one of our members knows a guy that works at google. Interesting…
Seems that Google is changing its priorities. They also shut down their “Search API for Shopping” on September 16, 2013. You should always have a backup strategy and not rely on a single business, even if it is a BIG one.
Thanks for keeping us updated!
time for switch
No Problem …!!!! This is a good news.
If Adsense is not affected, then I hope it should not be much of a problem for most of the people. Thanks for sharing the news though.
Maybe not for most. But it’s a problem for those affiliates who run traffic to their CPA offers.
I think you’re mistaking the Content Network with Affiliate Network.
The Affiliate Network is the competitor to the likes of Commission Junction, Share a Sale etc… whilst the content network is a network of sites running Google Adsense.
Nothing big about the affiliate network closing down at all… been a dud for some time now…
I think Google didn’t get many income from Google Affiliate Network. Hope they will not shut down Adsense too!