A few months ago I started testing out Adsense for Domains which essentially turns unused domains into adsense filled landing pages. As Google guidelines point out you are only allowed 3 adsense units on each “real” website so that you do not appear too spammy – Adsense for domains gives you an alternative.
Google describes Adsense for Domains as follows:
Users often type domains into their address bar or follow expired links leading to sites with no content. Instead of an “under construction” page or 404 error, AdSense for domains provides links, search results, advertisements and other content. To do this, we use semantic technology targeted to the domain name. You earn revenue when users interact with the ads on your site.
Landing pages end up looking like this
I put 12 domains into the program to see how they would perform as I was not using them for anything else. I have a lot of undeveloped domains (am I the only one with lots of unused domains?) and got positive results.
Adding the domains to the program is not a simple task as you have to edit CNAMES and other “Advanced” DNS entries – but is is fairly straightforward once you get one done. Like many Google tools they show you which domains are setup and running and which are “pending” which usually means you did something wrong.
I will say that I definitely have paid for about 50% of my domains yearly costs in just one month which certainly makes the program worthwhile. It also makes me wonder what GoDaddy was collecting on my domains while they were parked on their servers – all with ads of course.
The goal for me is to have the domains pay for themselves in case I ever decide to develop them one day – and of course turning a profit is not bad either. From my results so far, I am well on my way and will implement some more soon.
Have you tried out AdSense for Domains? How is it working?
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May 6th, 2009 at 8:14 am
I started down that path but it seemed to be too much work for the result. Yes – I have many unused domains as well. If you say it works – I'll give it a shot again!
May 6th, 2009 at 8:23 am
I agree its a big annoyance and seems difficult to get it setup – but I
figure its better to set it and forget it and collect the pennies vs. your
domain registrar. I happened to find a domain that was getting lots of
traffic so it worked out well. Let me know how it goes.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Eric – I suspect you have pretty solid/targeted domains to be generating enough traffic to earn multiple pennies. I think the “average Joe” would have a lot of trouble with this. That said, it's obviously paying great dividends for you, and well worth your time.
For me, in the past, adsense on websites have been just that, accumulating pennies. It wasn't worth the potential distraction for my readers when I could essentially create my own products and/or get a bit of sponsored advertising.
I think it's GREAT for domains (which is what you're talking about), but I always like to preface to my readers, MOST people won't make very much money with Adsense.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:58 am
I agree that if you have a choice between house ads and adsense, than house
ads will be more worthwhile. I have no advertising (right now) on
Marketing.fm but have tested things in the past. I have other test blogs
for ad networks (see my post on yield optimizers).
I found that even a few random domains that I have get a few visitors a day
which ads up over time – and I would rather collect those pennies against
registrar fees which justifies hanging onto the domains.
I have not found a good ad unit for this blog and will probably keep it ad
free
May 6th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I started down that path but it seemed to be too much work for the result. Yes – I have many unused domains as well. If you say it works – I'll give it a shot again!
May 6th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I agree its a big annoyance and seems difficult to get it setup – but I
figure its better to set it and forget it and collect the pennies vs. your
domain registrar. I happened to find a domain that was getting lots of
traffic so it worked out well. Let me know how it goes.
May 6th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Eric – I suspect you have pretty solid/targeted domains to be generating enough traffic to earn multiple pennies. I think the “average Joe” would have a lot of trouble with this. That said, it's obviously paying great dividends for you, and well worth your time.
For me, in the past, adsense on websites have been just that, accumulating pennies. It wasn't worth the potential distraction for my readers when I could essentially create my own products and/or get a bit of sponsored advertising.
I think it's GREAT for domains (which is what you're talking about), but I always like to preface to my readers, MOST people won't make very much money with Adsense.
May 6th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I agree that if you have a choice between house ads and adsense, than house
ads will be more worthwhile. I have no advertising (right now) on
Marketing.fm but have tested things in the past. I have other test blogs
for ad networks (see my post on yield optimizers).
I found that even a few random domains that I have get a few visitors a day
which ads up over time – and I would rather collect those pennies against
registrar fees which justifies hanging onto the domains.
I have not found a good ad unit for this blog and will probably keep it ad
free
May 13th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I have been using the program for about 4 days now. I have 23 new domains and about 30 'seasoned' domains going. i like the color selection and keyword suggestions options now…. i have to say it is way better than when it was called 'domain park'. it is generating me some pretty good revenue off of domain names that dont quite have a home in my advertising network yet… plus its free and you cant really beat that… hell even GoDaddy charges for a service like this
May 13th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I have been using the program for about 4 days now. I have 23 new domains and about 30 'seasoned' domains going. i like the color selection and keyword suggestions options now…. i have to say it is way better than when it was called 'domain park'. it is generating me some pretty good revenue off of domain names that dont quite have a home in my advertising network yet… plus its free and you cant really beat that… hell even GoDaddy charges for a service like this
May 13th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Exactly – why pay $2 a month for GoDaddy when you can do this for free.
Chances are you will not make the $$ back from clicks. I think this is a
safe way to park a domain as well, as its with Google.
Would love to hear your results after 30+ days of using the service if you
are open to share.
May 13th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Exactly – why pay $2 a month for GoDaddy when you can do this for free.
Chances are you will not make the $$ back from clicks. I think this is a
safe way to park a domain as well, as its with Google.
Would love to hear your results after 30+ days of using the service if you
are open to share.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Hey I have quite a few domains that were ideas that didnt fully blossom. I tried the adsense for domains. I haven't been receiving money for clicks but for impressions. And as we all know adsense doesn't allow people to comment much on how much you actually made but in my findings I have discovered ive been getting paid like this 1:468 <- impressions. Which is not bad imo especially if you have 20 domains averaging 20 hits a day between them all.
May 19th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hey I have quite a few domains that were ideas that didnt fully blossom. I tried the adsense for domains. I haven't been receiving money for clicks but for impressions. And as we all know adsense doesn't allow people to comment much on how much you actually made but in my findings I have discovered ive been getting paid like this 1:468 <- impressions. Which is not bad imo especially if you have 20 domains averaging 20 hits a day between them all.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Tried it recently, no luck so far. But if I make back the cost of the domain over a year at least I'm not out of pocket!
I'm surprised that there are next to no options to configure Adsense for Domains beyond choosing a colour scheme and four keywords.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I think this will evolve over time. Making back the $10 or so over the year is key. If you are not using the domain for something else though its better to have it parked at your own adsense setup.
I predict they will give much more options in the future as more people start using these pages.
May 24th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Tried it recently, no luck so far. But if I make back the cost of the domain over a year at least I'm not out of pocket!
I'm surprised that there are next to no options to configure Adsense for Domains beyond choosing a colour scheme and four keywords.
May 24th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
I think this will evolve over time. Making back the $10 or so over the year is key. If you are not using the domain for something else though its better to have it parked at your own adsense setup.
I predict they will give much more options in the future as more people start using these pages.
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August 18th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Increase your adsense domain revenues by checking google mag http://www.googlemag.com
September 13th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Domain Ebook – Domain Guide to Success – Learn to Buy, Sell, Develop and Monetize Domains
September 29th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
ive tried different types of domains, with and without keywords, some have padi out bigger than others, it would be interesting to see what worked for other people, life insurance worked for me for a while…
September 29th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Open sharing is always best
December 17th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I've been running AdSense for Domains for a few months now, without much success. I attribute this, as others have noted, to the uniqueness of the domain names I'm using. Nonetheless, it's a better use for domains that would otherwise sit dormant.
Now that I've consolidated a few of my blogs, I wonder if there's a risk in running AdSense on the old domains. Right now, while Google processes my change of address requests, I'm forced to leave the old domains alone with redirections to the new site. Down the road, though, there could be a monetary benefit to running AdSense on the old domains, but I fear it will come at the expense of visitors that would otherwise end up at my blog.
December 17th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Thanks for the real usage data – I am finding not much success either but
the pennies add up and better me getting them then the registrar until I
decide to usesell the domains.
December 17th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I've been running AdSense for Domains for a few months now, without much success. I attribute this, as others have noted, to the uniqueness of the domain names I'm using. Nonetheless, it's a better use for domains that would otherwise sit dormant.
Now that I've consolidated a few of my blogs, I wonder if there's a risk in running AdSense on the old domains. Right now, while Google processes my change of address requests, I'm forced to leave the old domains alone with redirections to the new site. Down the road, though, there could be a monetary benefit to running AdSense on the old domains, but I fear it will come at the expense of visitors that would otherwise end up at my blog.
December 17th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Thanks for the real usage data – I am finding not much success either but
the pennies add up and better me getting them then the registrar until I
decide to usesell the domains.
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:33 am
Is it possible to have this on a working domain but only on 404 errors.
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:22 am
I do not think so.
May 29th, 2010 at 6:49 am
I use adsense to earn money on my blogs from google ads.
July 26th, 2010 at 8:53 am
AdSense shouldn't be rocket science and somehow I can't manage to make things work. I have some domain names in mind and I'd like to get them just to make sure no one will buy them before me but I don't have any plans for them. I'd like to have AdSense on each f them and perhaps make some money on a monthly basis. Is that possible or do I need content and activity on them?
August 4th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Google imposes a limit of three adds per page. Google is doing lot to improve quality of ads where these are placed….may be, you have noted that many adsense publishers are getting emails for removing ads due to certain quality issues..