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Important news from Google: August is the last month when your site can still make revenue from the Google AdSense Referrals program. This will be closed in the last week of August, and instead Google will use a new platform powered by DoubleClick Performics, network purchased by Google in March 2008. The new platform that will generate you referral revenue is called Google Affiliate Network and it is currently open only to publishers who target users from USA. All the other publishers can replace the Google AdSense Referral codes with standard AdSense for content units.

With the former AdSense Referral program choosing what programs to advertise on your site was easy: all you had to do was to select an advertiser from your AdSense Setup and to copy the code on your site.

From now on, to continue making referral revenue with Google, you’ll need to complete a separate application form for the Google Affiliate Network, a form you can find on ConnectCommerce.com, or linked from the new Google Affiliate Network page.

According to Google:

If approved, you can apply to advertiser programs. Advertisers may accept or decline partnerships at their discretion.

If you currently run referral ads on your site, no matter if you promote Google products or other Google partners, AdSense Referrals code will no longer display ads beginning the last week of August.
Google encourages you to take the following steps before the product is retired:

• Remove the referral code from your site(s): Please take a moment to remove all referral code from your sites before the last week of August, so you can continue to effectively monetize your ad space.
• Run and save all referrals reports on your desktop: Create and save all reports related to the referrals program on your desktop, so you continue to have access to your valuable campaign information.