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Google has expanded its Pay Per Action programme worldwide and is now available to any Adwords advertisers who have had "at least 500 conversions in the past thirty days under Adwords’ conversion tracking tool", according to a press release.

For those of you who do not have access to the Pay Per Action feature on the Adwords dashboard, here's a screenshot (and an enlarged version):

What is Google Pay Per Action?

Also known as pay per event or cost per action (CPA), this is a new model where Google only charges you when you have received some (customer-defined) benefit on your website.

If a Google visitor clicks on an ad that leads to a sale, sign-up, download, form fill-out -- or some other action you pre-define -- then you pay a pre-agreed sum.

If the visitor sees your ad but doesn't click the ad, you pay nothing -- as per the old model. With the new model, however, if the visitor clicks your ad but doesn't buy your product (or fill out your enquiry form, or whatever you have defined as a valuable "action"), then you pay nothing.

So What's the Catch?

There really is no catch. In my opinion, this is a bold, innovative move from the company that is defining business in the 21st century.

No, Really, What's the Catch?

Well, this (really) isn't a catch, but action payments cost more than click payments. Google recommends setting a value of each action at "between $0.50-$300". We can assume that, the higher the value you set, the more likely your ad will be shown.

Few advertisers would pay $2, let alone $300, in the Adwords pay per click model. So why do I insist that the PPA model's higher price isn't a catch? Because, providing that you set the value of the action lower than what it is actually worth to you, you are guaranteed to make a return on investment (ROI).

Why Is Google Doing This?

I have several theories.

1. Google's Philosophy
I believe that the people who run Google genuinely want to offer an innovative, ethical service that provides a win-win; a service that isn't simply about ripping people off. Google's halo has slipped in recent years, but this move is in keeping with its ethical philosophy.

2. Profit
Ethical, shmetical! Google will probably end up making more money this way.

3. Click Fraud
While Google says it has sophisticated algorithms that deal with click-fraud, how can you (or they) know for sure that they are catching fraudsters?

It is hard to dislodge the suspicion that webmasters are clicking your ads on their sites for their own financial reward, or that your competitors are clicking on your ads to hurt you financially.

With pay per action, however, you can avoid fraud. Define a sale as an action, and the "fraudster" will have to pay more than you!

4. The Ever-Rising Cost of Adwords
When it begin, the Adwords programme was great for "mom-and-pop" home businesses. Five years ago, It was not unusual to pay only two or three cents per click.

Today, however, Mom and Pop are competing with Big Business, who are bidding for the same search terms. Sure, the click through rate (CTR) and the quality of your website play a role in determining which ad gets shown first, but when your competitor is paying a dollar or two more than you for each click, guess who's going to win?

Hopefully the pay per action model may level the playing field -- though at this stage, I can't say that for sure -- in fact, the opposite may happen! Let's wait and see.

And Finally
Well, those are my theories. One thing's for sure, this is a new direction in advertising (not just online) -- and will provide excellent fodder for my evolving online book, Advertising the Future.

Google's Public Service Ads are served to a small, select group of charities and non-profit organisations, chosen by Google. They are sometimes displayed on websites participating in the Adsense programme.

Below is an example of a Google Public Service Ad:


You do not receive any payment if someone clicks on a Public Service Ads displayed on your site.

If you are running the Adsense programme, a public service ad may appear on your website if:

- You have changed the Adsense code (to show the ad above, I deliberately changed the client id line to the following: google_ad_client = "pub-0000")
- Google's bot has not yet crawled all the pages of your website
- The crawler has determined that the page contains certain types of "sensitive content" e.g. adult content
- Your Adsense account has not been declined (usually because your site is deemed inappropriate or non-compliant with the Adsense programme guidelines)
- Your Adsense account is still under review and has not yet been approved
- Your robots.txt file is blocking the Google Adsense crawler
- Your web page contains little or no content

For a fuller list of reasons why your site may be displaying Adsense, visit the Google Adsense Help Centre's information on this topic.

I've created a new website called AdvertisingTheFuture.com.

I'm interested in the way advertising is evolving and had been thinking about writing a (short!) book on the subject. Then I considered the hassle of approaching publishers and the strong probability that my manuscript would get rejected.

So I decided to build a web version of the book. I didn't want to create an e-book; I wanted to create a website that behaved like a book. The idea may seem counter intuitive. After all, a website's non-linearity is what makes it different to a book. You don't have to start at page one.

But who's to say authors can't -- or shouldn't -- create linear websites?

So, advertisingthefuture.com is my attempt at a linear, book-style website. Of course, it won't be exactly like a book: the reader may discover the book at any page, and may jump readily to any chapter. And until it's finished, readers will be able to see the website evolve. I'll gradually add and edit the pages until I feel it's done.

Stay tuned...