With that, unused domains can be managed by Google, and Adsense pages appear on them (much like the pages for Sedo.com or Godaddy). Just as with regular Adsense, traffic turns into clicks, and clicks turn into money.
Is it for you? There are some advantages for certain types of domains:
- If your domain is lying fallow. An empty domain earns nothing. AFD is free, so why not move it there?
- Your sites are under performing. I’ve been testing some domains via Sedo.com, and so far find the conversions are quite poor. In that case, Google is basically a step up. If you have a poor-performing static site, it’s worth a test.
- Your name is keyword-rich. Google promises to do semantic analysis of your domain name. For keyword-rich domains, this might give you more targeted (and therefore valuable) ads.
- If you HAD traffic. I’m guessing Google can monitor what specific pages are asked for, and make that count as well. While I have no proof of this, it’s easy to implement, and could mean VERY targeted ads.
The bottom line: it’s free, so why not check it out? After all, you’re paying for the domain name – shouldn’t it earn its keep?
