I thought that the year 2008 would bring new surprises for publishers using Google Adsense as their main source of earning and it did actually happen so (though in a kind of negative sense).

Google Adsense has recently announced on the Official Adsense Blog that following this year the rules for Referrals for Adsense will be changed i.e. the publishers living in regions other than North America, Latin America, and Japan will no longer be able to earn money through Referrals for Adsense.

However the publishers living in the 3 mentioned regions shall still be able to make money through referrals as normal but on a different new scheme.

Please note that this new scheme is only applicable to Referrals for Adsense and you shall be able to earn money through referrals for other products and services normally.

For Publishers in North America, Latin America, or Japan

If you are a Google Adsense Publisher belonging to any of the regions mentioned above, you will only be able to generate a referral commission of $100 (previously $250) if a publisher who has recently registered through you makes $100 in the first 180 days of sign up. The $5 and $2000 bonuses have been discarded from the new referrals scheme.

For Publishers outside North America, Latin America, or Japan

Its bad news for us that Referrals for Adsense have retired.

This is really a bad and a very sad news. I have not earned any remarkably noticeable money through referrals for Adsense but it was still a good method of making money out of new bloggers. I wonder whats next to come