The domain Adsense.com has sold to an undisclosed buyer.
One of the great mysteries about Google is why it launched a service called Adsense without owning the domain name Adsense.com. A company with unlimited resources fails to purchase a domain name for its service? It could have bought it at a low price before it started its Adsense program. But apparently they didn’t think it was worth the effort.
Instead, they left it in the hands of an advertising and marketing company that registered the domain in 1996.
Fed up with receiving hundreds of e-mail support questions and phone calls, the owner of Adsense.com has decided to sell the domain. The buyer has not been disclosed, but it is not Google. The new owner might face legal challenges from Google, especially if the site has anything to do with contextual advertising. Google would not have been able to wrestle the domain away from the original owner but might have a shot at the new owner. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the domain name show up with a pay-per-click page — possibly with Google Adsense ads — when the new owner takes over control in September.
According to a Wired article, Adsense.com’s owner once applied to Google’s program to show ads on the domain. It was rejected:
“It basically said my site didn’t meet their qualifications to participate in the AdSense program,” the domain’s owner says.
The Adsense.com web site has a disclaimer at the bottom:
“If you think you can get rich quick placing other people’s ads on your site or blog, please contact Google who has taken and used our business name without permission or compensation.”
Editor says
Update: It looks like Google owns the domain now. For some reason the just point the domain to the Google home page, not the Adsense page.
Perhaps Google approached Adsense Consulting through another company to avoid the “Google Premium” — having someone ask for a lot more money because Google is flush with cash.