WebmasterWorld thread that I have been tracking for a few days now has been getting a lot of attention over the weekend. In short, there are rumors that Google will be shutting down AdSense arbitrageurs.

Arbitrage and AdSense has been an issue basically since the day Google launched AdSense. Arbitrageurs would use Google AdWords and other means to send traffic to their site, and monetize that traffic with Google AdSense.

So if they paid $0.20 per click on AdWords and made $0.25 per click with AdSense, they made $0.05. Simple concept.

We discussed this way back on December 1, 2004 with In with Adwords, Out with AdSense. Chris Boggs then took two looks at it with Publishers and Arbitrage: Sucking the Life Out of Search Results? and Revisiting the Subject of AdSense Arbitrage. I also wrote about it again at MFAs (Made for AdSense Sites) Targeted by Google?

Well, it seems from the WebmasterWorld thread that those MFAs and AdSense arbitrageurs are being shut down.

They told me my account will be disabled at 1st June, and also added that I'll receive payment for all outstanding earnings in accordance with the standard AdSense payment schedule.

Starting June 1, this individual's account as well as many many others will be terminated. They will however receive all outstanding earnings that are due to them.

Many more publishers received this email from Google on Friday.

I to got the "friendly account disablement" email today, May 18. It came out of the blue. It says my business model is not a good fit for AdSense and that the account goes down on June 1. Payment will be made normally though. I am a UPS club+ size publisher. I will be the first to admit that I have been running substantial arbitrage and MFA sites. They have just grown exponentially lately due to all the efficient AdWords tools. Yet, MFA and arbritage is not a breach of TOS in and of itself right? I admit that they are not the greatest user experience out there. Yet I do believe they do comply with the specifics of the TOS, there are no blatant breaches. I run dozens of sites/domains with AdSense and I have been careful to abide with the specifics in the letters of the TOS.

Some of these publishers are earning $70,000 per month or more. And they also will be terminated.

Got the same email here. I just reached my 70k-month.

I am confident, these AdSense publishers will adapt.

There has been no official word from Google on this. AdSenseAdvisor has not made any appearance in the forum to confirm or deny these emails.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.