Some major news hit the presses last night, where Google announced on the AdWords Blog and AdSense Blog that they are retiring the pay-per-action program, putting an end to Google AdSense’s referral program. I cannot say I am surprised, we reported that the future of Google’s PPA program was uncertain and that they were “having second thoughts of the product.” So this comes as no surprise.

The news is that Google is launching a new affiliate network named Google Affiliate Network to replace Google’s PPA/Referral program. The Google PPA/Referrals program is folding the last week of August. Google recommends that all AdSense publishers who use the referrals product to (1) remove the referral code from your site and (2) to run and save all referrals reports on your desktop.

There are many blog entries and news reports on this announcement. You can find much of it summarized at Techmeme.

There is a ton of forum discussion around this announcement. I am going to list out all the threads and you can scan what you find to be more appropriate:

AdSense Referrals Program to End in August 2008, WebmasterWorldAdsense Referrals to be cancelled by August 2008, DigitalPoint ForumsAnnouncing Google Affiliate Network, DigitalPoint ForumsDoubleclick Performics is now Google Affiliate Network!, WebmasterWorldGoogle Retires AdSense Referrals, SphinnGoogle Stops Adsense Referrals Program, HighRankings ForumsThe end of adsense referrals!, Search Engine Roundtable Forums