No. I'm pretty confident in my own maximizing skills.

I would say if they're really good we would have heard plenty of good reviews by now. I already know how to experiment.

I just scanned through the list of certified partners and I've never heard of any of them.

I'm Mat from OKO. We're one of the certified partners that you haven't heard of :)

The programme is officially only a year old and had just 12 global partners for most of that time. The first 12 months were definitely more about "being there if you were looking" - there was very little coverage of the programme from Google itself. That is probably why you hadn't hard of it - I think that all of the partners have just been quietly working away to improve things for their clients.

All of the partners have a bit of a different approach. Ezoic are new to the family, I haven't met them yet. However if you have any questions about the programme itself I'll happily try to answer them.

"No. I'm pretty confident in my own maximizing skills. "

Working with a certified partner definitely isn't for everyone. Most people do seem to come looking for revenue optimisation (either because they lack the knowledge or resources to manage it themselves), but there are a lot of other reasons.

For instance, OKO work a lot on risk reduction with publishers who serve ads alongside user generated content. Our tools, experience plus the fact that we can talk directly to the AdSense team on their behalf can alleviate a lot of worry and improve long terms earnings before we even look at optimisation.

So-called "AdSense premium features" are another big draw for obvious reasons.

Happy to at least try to answer any questions.

Unfortunately, you can't probably can't answer them here, we have a pretty strict no-self-promotion policy.

I meant more with regards to the programme generally, but understand. If anyone does have any just let me know. I'm happy to try to answer without veering into self-promotion.

Some of them are scammers and they don't pay so be very cautious. Make sure you initiate the sign up. If you receive an email from them, make sure to research or find reviews of the company.

I think that it is VERY unlikely that anyone listed on the AdSense partners page is a scammer. It is really tightly controlled.

It's worth knowing that certified partners will never ask for your account login details. You can link your account to them through a page on the Google servers. This then gives access to manage the account through the partner MCM tool.

The official list of partners can be found here: [google.co.uk...]

Hi Matt,
Thanks for joining the discussion. :)

Thanks for posting the URL to the list of official partners, that's very helpful.

The scammers start the email with "We are a Google AdSense Certified Partner" but they're not. Thanks for posting the link of official partners.

I think that it is VERY unlikely that anyone listed on the AdSense partners page is a scammer. It is really tightly controlled.

Right. But people claiming to be AdSense partners are a different issue. Your average Joe doesn't always think to go look for a certified partners page if the scammers sound convincing. Average Joes usually only find those partner pages after they've handed over money and got ripped off and they go looking for help.

Sadly, more people should learn to do their due diligence BEFORE spending money, not after when it's too late.

I tried (a Google AdSense partner) on some sites but the results were far less than what I was earning from them, though I was assured that would change if it I only gave it time.

The main problem was, the nondescript way of displaying your site.You lose any 'Brand" power from a memorable design that you may have had and really, your site becomes just text and ads.

I also never did get paid by (a Google AdSense partner),but that might just be a oversight.

[edited by: martinibuster at 1:27 pm (utc) on Oct 5, 2014]
[edit reason] Edited for specifics. [/edit]

I thought of would post an update on my experience so far which overall has been extremely positive.

Like many members of this community I was skeptical regarding what could be achieved. How could my revenue be improved - I have been trying (and failing) to solve this problem by constantly experimenting with the positions of my ads. How could another person (with no experience of my site) succeed were I have failed?

I can only comment on the specific AdSense Certified Partner I am currently working with, so I am not sure how much you would be able to generalise my experience to other partners.

My Adsense Partner uses a computer algorithm to test multiple layouts and ad positions to find the best one. The advantage of this process is that it's based on objective statistical evidence rather than subjective gut feeling. The disadvantage is that it can take time and will change the design of your site.

Was I happy with my site layout (of 7 years) being changed? No I certainly was not. However, I stuck with it and although it's only been a month I am very happy with the results.

To my surprise my website is now more user friendly and has recently claimed top spot in the SERP (after spending years behind Wikipedia). This change in ranking has led to a 40% increase in site visitors. Revenue has doubled.

The communication from my Adsense Partner has been both frequent and professional. I am not tied into any contract and can revert back to my old site design at any time.

That's it really. It's a big decision to make trusting another company with your website. I will post again in another months time to update those who are interested.

How do they charge?

If you are commerce website there are fees based on incremental revenue increases. If you are an information website there is no fee. After a 30 day trail period a small link unit is placed at the bottom of each page (I think it's below the footer).

How do Google certified AdSense partners make money/charge? Is it really free for information websites (maybe above a certain traffic threshold). What is the trial link unit that sam77 is referring to?

"How do Google certified AdSense partners make money/charge?"

Different partners use different models. We work with publishers on fixed price, revenue share or share of incremental revenue (depending on what suits the particular project).

The free offering and link that Sam77 mention relate to just one particular partner. I'm not aware of the others doing either. It's worth noting that you don't have to use the partners in the same geographic location as you - pick the one that suits you and your site(s) best.