I have been using the Google Adsense Program to generate extra income online for some time now. I have gained a lot of experience from using the program. I feel it's become necessary to share the pros and cons of the program with those that may be considering using it in this article. But first, I need to explain a bit what the program is.

What is Google Adsense?

Google Adsense is an affiliate marketing program. In Google Adsense, Google act as the intermediary between the affiliates and the merchants. The merchant, or the advertiser, would simply sign up with Google and provide the latter with text ads pertaining to their products. These ads, which is actually a link to the advertiser's website, would then appear on Google searches as well as on the websites owned by the affiliates, or by those webmasters who have signed up with the Google Adsense program.

In Google Adsense, all the webmaster has to do is place a code on his website and Google takes care of the rest. The ads that Google would place on your site would generally be relevant to the content of your site. This would be advantageous both for you and for the advertiser, as the visitors of your site would more or less be actually interested with the products being advertised.

The Google Adsense program compensates the affiliate in a pay-per-click basis. The advertisers would pay Google a certain amount each time their ad on your site is clicked and Google would then forward this amount to you through checks, although only after Google have deducted their share of the amount. Google Adsense checks are usually delivered monthly if you earning reaches $100.00. Also, the Google Adsense program provides webmasters with a tracking tool that allows them to monitor the earnings they actually get from a certain ad.

Now that you understand what Google Adsense is, here are the pros:

1. They are great for webmasters creating content websites. It used to be these webmasters worried about how to cover the expenses of running their websites. With Google Adsense, these worries became a thing of the past. All they have to do now is write their content and add adsense to it and make money.

2. Google Adsense makes the internet better for the users. Webmasters can now concentrate on publishing quality content. Quality content makes the internet better for the users.

3. Once a webmaster creates quality content, it can generate income for years to come. All the webmaster has to do is update the content from time to time and the income will keep coming in.

4. If a webmaster has the time, the webmaster can publish multiple websites. You can use one Google Adsense account on multiple websites. You don't have to go through the hassle of applying for another account with Google.

Below are the cons of the Google Adsense program:

1. The Adsense account can be closed by Google at any time. There are horror stories of webmasters waking up and seeing their account closed. They all of a sudden lose their source of income.

Usually, one of the reasons that makes Google close an account is click fraud. The problem is that the click fraud my not be committed by the webmaster.

2. The Google Adsense program does not provide residual income. So, you can't continue to reap the reward of your hard work over and over as you do with residual income programs.

3. Most content websites depend on search engines for traffic. When the search engines shuffle their ranking algorithms, the traffic may drop. This drop will result in less traffic and income.

4. Creating content can be hard work. You'll need to keep adding content to keep your website interesting. Without this, you visitors may dry up, which will decrease your income.

There you have it! You now know the pros and cons of the Google Adsense program. It's up to you to decide if you want to use it to earn extra income.