EFT available in Greece

We're excited to announce that publishers based in Greece can now receive their AdSense payments via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). You'll need to ensure that you're opted into local currency reporting in order to sign up for this payment method.

Selecting EFT as your payment method will allow you to receive your payments more quickly. Rather than waiting for checks to arrive in the mail and clear in your bank account, your earnings will be deposited directly into your bank account. We're fans of EFT, and so our teammates Vijay and Elizabeth have created a video about it. Have a peek:



Finally, if you're located in a country where EFT isn't yet available, rest assured we're working hard to offer additional payment options. Stay tuned to Inside AdSense, where we'll be sure to announce any new payment methods.

Posted by Jagoda Sobolewska - AdSense Payments Team

Australian and New Zealand publishers: Register for an upcoming webinar

If you've ever argued over where the pavlova was first invented and are currently enjoying the first signs of spring, the Australia and New Zealand AdSense team is holding a webinar specifically for you! We'll be presenting our techniques for improving your AdSense for content performance, as well as handy tips on making your AdSense implementation more user-friendly.

We'll be running two free sessions that you can choose between; both are exactly the same and will run for approximately one hour. Register for the one you'd like to attend by visiting one of the links below -- even if you're not located in Australia or New Zealand, you're still welcome to register!

• Webinar Option 1: 12.00pm AEST Monday 21st of September 2009 (GMT +10:00)
  
• Webinar Option 2: 5.30pm AEST Tuesday 22nd of September 2009 (GMT +10:00)
  

Once you've registered, you'll receive an email from messenger@webex.com to confirm your time and give you instructions on how to attend the webinar. We recommend that you register in advance.

If you're new to webinars (or web seminars), they're online meetings that you can attend using any computer with an internet connection and speakers or a headset. This Help Center entry will provide further details about what you'll need to participate. You'll also have the chance to ask questions based on the presentation through the interactive chat panel. Here are a few more details about next week's webinars.

• Presenters:
  
• Victoria, Mel, and Disha from the Sydney-based AdSense Team
  
• Content:
  
• Introduction - The Google Australia & New Zealand AdSense Team
  
• Google AdSense – AdSense for content optimisation
  
• Ad Formats – Opting in to image and text
  
• Placement – Position and size
  
• Design – Colours and borders
  
• Google Custom Search Engine - Best practices
  
• Working with Google - AdSense account essentials
  
• We'll also be showcasing some real-life examples of how other publishers have optimised their AdSense implementation.
  

We hope you can make one of the sessions, and we look forward to sharing our best AdSense optimisation techniques with you.

Posted by Mel-Ann Chan - AdSense Optimisation Team, Australia & New Zealand

Western Union launched in South Korea

We're happy to announce that publishers located in South Korea can now receive payments via Western Union Quick Cash. You won't need to wait for your checks in the mail, and AdSense won't charge you any fees to use this payment method. Please note that payments can only be picked up at the International Bank of Korea (IBK) and are only available in South Korean Won (KRW) currency.

Sign up for payments by Western Union today by following these instructions. Two important things to remember: we can only send Western Union payments to individual publishers at this time, and the payee name on your account must exactly match the government issued ID card that you'll bring to pick up your payments. We also encourage you to review the information in our Help Center for more details about this payment method, including how you can pick up your payments and when you'll need to pick them up by.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Calling all Canadians

Are you a Canadian AdSense publisher? We'll be hosting a small AdSense event featuring optimization and product seminars in Toronto in early October, and we have a few additional spaces available. If you're located in the Toronto area and would like to attend, fill out our interest form, telling us a little about yourself, your site, and your history with AdSense. There are a limited number of spots left, so if you're interested, let us know as soon as possible. We'll let you know by email if you've been selected to take part in the event.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Posted by Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo - AdSense Optimization Team

Euro reporting for more European countries

If you're a publisher located in Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Slovenia, or Vatican City, you can now switch to local currency reports to view your earnings in Euros. Once you make this change, any earnings generated from advertisers paying on other currencies will be converted to Euros each day. This also means that if you're receiving payments in Euros, there won't be any additional conversions at the end of the month when payments are issued.

Before you switch to local currency reports, we suggest you download and save copies of your past reports in U.S. dollars for your records. Once you've done that, look for the green prompt in the upper right hand corner of your Reports Overview page. Click the link in the prompt, and you'll be asked to agree to a new set of Terms and Conditions. If you have questions or need legal advice on interpreting the new Terms, please don't hesitate to contact your attorney.

We encourage you to switch to local currency reports soon, since we'll be requiring this update in the future. You can learn more about these new reports in our Help Center, and we also recommend reviewing answers to a few FAQs we covered on the blog before.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

AdSense launched in Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Latvian

Do you manage a site in Lithuanian, Ukrainian, or Latvian? If so, we're happy to announce that AdSense for content and AdSense for search are now available for each of these languages.

Visit the AdSense Setup tab in your account to begin generating ad and search code - our system will automatically take care of targeting ads to the content of your pages and user search queries in these three languages. If you're not yet an AdSense publisher but want to start monetizing your pages in one of these languages, we invite you to review our program policies and submit an application.

To celebrate this launch, here are a few fun facts about some of the countries where these languages are spoken:

• This year, Lithuania celebrates the millennium of the country's name (it was first recorded in 1009);
  
• Ukraine is known as one of the world's main producers of sugar;
  
• The widest rapid in Europe, Ventas Rapid, is located in Kuldiga, Latvia.
  

Welcome to all of our new Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Latvian publishers!

Posted by Tim Evans - AdSense Product Manager

Expanding availability of local currency reports

We've been working to enable local currency reporting in more countries, and are happy to announce that this feature is now available for publishers located in Denmark and Norway. As a reminder, switching to these new reports means that all earnings generated from advertisers paying in other currencies will be converted to your local currency each day. If you receive payments in your local currency, there won't be any additional conversions at the end of the month, but you can still update your payment method and currency at any time.

If you're located in one of these countries, we recommend that you first download and save copies of your past reports in U.S. dollars for your records. Once you're ready to switch to local currency reports, sign in to your account and look for the green prompt in the upper right hand corner of your Reports Overview page. Click on the link, and you'll then be asked to agree to a new set of Terms and Conditions. If you have questions or need legal advice on interpreting the new Terms, please don't hesitate to contact your attorney.

We encourage you to switch to local currency reports soon, as we'll be requiring this change in the future. To learn more about these new reports, visit our Help Center or review common FAQs in a recent Inside AdSense blog post -- all references to 'Euros' in the post now also apply to your local currency.

Updated for accuracy

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Local currency reports for nine more countries

Following our launch of Euro reporting for publishers in five European countries, we're happy to announce that local currency reports are now also available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK.

If you're located in one of these countries, you can now update your account to display earnings in your local currency. After you've updated your account, any earnings generated from advertisers paying in currencies other than your local currency will be converted daily. If you receive payments in your local currency, this means that there also won't be any additional conversions at the end of the month. However, you can still choose to receive payments in U.S. Dollars or change your payment method at any time.

Before enabling local currency reports in your account, we recommend downloading and saving copies of your past reports in U.S. Dollars for your records. You can then update your account by signing in to AdSense and clicking the link in the green prompt on your Reports Overview page. You'll be asked to review and agree to a new set of Terms and Conditions. Unfortunately, we're not able to interpret the meaning of changes in our legal documents for publishers -- if you have questions or need legal advice on interpreting the new Terms, please don't hesitate to contact your attorney.

We'll be requiring this change in the future, so we recommend updating your account to report earnings in your local currency soon. You can find answers to common FAQs associated with these new local currency reports in a recent Inside AdSense blog post -- all references to 'Euros' in the post now also apply to your local currency. In addition, detailed information about these new reports can be found in our Help Center.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

More countries go Western Union

Good news! We’ve expanded Western Union Quick Cash as a payment method to 7 new countries: Barbados, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nepal, Uruguay, and Vietnam. If you live in any of these locations, you can now sign up to receive your AdSense payments from your local Western Union agent. With Western Union, you’ll receive your earnings sooner, since you won't have to wait for checks to arrive in the mail or clear at the bank. Plus, AdSense won't charge you a fee to use this payment method.

Please keep in mind these important points:

• Payments will continue to follow our normal payment schedule and will be available for pickup at your local Western Union agent the day after they're issued.
  
• You'll need to present a government-issued ID that matches your AdSense payee name when picking up your payment. If you need to update or correct the payee name listed in your account, please follow the instructions in our Help Center.
  
• Right now, only individual payee names can receive payments by Western Union, not businesses.
  
• Payments must be picked up within 60 days of issue or they'll expire and be credited back to your account.
  
• Payments will be made in US dollars, but depending on your local Western Union agent, they may be picked up in your local currency.
  

These instructions will help you to sign up, and our Help Center has more info about picking up your payments and other countries where Western Union payments are currently available. We're working towards making this payment option available to publishers in additional countries, and we'll be sure to announce any updates here on the blog.

Posted by Deborah Chang - AdSense Payments Team

Euro reporting and you: your questions answered

Since introducing reports in Euros for publishers located in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, we've received a number of questions about this launch. For publishers in these regions, we've addressed some of your concerns below.

How will my earnings be converted to Euros?
Once you switch to the new reports, earnings generated from advertisers paying in currencies other than the Euro will be converted. This will happen on a daily basis using the prevailing market rate from the previous day. If you generate earnings from an advertiser paying in Euros, they won't be converted.

When I'm issued a payment, will my earnings be converted again?
If you've switched to Euro reports and are receiving payments in Euros, there will be no additional conversions when your payments are issued. However, if you're receiving payments in U.S. Dollars, your payment will be converted from Euros to U.S. Dollars at the end of the month.

When I switch to Euro reports, will that automatically change the currency of my payments?
No, your selected payment currency and method won't change after you switch to Euro reports -- unless, of course, you want them to change. (You can update them by visiting the 'Payments Details' section under your My Account tab.)

Will there be a delay in receiving my unpaid earnings once I make this change?
No, making this change will not affect the timing of your payments. After you switch to Euro reports, your unpaid earnings in U.S. Dollars will be converted to Euros before the next upcoming payment selection deadline (typically the 15th of each month). For instance, if you make this switch on June 3rd, your unpaid earnings will be converted by June 15th; if you make this switch on June 20th, your unpaid earnings will be converted by July 15th.

How will this change influence VAT and any taxes I have to pay?
While you may receive your payments in your local currency, all payments are being made by Google Ireland, a company incorporated under the laws of Ireland, in accordance with the terms of your agreement with Google. Unless your business is in Ireland, you shouldn't have an obligation to charge Google VAT or treat any of our payments to you as VAT that needs to be paid to any VAT authorities. If your billing address is located in Ireland, you may have an obligation to charge Google Irish VAT. For more specific answers, we suggest you head for your local tax adviser.

I'm not located in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, or Spain. When will you include other countries?
We're working to offer Euro reports to publishers located in additional countries. When we do, we'll be sure to post any updates here on Inside AdSense.

Do I need to update my account if I'm eligible?
Although this change is currently optional, in the future we will require that publishers located in eligible countries make this switch. Eligible publishers who haven't yet updated their accounts will currently see an interstitial page with additional information after signing in. We understand that some eligible publishers would like to continue receiving payments in U.S. Dollars; while you can still choose to be paid in U.S. Dollars, it will be mandatory to view your reports in Euros.

If you're eligible to make the switch to Euro reporting, we encourage you to review the updated Terms and Conditions and update your account soon. To get started, sign in to your account and look for the prompt, "See your daily earnings reported in Euro amounts!" on your Reports Overview page. You can also find more information in our Help Center.

Posted by Arlene Lee - The Inside AdSense Team

CB on TF

Burell pokes Friedman in the eye.

Call me crazy, but I suspect we could make a connection between the wealth gap and the achievement gap in those halcyon days to the "decline of education" Friedman is wringing his hands about here.

I think there are all sorts of reasons why both American education pales in comparison to the position of America as a global power and why America faces the economic difficulties that it does. But when Burell notes that:

Friedman's fixation on test score rankings divorced from poverty rankings needs fixing. But it's standard in education punditry today. We ignore poverty, and instead only focus on schools and teachers.

he seems to overlook the part where TF quotes the 'ifs':

If America had closed the international achievement gap between 1983 and 1998 and had raised its performance to the level of such nations as Finland and South Korea, United States G.D.P. in 2008 would have been between $1.3 trillion and $2.3 trillion higher. If we had closed the racial achievement gap and black and Latino student performance had caught up with that of white students by 1998, G.D.P. in 2008 would have been between $310 billion and $525 billion higher. If the gap between low-income students and the rest had been narrowed, G.D.P. in 2008 would have been $400 billion to $670 billion higher.

The McKinsey Report suffers in its lack of definition, particularly with regard to any explanation of 'performance' that goes beyond comparative test scores. But, unlike some folks (perhaps even TF), I tend to read this not as prescriptive -- as in "let's us business-types show those durned teachers how if they just taught better, we'd all have more money"; but rather as damning -- as in "if" US education (and in the comparison with Finland and South Korea, the focus is directed here at math, science, and technology) were not lagging behind its global peers (and had not for the years 1983-98), "then" the result would have been a smarter and more competitive US populace and therefore (by Mc/TF standards) higher GDP.

This is basic economics stuff, it's just that the numbers crunchers don't always see the myriad social realities and the folks on the other side of the spectrum don't trust the reasoning.

Burell is absolutely on target in criticizing the report for its failure to recognize the impact of poverty on education in the US (even more importantly the distribution of poverty -- after all, on paper South Korea has got more poverty than the US [in terms of percentage of population / not raw numbers]). He also rightly gets under TF's skin for seeming to simplify exactly what the 'decline' of anything actually means. But I think in the end this report actually might offer a glimmer of hope in the ironic fact that it pars big economics with the international comparisons in education and in doing so, puts the educational comparisons in the limelight. It therefore could serve as catalyst for a more open and widespread discussion -- one much more open than the report itself could ever be.

Face the Devastation

Devastating stuff from the new McKinsey report. Friedman is practically willing to let the report speak for itself.

According to the report:

"The longer American children are in school, the worse they perform compared to their international peers".

There are millions of kids who are in modern suburban schools “who don’t realize how far behind they are,” said Matt Miller, one of the authors. “They are being prepared for $12-an-hour jobs — not $40 to $50 an hour.”

And the kicker:

According to the report,

If America had closed the international achievement gap between 1983 and 1998 and had raised its performance to the level of such nations as Finland and South Korea, United States G.D.P. in 2008 would have been between $1.3 trillion and $2.3 trillion higher. If we had closed the racial achievement gap and black and Latino student performance had caught up with that of white students by 1998, G.D.P. in 2008 would have been between $310 billion and $525 billion higher. If the gap between low-income students and the rest had been narrowed, G.D.P. in 2008 would have been $400 billion to $670 billion higher.

From blues to blooms with Blue Dart

As we roll into a brand new financial year in India, we're happy to let publishers located in India know that all standard checks will be sent via the Blue Dart courier service at no additional cost. Because Blue Dart is the Indian domestic carrier for DHL, you'll no longer have to pay expensive courier fees. In addition, please be aware that you'll no longer see Secure Checks as a payment option in India. For more information on Indian payment methods, visit our Help Center.

We'd also like to remind you that your checks will arrive faster if your address is up-to-date, so please take a moment to review the information listed in your account and make any necessary updates. We wish you a productive and profitable year ahead!

Posted by Sayed Meera - AdSense India Payments Specialist

When 2 + 2 = Huh?

A reader asks:

Where is the data for US math and science ed in comparison to the rest of the world?

There are a couple different good sources. First is the 2007 study from the National Center for Education Statistics. As of that data, US fourth-graders rank 11th behind Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, England, Latvia, and the Netherlands. By eighth grade, according to their data, US students moved up to ninth-place behind Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Hungary, England, and Russia.

And the strongest individual US state was Massachusetts.

As far as high school stats go, a comparative study was published in 2003 by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. US tenth-graders were ranked 28th out of 39 countries.

In a major 2006 study arranged by the Program for International Student Assessment, Finland took top honors both in math and science. As for US students?

In math, only four countries had average scores lower than the United States. Students in 23 countries had a higher average score, and those in two countries did about the same as the Americans.

While there are myriad reasons for the disparity in math scores among students, a key similarity between math heavy-hitters Finland and South Korea is that both societies are heavily invested in 21st century access and connectivity and the understanding and responsibility that comes with the new connectivity.

Reports have gone international

One of the requests we frequently hear from our international publishers is to view reports in currencies other than U.S. Dollars. That's why we're happy to announce that publishers located in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain can now view AdSense reports in Euros.

If you're located in one of these five countries and make this update, we'll convert your earnings to Euros on a daily basis using the prevailing market rate from the previous day. With earnings converted daily, you'll avoid the risk of currency exchange fluctuations between USD and the Euro. You can still choose to receive payments in either Euros or U.S. Dollars and select from a range of payment methods as well.

To make the switch to local currency reports, you'll need to agree to a new set of Terms and Conditions. Here are the main changes involved:

• The party that publishers are contracting with changes from Google Inc. to Google Ireland Limited.
  
• Publishers are responsible for paying any local taxes in their jurisdiction. Google will only issue VAT refunds to publishers with an address in Ireland.
  
• The governing law changes from California law to either English or local law.
  

You can view the full text of these new Terms and Conditions by logging in to your account and looking for the green prompt, "See your daily earnings reported in Euro amounts!" on your Reports Overview page. Unfortunately, we're not able to interpret the meaning of changes in our legal documents for publishers -- if you have questions or need legal advice on interpreting the new Terms, please don't hesitate to contact an attorney.


Before agreeing to the new Terms, we also recommend that you download and save copies of your past reports in U.S. Dollars for your records. Once you update your account, you'll be able to view current and historical reports only in Euros. However, you'll still be able to view your prior payment history of U.S. Dollar earnings.

We encourage you to update your account to local currency reports soon, as we may require this change in the future. If we're able to offer this to publishers in other countries, we'll provide details here on Inside AdSense. For more information, please feel free to visit our Help Center.

Posted by Elodie Bodet - AdSense Payments Team

Peer Pressure

And as if on cue considering my last post, eSchool publishes an article detailing concerns the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers have with trying to figure out what can be done about how US students compare to their International peers.

Said advisory group co-chair Janet Napolitano, former governor of Arizona and current secretary of Homeland Security for the Obama administration, "The time is now; we must ensure that our students are prepared to compete and innovate in the 21st century".

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment:

Finland ranked first out of 30 industrialized countries in 2006 in math and science and in 2003 was first out of 29 countries in reading and second in problem solving. Korea came in first in math in 2006, second in reading in 2003, and first in problem solving in 2003.

American 15-year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science achievement on the most recent international assessments in 2006.

And what is Finland's position on educational technology?

An official publication of the Finnish government called "Education, Training and Research in Information Society: A National Strategy for 2000-2004" states:

By the year 2004, Finland will be a leading interactive knowledge society. Success will be based on citizens' equal opportunities to study and develop their own intellectual capacity and extensively utilize information resources and educational services. A high-quality, ethically and economically sustainable mode of operation in network-based teaching and research will have been established (Ministry of Education 2001).

Further evidence for Finland's commitment to educational technology and the development of an interactive knowledge society can be found in these publications housed by UNESCO's Observatory Portal.

Our new Help Forum, now in seven more languages

Back in October, we launched a brand new English Help Forum to make it easier for publishers to ask questions and share advice. Now, we're happy to announce that this Help Forum platform is available for publishers in seven additional languages: French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian. To start posting on these forums, sign in with your Google Account.

If you're using the new platform for the first time, some of the new features you'll notice include the ability to vote on a best response to each question, receive answers to your posted questions by email, and subscribe via RSS feed. We've also introduced more community-building aspects to the forum, such as a customizable profile page and a rating system that rewards you for your contributions. Finally, we've integrated a CSE search box on each page, which will allow you to find answers to your questions across the Forum, Help Center, and the blog.

Our Help Forums are also available on Google Groups in Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Slovak, and Turkish -- we'll be sure to let you know when we're able to migrate these languages to our new platform.

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

Payments by Western Union now available in Indonesia

We're excited to introduce Western Union Quick Cash as a new payment method for Indonesia. If you're located in Indonesia, you can now sign up to receive your AdSense payments in cash using the worldwide Western Union money transfer service. This payment method is quick, easy, and free -- that means no more waiting for checks to arrive in the mail or to clear at the bank.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Payments follow our normal payment schedule and will be available for pickup at your local Western Union agent the day after they are issued.
  
  
• You'll need to present a government-issued ID that matches your AdSense payee name when picking up your payment. If you need to update or correct the payee name listed in your account, please follow the instructions listed in our Help Center.
  
  
• Payments by Western Union are currently only available to individual payee names, but not to businesses.
  
  
• Payments must be picked up within 35 days of issue or they'll expire. If this happens, a payment hold will be placed on your AdSense account and the payment will be credited back to your account.
  
  
• Payments will be made in US dollars, but depending on your local Western Union agent, they may be picked up in your local currency.
  

Follow these instructions if you're interested in signing up for payments by Western Union. You can also find useful information in our Help Center about exchange rates and other countries where this payment method is available. We hope you enjoy using this new payment option in Indonesia!

Posted by Deborah Chang - AdSense Payments Team

AdSense for content, now in Thai

Late last year we welcomed Thai to our AdSense for search family, and we're now excited to let you know about the launch of AdSense for content in Thai. If you're a publisher with a Thai website, you'll now be able to earn money for valid clicks and impressions for Google ads on your site. Get started by logging in to your account and visiting the AdSense Setup tab to generate ad code. Or, if you don't have an AdSense account yet, review our program policies and then feel free to submit an application.

To celebrate this launch, why not look up a few Thai recipes and prepare traditional dishes like Som Tum, a spicy green papaya salad, or Tom Yam, a hot and sour soup? We hope they'll leave you content and ready to create new content of your own.

ยินดีต้อนรับสู่โปรแกรมของเราค่ะ

Posted by Nopparat Yokubon - AdSense Thai Publisher Support

Western Union launched in Panama

Following our announcement a few weeks ago, we're happy to announce that Western Union is now offered as a payment method for publishers located in Panama. To sign up for payments by Western Union, sign in to your account and follow these instructions. Please also keep in mind that we're only able to make Western Union payments to individual payee names, but not to businesses.

Not located in Panama? We've been reading your comments on our other recent payment-related posts, and understand that many of you are looking forward to new payment options in additional countries. Please know that we aren't able to provide details about when new options may become available, as setting them up can take time due to factors like compliance with local laws and tax regulations. However, we're working hard to find more convenient ways to send you your earnings, and we'll definitely announce any new options here. In the meantime, please feel free to keep leaving your feedback, and we appreciate your patience!

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support