Google announced yesterday and started rolling out Adsense for Domains which is simple version of parking on keyword centric domains. While Google used to require a minimum of 750,000 visits per month, now virtually anyone with a domain can add Google Adsense ads directly to a domain without going through a parking platform like SEDO, GoDaddy, etc.

This is really good news for small domain players, a big concern for current parking platforms and an example of the on-going Google Hedgemony.

Here is the link on the details:
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/12/extending-adsense-for-domains-to-all.html

Running through the process, there are lots of rough spots in the execution:

1. You are restricted to a single, default layout that feeds in content ads - not higher eCPM search ads.
2. You have the same control over the modification of colors that you have with normal adsense ads.
3. You have to create and/or alter an A Record and CNAME for each domain. A bit of a pain for large portfolios although I’m sure tools to assist this may follow soon.

Those are the mechanics - here are some strategic thoughts.

1. Google will improve this service over time. They might add more templates, more control, etc. until you have a lite WYSIWYG editor.
2. You are still dependent on type in traffic. The changes happening in the way search is presented within the browsers, drop down options within the search field and the non-inclusion of parked domains in search results all mean that your visit rate is tied to domain keywords.
3. Long term, we still need to figure out how to build better websites and services to drive higher value traffic with more monetization options.
4. As always, test some domains to see if you the monetization you get is better or worse than working with a parking partner or an network like EVOLanding.com.

It will be interesting to see the impact of this on the slide of the parking industry. My guess is that this will help smaller domainers with some modest monetization of their site. The larger parking players have better performing layouts, probably higher CPC and are better at testing and distributing best practices among their clients.