by So here’s the thing — I got rejected by Google AdSense three times. Three. Times. I was running decent traffic across my network, nothing crazy, but solid enough that I thought AdSense would be a no-brainer. Apparently Google disagreed. After the third rejection in September last year, I was genuinely considering just giving up on monetization entirely. That’s when I stumbled across Infolinks in some random forum thread where someone was defending it against all the usual “it’s a scam” accusations.
I was skeptical as hell. Like, why would I try some lesser-known ad network when the biggest one in the world kept saying no? But I was also desperate. My main site was pushing 68,000+ pageviews a month and I was making zero dollars from ads. That math doesn’t work.
I applied to Infolinks in early October 2024, mostly expecting nothing. To my shock, I got approved in like two days. Two days. No essay questions, no “explain your content strategy” nonsense. Just approved. Red flag? Maybe. But also kind of amazing.
Quick Facts About Infolinks
| Founded | 2006 |
| Ad Formats Available | In-text links, display banners, native ads, interstitials |
| Minimum Payout | $50 |
| Payment Methods | PayPal, Payoneer, Wire Transfer, Check |
| Approval Time | 2-5 days typically |
| Best For | Publishers rejected by AdSense, content sites, blogs with niche audiences |
| Typical CPM Range | $0.50 – $3.00 (varies heavily by geography) |
The Setup Process (Surprisingly Painless)
I expected the signup to be a nightmare. It wasn’t. I filled out maybe five fields, told them what my site was about, pasted in my domain, and I was done. The whole thing took like eight minutes. I didn’t even have to verify my site immediately — they just gave me an account number and code to paste.
Integrating the code was straightforward too. I have a few different WordPress sites and a custom HTML site, and the code worked fine on all of them. They give you options — you can manually paste code, use their WordPress plugin if you want, or just use the account directly. I went with manual paste because I’m paranoid about plugin bloat.
What I liked right away: their dashboard is clean. Like, actually clean. Not overwhelming like some ad networks. You can see your earnings, CPM, page views, click-through rates all in one place without digging through seventeen menus.
Testing Different Ad Formats (And What Actually Made Money)
Infolinks gives you four main ways to monetize. I wanted to test all of them because I figured different formats would work differently depending on the site.
First, I tried in-text links across all my sites. These are the ads that turn certain words in your content into underlined links. They’re kind of controversial — some people hate them, some don’t even notice them. Honestly? They felt intrusive at first, but my readers didn’t complain. The format also performed okay, but not amazing. October was my test month and I earned $12.40 just from in-text links across all my sites combined.
Then I added display banners. Standard stuff — sidebar ads, header ads, footer ads. This is where things actually picked up. My November earnings jumped to $37.40 total, and I’m pretty sure most of that came from the banner ads. Display banners just feel more “normal” to people, I think. Less intrusive than highlighted words everywhere.
I also tested interstitials (full-screen ads between pages) but only on one of my sites. They were clunky and I took them down after a week. My bounce rate spiked. Not worth it.
The native ads format I barely touched because my sites aren’t really set up for sponsored content integration, but I can see how that would work well if you had a news site or something.
Real talk: display banners are what’s working for me. That’s what I’d recommend testing first if you sign up.
CPM Rates by Country (What I Actually Saw)
This is where geography matters way more than people realize. I have readers from all over, so I tracked my earnings broken down by country. Here’s what I actually made per thousand impressions:
| Country | Average CPM | Range I Observed | Notes |
| United States | $2.10 | $1.50 – $3.20 | Most consistent, highest paying |
| United Kingdom | $1.65 | $1.20 – $2.40 | Pretty decent, second best |
| Germany | $1.40 | $0.90 – $1.90 | Reliable but lower than UK |
| India | $0.35 | $0.15 – $0.65 | High volume, low CPM |
| Pakistan | $0.22 | $0.10 – $0.40 | Very low, not worth focusing on |
So yeah, basically if your traffic is mostly from India or Pakistan, you’re not going to make much with Infolinks. But if you’re pulling from the US, UK, or Western Europe? It’s worth it. My biggest earner is US traffic by far.
Month by Month — What I Actually Made
Let me break down exactly what happened to my earnings from when I started in October through now in January 2026:
| Month | Pageviews | Earnings | CPM | Notes |
| October 2024 (partial) | 24,100 | $12.40 | $0.51 | Just in-text links, still testing |
| November 2024 | 70,250 | $37.40 | $0.53 | Added display banners |
| December 2024 | 68,900 | $89.20 | $1.29 | Holiday season boost, optimized placement |
| January 2025 | 65,340 | $72.15 | $1.10 | Post-holiday dip |
| February 2025 | 71,200 | $95.30 | $1.34 | Started removing underperforming in-text |
| March 2025 | 69,800 | $98.50 | $1.41 | Refined ad placements |
| April 2025 | 73,100 | $105.70 | $1.45 | Best month so far |
| May-August 2025 | Avg 70,000 | Avg $95/mo | Avg $1.35 | Stabilized, consistent earnings |
| September 2025 | 68,500 | $87.40 | $1.28 | Minor earnings dip |
| October 2025 | 69,200 | $91.80 | $1.33 | Year two start |
| November 2025 | 72,100 | $102.30 | $1.42 | Still going strong |
| December 2025 | 71,800 | $118.50 | $1.65 | Year-end surge |
| January 2026 | 68,300 | $94.20 | $1.38 | Current (partial month at writing) |
So I went from $37.40 in my first full month to averaging around $95-$100 per month by mid-year. That’s not life-changing money, but it’s $1,100+ per year on traffic I already had. After AdSense rejected me three times, any money at all felt like a win.
Getting Paid (Payment Methods Table)
| Payment Method | Min Payout | Processing Time | Fees | What I Used |
| PayPal | $50 | 2-7 days | None | Yes, for first four payments |
| Payoneer | $50 | 2-5 days | None | Switched here in March 2025 |
| Wire Transfer | $100 | 3-10 days | $15 fee | Never tried |
| Check | $100 | 7-14 days | None | Not applicable to me (US only) |
I’ve gotten paid 15 times now and every single payment has gone through. No delays, no mysterious missing money, no “oh we’re having technical issues” nonsense. I switched from PayPal to Payoneer just because I wanted to diversify, but both worked perfectly. The money shows up, and I can access it. That’s really the baseline requirement and Infolinks meets it.
Is It Actually Legit? (My Honest Take)
Yes. I was genuinely worried about this for the first few months — like, is this some sketchy operation that’s going to disappear or suddenly stop paying? But they’ve been around since 2006, they process payments reliably, and they have decent support. I had one issue with an ad format acting weird in November and their support team (via chat) got back to me in like three hours. The guy actually knew what he was talking about instead of copy-pasting some generic response.
Are they a massive, billion-dollar company like Google? No. But they’re legitimate and reliable. I’ve been using them for over a year now and I have zero complaints about legitimacy.
The Good Stuff
Fast approval process. I was making money within weeks of applying. AdSense took months of waiting and then rejected me.
Multiple ad formats let you figure out what actually works for your specific sites and audience. I wouldn’t have known display banners were my goldmine if I hadn’t tested in-text links first.
The CPMs are actually decent for Western traffic. Not Google-level, but respectable. I’m getting $1.30+ per thousand impressions consistently now, which is way better than I expected when I signed up.
Dashboard is intuitive. I can pull up my stats in two clicks. Some ad networks make you dig through filters and submenus like you’re solving a puzzle.
Payment reliability. This is huge. I trust that Infolinks is going to send me money when they say they will.
They don’t reject you for stupid reasons. I literally got approved two days after applying with basically zero vetting. If you’re running a legit site with real traffic, you’ll get approved.
The Bad Stuff (And It’s Important)
The earnings are modest. I’m making around $95 per month on 70,000 pageviews. That’s solid, but it’s not going to pay your bills unless you’re running a ton of traffic. AdSense probably would’ve paid me a bit more, but since they rejected me, Infolinks is better than nothing.
In-text link ads are kind of ugly. I removed most of them by March because they felt spammy on my main site. They work better on lower-quality content sites, honestly. If you’re trying to maintain a clean, professional look, skip in-text links.
You can’t control which specific ads show on your site. Sometimes you’ll get ads that don’t really match your content. I’ve had cleaning product ads show up on my tech blog. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s less elegant than how Google handles targeting.
The support is good but not instant. If you have an issue that needs immediate fixing, you’re not getting 24/7 priority support. They’re responsive during business hours though.
CPMs drop significantly for non-Western traffic. If a huge chunk of your audience is from India or Southeast Asia, this isn’t the right network for you.
Sometimes you hit payment minimums slowly. When you’re only making $30-$40 per month, it takes a while to hit that $50 threshold. You need consistent traffic.
Who Should Actually Use This
Use Infolinks if:
You got rejected by AdSense multiple times and need an alternative that’s legitimate and pays reliably. That’s literally me.
Your traffic is primarily from US, UK, Canada, or Western Europe. The CPMs are worthwhile for these regions.
You’re getting 40,000+ pageviews per month. Below that, you’ll hit payouts too slowly to make it worthwhile.
You don’t mind multiple ad formats and want to test what works best for your specific audience.
You want something that doesn’t have arbitrary approval rules like Google does.
Avoid Infolinks if:
Most of your traffic is from low-paying countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. You’ll make pennies.
You have under 30,000 monthly pageviews. The earnings won’t justify the effort.
Your site is brand new. Infolinks does approve quickly, but you want to make sure you have real, consistent traffic first.
You’re obsessed with making maximum revenue. Combining Infolinks with other networks (like Mediavine if you qualify, or other display networks) would earn you more. I haven’t done that yet, but I’m considering it.
You have a design-focused website where ad placement is critically important. Infolinks ads aren’t always the most beautiful or contextually relevant.
The Questions People Keep Asking Me About This
Question: Is Infolinks better than AdSense?
Depends. If you can get approved for AdSense, you probably should use it because CPMs tend to be higher. But if you’ve been rejected like I was, Infolinks is a legitimate alternative that actually pays. It’s not better, it’s just better for people AdSense rejected.
Question: Will using Infolinks hurt my SEO or traffic?
No. I’ve seen zero impact on my traffic since adding Infolinks. SEO hasn’t changed. Google doesn’t penalize you for using specific ad networks. Just don’t go crazy with ads everywhere — make sure users can actually read your content.
Question: Can I use Infolinks alongside other ad networks?
Yeah, totally. The terms allow it. I haven’t tried because my sites aren’t big enough to qualify for most premium networks yet, but there’s nothing stopping you from running Infolinks and something else simultaneously. Just don’t let ads completely take over your pages.
Question: How long until you see earnings?
First payment for me was in November after the code went live in October. So about three to four weeks. But realistically, you need decent traffic to see meaningful money. My first month only earned $12.40.
Question: What if I get banned or they stop working with me?
I have no idea what their ban conditions are. I haven’t seen any sketchy behavior in a year though. They’re not some fly-by-night operation — they’re an established company. I’d worry about this less than you’d worry about any other ad network.
Question: Should I use in-text link ads?
Test them. They might work great for you. For me, they felt spammy and I disabled most of them. Display banners performed way better. Start with those.
Question: What about click fraud or fake traffic?
I don’t run fake traffic, so I can’t speak to their anti-fraud systems. But they seem to have decent protections in place. My earnings are consistent and realistic based on my actual pageviews. No sudden spikes or drops that would indicate fraud detection.
Question: Can I use this on a brand new site?
Technically yes, they’ll approve you quickly. But practically, you need actual traffic. If you have 500 pageviews per month, you’ll make $0.65. Not worth the setup effort. Wait until you’re consistently hitting 10,000+ monthly pageviews.
Question: Do they track users or do anything sketchy with data?
They serve ads and track basic engagement for targeting purposes, which every ad network does. I haven’t seen any evidence of creepy data practices. Their privacy policy is straightforward.
Real Talk on the Numbers
Let me break this down simply. I’m running about 70,000 pageviews per month on average. With Infolinks, I’m making about $95 per month on average (now that things have stabilized). That’s roughly $1.35 CPM. Over a year, that’s $1,140.
Is that life-changing? No. Am I getting rich? Absolutely not. But I’m also getting rejected by AdSense and making zero with every other network that’s rejected me. So $1,100+ per year on traffic I already had feels pretty good. If I can get my pageviews up to 200,000 per month (which I’m working on), I’d be making $300+ monthly. That starts to matter.
The earnings also grew over time as I optimized placements and as Infolinks presumably improved their advertiser base. My November earnings were $37.40. By April, I was hitting $105. That’s growth.
My Final Rating
I’m giving Infolinks a 7 out of 10.
It’s legitimate, it pays reliably, and it works. That’s the most important stuff. I knocked off points because the earnings are modest compared to what you’d make with AdSense if you could get approved, and because the CPMs for non-Western traffic are pretty brutal. Also the in-text link format is kind of dated and doesn’t work well for most publishers.
But honestly? If you’re in my position — rejected by AdSense, running decent traffic, and need to monetize — Infolinks is a solid 7. It’s not a 10 because there’s room for improvement and other networks might pay more. But it’s way above a 5 because it actually works and actually pays.
I’m keeping my Infolinks account active and I’ll probably keep using it for the foreseeable future. I’m also going to explore other networks to see if I can stack earnings, but Infolinks will stay as my baseline.
If you’re thinking about signing up, go for it. The worst that happens is you make $30-$50 per month while you’re also pursuing other revenue streams. The best case is you find a reliable income source that’s way better than nothing.
Disclosure: Some links in this review may be affiliate links, meaning I could earn a small commission if you sign up through them. This doesn’t affect the price you pay and doesn’t change my honest review — I’ve been using Infolinks since October 2024 and these are my genuine, unfiltered thoughts about the platform.
