Where did you get *that* screenshot from? :-) |
Edit: I changed the screenshot. For reference, the old mockup screenshot is below. The mockup always results in people asking about the mockup so I guess it's time to get rid of it :)
http://blogoscoped.com/files/google-adsense-old.jpg |
I feel your coverage totally ignores that this IS a big change. Previously people COULD have YPN ads on the same page as adsense, but on a different time (by rotating them). Now they can't even use YPN on the same WEBSITE (not page) unless the YPN has other colors then the google adsense.
Also – the suggestion that student papers are by definition a copyright problem is just as contentious as the same with respect to video's. If I publish my college papers on my website, why should I not be allowed to have adsense on there? It's just online information, isn't it?
I feel google is totally misusing their almost total monopoly on this. |
> Now they can't even use YPN on the same
> WEBSITE (not page) unless the YPN has other colors
> then the google adsense.
I disagree, though I contacted Google press support for a clarification on this issue. Here's why I disagree (reposted from Digg and Jensense):
... but the old AdSense policies already stated that "This would also include ads throughout the site that mimic Google ads or otherwise appear to be associated with Google on your site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure these ads do not mimic Google ads." So, they already talked about "site", and that it's not permitted to mimic Google ads. Next to the rewording where do you see the big change?
> If I publish my college papers on my website, why should
> I not be allowed to have adsense on there?
I might have misread this, not sure – because Google said "sales and distribution" of such papers, I thought this was about helping students to plagiarize/ cheat on their own papers.
Seriously though, the old policy's restriction that your site may not have "broken links" is much more ridiculous. It also goes to show that Google doesn't really enforce this stuff – I mean which site doesn't have broken links every now and then? |
The Adsense color-monopoly :-)
What about image-ads / banners? Banners look the same all over. Would that mean no other paid (non-contextual) image banners on a site that uses Adsense? |
I would guess not. I think the main reason for that rule is that they don't want people confusing adsense ads with other ads. Image ads don't have a distinctive look in the first place, so there's no danger of confusion. |
So I asked Google, "what's up, is the change relaxing the competitive ads policies like I interpreted it, or enforcing stricter rules like Jen interpreted it?", and Google's AdSense specialist Brandon answers:
<<[W]e agree with your assessment on this. For many publishers this change represents a more liberal policy. We've removed the "contextual" aspect of the policy, so publishers may now use third-party networks offering contextual ads in formats that look nothing like Google ads (e.g. IntelliTXT) on sites or even pages that show Google ads.
On the changes to mimicking policy, our goal is to ensure that users don't confuse ads served by other third party networks with ads served by Google, and we felt this policy change would help lessen user confusion.>>
I don't think this really finalizes any conclusion, though, and not just because it would be somewhat unnatural if Google would agree with bad-publicity assessments like Jen's – especially the second paragraph leaves a lot open for interpretation again. I guess we have to go back to the actual words of the program policy. |
Philipp – if you contact Google again, could you ask them to elaborate on the "mimicking" part?
What I don't understand (as I also posted in a Digg comment) is that they allow me (through the AdSense publisher interface) to customize the AdSense appearance to match my own site. But then I can't make any other ads ALSO match my own site? Google's own AdSense optimization guidelines recommend making the AdSense ads "blend in" with the site.
I can fully understand that they're a bit peeved if I customize another ad to look like the default Google AdSense color scheme (link colour, border, etc.) to acheive a "look" that people have come to associate with Google AdSense.
But if I adapt the AdSense ads to *my* design, how can Google then say I can't adapt any other ads to *my* design? |
I've contacted them again, who knows, maybe they can follow-up with some screenshot mockups of what's OK and what's not on their Inside AdSense blog? |
Hi Philipp
I managed to get a few additional important questions answered
http://andybeard.eu/2007/01/adsense-guidelines-contextual-ads-adsense-backgrounds.html
It covers 3 important points
1. Positioning of competing ads that have pictures
2. Adsense Backgrounds
3. Competing Search |
