Is this legal? AdSense "cheats"...

[fuser00]

Hi, ive seen MANY sites that mix adsense codes with content to make visitors accidentally click on the ads. Is this legal? Has google noticed this?

Heres an example:

Notice that this site offers resources and there are 3 adsense ads between them. I want to know if google allows this because i have to say that visitors click on them accidentally.....

If you think about it, google benefits with the accidental clicks so maybe they look the other way.

To wich point can you force accidental clicks?

Thanks, fuser

 

[Epic]

Well if they're genuinally interested in the content they'll click on it. I think its ok, since its not like you're making the ads popup in front of their cursor and forcing accidental clicks.

 

[accuname]

I'm pretty sure technically it is NOT allowed, but I've flagged a couple blatent violations to Google and the websites are still up and running Adsense. I don't know how it works but with so many sites doing that, apparently Google must give a blind eye to it.

 

[ablaye]

This is a tough one. THere is the "ads by google" thingy which makes it clear that these are google ads. However, the blending is so perfect that one may confuse this ad with the website content.
It is very hard to say if this violates google TOS. People keep pushing the limits in order to get more clicks

 

[RickM]

I recently did a simalar thing with an arcade - it boosted my income.

I read on the phparcadescripts.com forums of someone who had received a warning from AdSense asking him to basicly change it - they disabled the domain (not his account) untill he appealed and they re-activated it...it's very strange because normaly Google would just close your whole account and tell you where to go.

They dont like it however know that they get good traffic from it.

 

[goodkarmaco]

My impression is google wants partners to use their blocks, not create code to place wherever. Is that right?


Roderick

 

[lifetalk]

well.. i've seen people blending even the link units so perfectly tht it's impossible to not accidently click on them.. but the reason why google does not object may be that they too are earning from this.. so well.. why shud they care then?

 

[slaughterbeck]

That’s a blatant violation of Google’s TOS.




P.S. I don’t know if you intended to do it but in the screen capture you provided it’s clear to see what website address the capture is from (myspace-modz).




Best wishes,
Kimmy

 

[gingeman]

I think a certain degree of blending is going to have a blind eye turned, after all, the website should look neat and polished, and with really blatant ads this is not possible. It is a very tricky area to be in and if you were contmeplating it then I would contact google with your proposal and get them to ok your design before you go ahead with it.

 

[VI5]

What's wrong with it?

The idea of adsense is it blends into your content and people click if they're interested. Only idiots don't check links before clicking them, webmasters cannot help it.

 

[Epic]

What's wrong with it?

The idea of adsense is it blends into your content and people click if they're interested. Only idiots don't check links before clicking them, webmasters cannot help it.

Exactly.

If the person is interested in the link, they'll click. If they're more interested in the other links next to the ads, they'll click those.

The advertisers probably like it because they get the ultimate targetted visitor, Google likes it because they get a percentage of the money, and the publisher is happy because they get more clicks.

 

[RJ]

Is it a violation of Adsense TOS? Which part?

As an advertiser, I would have no problem with my ads being blended into the site layout like that.

 

[fuser00]

We are all webmasters, we know adsense but you have to admit that this is a case of an extreme blended. Someone that just want a cursor for his pc or a wallpaper and that doesnt know at all what adsense means or even if adsense exists could accidentally click the ads. This is what i say. I know i would never confuse an ad with a link and i know you guys wouldnt either but i mean for the regular internet surfers.

Thanks for the interest you showed in the thread!

fuser

 

[RJ]

Someone that just want a cursor for his pc or a wallpaper and that doesnt know at all what adsense means or even if adsense exists could accidentally click the ads. This is what i say. I know i would never confuse an ad with a link and i know you guys wouldnt either but i mean for the regular internet surfers.

You make it sound like a bad thing that they would click the ad. Ads are not inherently bad.

The advertiser gets a highly targeted visitor to their site. It costs the visitor nothing to click the ad, and they get to visit a a site they may not have otherwise seen that may have what they're looking for. Could be a win/win situation, even when the visitor isn't aware it is an ad.

 

[fuser00]

You make it sound like a bad thing that they would click the ad. Ads are not inherently bad.

The advertiser gets a highly targeted visitor to their site. It costs the visitor nothing to click the ad, and they get to visit a a site they may not have otherwise seen that may have what they're looking for. Could be a win/win situation, even when the visitor isn't aware it is an ad.

Imagine you hire adwords. You pay for x hits. You would like to have targeted hits, people that clicked your ad because they read it and liked it, not accidental visits....Thats what im asking. Whats the limit in blending the adsense ads?

 

[accuname]

I've clicked ads that were blended so well that they looked like part of the content and so I thought it was content. We aren't all on-guard for the little "ads by google" words. As soon as I realized its an ad I'd x-out of the new screen immediately. The advertisers loses out on that scenario. That site blends ads so as to maximize precisely this type of clicking.

 

[RJ]

Imagine you hire adwords.

No need to imagine. I am speaking as an Advertiser who has already spent over $15k in Adwords over the past four years. For myself and my own Adwords campaigns, I would not have a problem if they were displayed as the example in the original post.

If you read some of the past tips that Google has published for webmasters, they have encouraged you to choose colors and sizes to blend with the rest of your site content. I would hate it if Google made too many restrictions against webmasters being able to blend the ads with their site. Website visitors get so conditioned to avoiding ads that PPC clickthrus become more expensive because there are less of them to go around.

 

[reibac]

I don't think that violated the Google TOS. Everybody were benefited in on the above screenshot. I have a book about google adsense secrets, and one of the topic was blending the ads to the content.

 

[beedee]

I was actually planning to buy a site like that. Does anyone have a definate answer if that is in violation of googles TOS?

 

[maroulis]

technique is called "ad-blending" and it's prohibited according to Google TOS however 99.9% sites use it... go figure