Adlinks questions

Couple of questions about ad links

[johnblack]

1) Can I click on an adlink on my website to view the ads that my visitors see when they do the same? Is that not against TOS? (Obviously I won't click on any of the ads themselves)

2) Can I block an adlink topic from the list of ad links topics? Or do I have to block every ad that appears under that link using the filter?

Any help greatly appreciated

John

[Pixads]

1) Do not ever click on any ads. I did that once only to see later that even those clicks give you $. So i emailed google and I now know that's this is a big NO NO.

2) Nope sorry

[johnblack]

Thanks for that. I have no intention to click on any ads, just the adlink to view them. For example I see an adlink for widget, so I want to click on it to see what ads my visitors see when they click on the widget link?

[Pixads]

Do not do it. Anything that google puts on your site is an Ad. The Adlink unit is also and Ad. And I have already done that thinking the same and google said it's a no no.

[HuhuFruFru]

that's not true, you CAN click on the adlinks, but not on the ads of the second page!

you can read it on the adsense page!

[OptiRex]

1) Can I click on an adlink on my website to view the ads that my visitors see when they do the same? Is that not against TOS? (Obviously I won't click on any of the ads themselves)

No problem, I often do that when I see a new word or phrase to see who is advertising.

2) Can I block an adlink topic from the list of ad links topics? Or do I have to block every ad that appears under that link using the filter?

Good question, no idea!

Let us know when you find out.

[HuhuFruFru]

see here:
[google.com...]

Can I click on the link units on my site?

AdSense publishers are permitted to click on link unit topics on their web pages, provided that they do not click on any Google ads on the resulting page. Clicking on the ads themselves is prohibited, as it has the potential to inflate advertiser costs.

However, you may still prefer not to click on the link unit topics that appear on your site, as clicking on these links has the potential to inaccurately inflate impressions and affect your reporting metrics.

[AdSenseAdvisor]

Hi there!

1. Yes, you can click on the link unit topic without generating invalid clicks to your account. As you know, please don't click on the actual ads themselves. ([google.com ])

2. No, at this time it's not possible to filter link units by topic or category. However, individual advertisers added to your competitive filter list won't show through link units either. ([google.com ])

Hope that helps!

-ASA

[netmeg]

I kind of wish you could do the filtering, as for example my site has listings for events in 2006, and in the link unit, there is a link for the same type of event for 2005 - it's been there all year, and I'd just as soon get rid of it, but the ads underneath it are all pretty relevant - not sure where the 2005 is coming from.

[OptiRex]

However, individual advertisers added to your competitive filter list won't show through link units either.

Thanks ASA, that's answered my question.

[rkhare]

wow........thanks ASA to clear this thing up
see you later guys, going to explore new things ;)

[johnblack]

Thanks everybody for your replies. And especially ASA for dropping in on this thread.

The reason I had for asking the question in the first place is because of a problem with my own website.

The website is in the humor niche and I display adlinks near the top of every page and they do quite well. However I noticed recently that one of the adlinks links is entitled 'Racist Jokes'.

Basically I don't want that link/text on my website. I feel it gives totally the wrong impression about the site. The site is family friendly, we try to appeal to everybody. But without removing the adlinks code or changing the topic of the site, I can't see away around this.

May be someone could shed some light as to why there would be such a category for advertisers?

BTW I clicked on the link and the ads displayed, as far as I can see, are nothing to do with the topic either - adding even more intrigue to the situation.

[johnblack]

I hope you don't mind me bumping this thread back up the list again. I'm in a different time zone than almost everyone else and I'd really like some help on this issue.

Cheers John

[celgins]

Are you referring to the, "Racist Jokes" link in your ad-unit?

[johnblack]

Yep, I don't want it there. It probably offends a good majority of visitors to my site. I'm also a bit surprised that there is a such a category for advertisers.

[celgins]

The advertisers write their own ads, or they may allow Google to write them. This sounds like an ad written by the advertiser.

Either way, you should be able to filter it with your Competitive Ad Filter. Like ASA said, the filter will filter regular text ads and ad-link ads. If the ad-link ad is filtered, the ad-link title (and their site) shouldn't show up on your site.

[johnblack]

Sorry Celgins, I'm probably not explaining myself very well. My excuse is that it is only 7:45 in the morning here and I haven't had my first cup of tea yet!

The ads that are displayed are fine if off target. And yes I can get rid of the off-target ones by using the filter.

However the problem for me is that the link displayed in the adlink unit is 'Racist Jokes'. Other links include 'Funny', 'Jokes' etc. What I would like to do is not see the link 'Racist Jokes' appear.

I know of no way of preventing the link from appearing. If anyone else does please let me know.