Inconsistent AdSense Rules

No other ads related to page content allowed?

[wackybrit]

Over on the Affiliate Programs forum we've been talking [webmasterworld.com] about a new contextual unit Amazon have released in some countries called "Self Optimising Links". It shows a few Amazon products with affiliate links related to the content of your page. It's not PPC.

In the "AdSense Program Policies", there's the "Competitive Ads and Services" section which explicitly allows "affiliate links". The problem is that in the "Terms and Conditions" it says.. "You further agree not to display on any Serviced Page any non-Google content-targeted advertisement(s)."

Unlike with most contracts or T&Cs, there's no definition of "content-targeted". Content-targeted implies ads which are relevant to the content on the page. That is, you've specifically chosen to run an affiliate link about Widgets on your page about Widgets. Technically, the T&Cs say this is prohibited. So, what.. you're only allowed to show affiliate links that aren't related to the content?

This not only appears that Amazon Self-Optimizing Links aren't allowed on the same page as Google, but also that putting an affiliate text-link to an Amazon search that's based on the same topic as the content of the page is prohibited too.

Shouldn't Google make this all clearer? "Content-targeted" is not defined, the role of affiliate links is not defined, and it all seems very murky.

[kaz]

It is murky, so the rule is you should then check. In the past the exact same scenario has been discussed with chikita eminimalls. after awhile enough people asked directly and got consistent responses that it is okay with chikita. The same should be done with this scenario. Seems clear to me.

[david_uk]

It will be interesting to see the official response.

[Iguana]

Yes, the Chikita response was that you can use the facility when you supply keywords but not as a pure contextual. I think you need to ask the question of Adsense for a definitive answer.