Forum Moderators: martinibuster
AdSense Policies
Only a minor change was made to the policies this time around.
Ad Placement
Now says up to three ad units can be placed per page. It still says "Serving two or more identical ads on a single page constitutes double-serving, which Google does not support." which is rather curious, since it would seem the publisher would not be able to control what ads are appearing.
Also, changes have been made to allow up to two search boxes per page.
FAQ
Lots of changes, but two of them are quite monotonous throughout - the change to the ad units per page, and the new name for WebSearch name... AdSense for Search. I am guessing there was some name confusion.
1. What is Google AdSense?
Changes made to reflect the new WebSearch name of "AdSense for Search".
4. How do I sign up?
WebSearch name changes made.
5. How quickly will Google ads start appearing on my site?
WebSearch name changes made.
8. Why does Google need my Social Security Number?
This new section outlines the reasons for asking for the SSN from US publishers.
During the sign-up process, publishers residing in the United States may be required to provide their Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number. This information is used to verify your address information and identity only, in order to prevent identity theft and account fraud. Your SSN or EIN will not be used for any other purpose, and will always be securely stored. For our full Privacy Policy, please read [google.com...]
Program Basics
7. Can I cancel my Google AdSense account?
More WebSearch name changes made.
10. What are 'Alternate Ads?'
Discusses the option of the collapsing ad unit script being used in the place of an alternate ad.
11. How do I Specify an Alternate Ad?
Also mentions the collapsing ad unit option.
13. What are collapsing units ads and how do I implement them?
This is a brand new section, all about these collapsing ad units.
Collapsing ad units are an optional advanced feature of alternate ads – the collapsing ad unit code will 'collapse' your ad unit so that it takes up no page space if there are no targeted ads available. This allows you to minimize any blank space that would otherwise occur through the use of alternate colors.
You have to download some code and place it on your site in order to use this feature. Full instructions are [google.com...]
This will allow people to use ad units that wrap around text, without having to worry about an oddly placed blank space if no ads are available to display.They also mention only advanced users should attempt to implement this feature - I am sure they are envisioning the tech support issues on this one! It won't work on IE 5 or lower, but it makes no mention of other browsers. Anyone tested it yet?
Payments
1. How much will I earn through this program?
More changes made to the WebSearch name change.
4. When do I get paid?
And more name changes.
Format
1. What are the layout options for ads on my web pages?
Changes made to reflect the 3 ad units per page.
3. Can I display more than one set of Google ads on a web page?
Changes made to reflect the 3 ad units per page. Also mentions there may not be enough ads to fill more than one ad unit per page, and that alternative ads may appear instead.
5. How do I add multiple ad units to my site?
New section which is essentially cut and paste instructions of inserting the script to a webpage, followed by "Add up to three ad units by repeating these steps."
6. Why is only one ad unit displaying ads?
Discusses why only one ad unit may be displaying ads.
The multiple ad units system detects the number of ad units that are on your page, and automatically serves unique ads to each ad unit. The system is optimized for pages that have highly targeted ads available – as a result, you may sometimes see that only the first ad unit contains ads. As our ad inventory changes, or if your page content changes, you may start seeing more ads on your page.
When only one ad unit is displaying ads, any additional ad units will display as transparent boxes, or will display the alternate ad or color that is defined in their ad code. Please note that each instance of ad code must have the alternate URL or color specified in order to display alternate content.
7. How do I define the 'first' ad unit?
New section, added to tell publishers will will give priority to the first ad unit that appears in the source code as the one given ads first. Definitely something to keep in mind - if you have a "sweet spot" ad placement, make sure you don't jeopardize it when adding multiple ad units. If there are only enough ads for one unit, you want to make sure your sweet spot is getting them ;)
8. Are alternate ads shown in multiple ad units?
Ad units will show transparent, or the alternate you specify, if no ads are available.
9. Will you serve PSAs to multiple ad units?
If you do not have an alternate ad specified, PSAs will only show in the first ad unit to not have ads available, the rest will be transparent. If all three ad units would be showing PSAs, the first one would show the PSAs and the other two would be transparent instead.
My Account
8. How do I add sites to my filter list?
More changes made to reflect the WebSearch name change.
11. How do I cancel my account?
More name changes.
Image Ads
1. What are image ads?
More name changes.
AdSense for search
Name changes throughout.
Channels
Name changes throughout.
Other changes noticed
Reports
The CPM now has a {?} next to it, directing people to the CPM definition on the AdSense: [google.com...]
I am guessing that was a popular question the tech support people got.
The What's New section also mentions the "Ads by Goooooogle". Although the actual ad units actually have 12 O's not 6 ;) Click here to check them out [jenstar.ca]
That's all folks :)
Ad Placement
Now says up to three ad units can be placed per page. It still says "Serving two or more identical ads on a single page constitutes double-serving, which Google does not support." which is rather curious, since it would seem the publisher would not be able to control what ads are appearing.
I am probably going to stick with just one ad unit per page, but I am sure that the spammy directories and scraper sites are just salivating to add more Adsense ads.
(I still find this ambiguity somewhat frustrating.)
This unique ads thingy is not foolproof yet. On one of my pages, Google repeated same ads in the multiple ad units. On the rest of the pages, they seemed to serve unique ads without a problem.
However, just a week ago, I emailed Google for clarification because the TOS did say you could have multiple AD units but weren't allowed to show the same ADs. And not being in control of the ADs I was confused.
The response I received from Google via email dated August 26th. was:
snip
-------------------------------------
Does the new announcement mean its ok now but not ok one week ago? I'm writing them again.
[edited by: Jenstar at 11:03 pm (utc) on Sep. 2, 2004]
[edit reason] No email quotes please, as per TOS [/edit]
The email says
"We’re currently running a test with new branding features on Google ads. You may notice some of your pages displaying ‘Ads by Goooooogle’ ad units. We welcome your feedback on this new look, and we’ll be analyzing the results of this test over the next while."
But on my pages I'm seeing up to 12 o's in the google. This is to draw more attention to the source of the ads, and thus create more adsense publishers, right?
By "analyzing the results of this test" I'm guessing they are checking to see if this larger link brings in more new adsense publishers, or just decreases the overall revenue generated by adsense clicks.
There is that "feedback on ads by google" where you can give feedback on specific ads, but I'm not sure that this is nearly as important to them as getting more people signed up and publishing with adsense.
Someone who was looking to give feedback would find the "Ads by Google" link without 12 o's in it.
Further, I have a hard time believing this has to do with "Branding" because it the only matching one would be the long Goooooooooogle at the bottom of SRP's.
kp
Also – three ad units equates to a major increase in the number of visitors that never make it through your site. Once they click, they’re gone.
If only they would open up a new window with ad click.
snip
[edited by: Jenstar at 11:02 pm (utc) on Sep. 2, 2004]
[edit reason] No email quotes please, as per TOS [/edit]
But to put more than one ad on a "normal" length page? No, I don't think I'm interested in doing that. (Well, perhaps I'd put an itty bitty ad in one spot, and a leaderboard in another spot or something . . . )
If you get one page view on a page with three ad units, it counts for three impressions.
I imagine there will be some teething problems but removed the straight away just incase.
