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 :)
Good news for multiple ads unit per page. Google's system will automatically recognize the additional ad units, and will serve unique ads to each.
I'll experiment two ads units and see how it goes.
Google allows three ad groups for adsense publishers; hilarity ensues.
Google has developed technology which prevents the serving of multiple ads in those three ad units. Pretty cool, huh?
Actually, I'd prefer to repeat the highest cpc/ctr ads.
I'm off to have a look at my page formats and see if there is anywhere, where I can discreetly slide in a second adpanel. Not sure there is, quite honestly.
What will Google do next to find more advertising estate? Build an application which bolts on to Acrobat Reader?
How is the distribution of the ads decided across the page?
Is the highest CPC the 1st ad position in the 1st ad box on the page?
Another bad move by google, who would have thought.........
Do keep in mind that the first ad unit script that appears in the html source code gets first priority when it comes to doling out ads. Second ad unit in the source code gets second priority and so on.
...a kind of text proximity based serving.
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.
Well as is the way with these things having experimented with multiple ad units (3) I can report Google is serving (Not me, as I have no control over this!) Repeat ads.
What is the point of saying yes you can serve multiple ads then saying but they must not be identical when we have no control over the ads that are displayed, come on Google get a grip.
Will someone please provide an authorative and unambiguous answer to this questions ideally Adsense advisor.
Are we in breach of TOS if a repeat ad turns up?
Thanks Jenstar Good job on the summary..
I have hped for month that one day we will be allowed to run up to 3 google ads on our content pages.
I wonder if the potential for running the same ads on a single page could happen if you have ad units in different frames on the same "page" a visitor would view.
Thankx for your post, you are doing a good job here for the Adsense publishing community.
Maybe you could have a seperate website/forum on Adsense FAQs, on which you could earn by what else >> Adsense! <<>> Just my 2cents!
Ok..now question here is:
Suppose I have 3 adsense on my webpage & if a user would click on the most lower ad, then I would get less as to if, the user would have clicked on the topmost ad..right?
Would then this discourage publishers to show 3 ads?
As I understand, if my page is on blue-widgets, then the first ad would show the top 4 adwords advertisers,
the 2nd ad would show the next 4, which is from 5 to 8 highest adword bidders & the last one would show 9 to 12th highest bidders.
SO, if a visitor clicks on the last one I would obviously get less that the first.
Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.
regards,
Prash.
In theory, you could use ads from two different AdSense account in the same page, so showing the same ads. This does constitute double-serving
Please confirm. :)
Thank you!
aries
The double serving issue keeps coming up again and again in this thread. I too would be curious as to AA's interpretation. Nobody wants to run foul so it would help if this ambiguity (spotted in your initial post) is cleared up.
Adsense Advisor?
Pretty soon we will see Ph.D's in AdSense
I can't wait to see the stats... 2 ad boxes vs one, primary placement CTR changes after secondary at location2, location1, etc etc etc...
Unfortunately, yes, that will follow. Money is a big motivator and people here are making a lot of money with Adsense, many make more than they do with their day jobs.
