T&C Question - "thank you" page prohibition

what about "thank you" pages?

[wwuser]

Adsense Standard Terms and Conditions prohibit the placement of ads on "thank you pages" ("e.g. a page that thanks a user after he/she has registered with the applicable Web site").

That seems clear enough on its face, but I can think of a few situations it wouldn't be so clear.

Does anyone know the rationale here? I don't get it -- maybe if I did, things would be clearer.

[chiyo]

I guess the rationale is that there willnot be enough substantive content on the page to be able to effectively deliver relevant ads.. (apart from maybe Hallmark greeting cards or interflora i guess!)

[Blue_Fin]

I suspect it's because Google wants the ads to appear on pages with relevant content and they don't want you needlessly driving up impressions or enticing clicks when the user isn't likely in the purchasing mode.

What are the situations that you feel are not clear?

[marcs]

Maybe it is because Google's bots are not likely to be able to index that page (as it is shown only after certain script operations are performed). That would not enable them to target ads on that page.

[Sharper]

I suspect that Google is more concerned about "Thank you for your purchase" types of pages at the end of B2C sites.

Typically a user is much more likely to click on anything to leave a site that they just finished making a purchase on than to go browse the site some more. That would probably skew the CTR tremendously towards poor traffic while also being hard to target ads to the page as noted in the above posts.

[chiyo]

good reponses here. I guess the principle is that google wants Adsense on pages which surfers have made a conscious decision to visit and be maybe more qualified purchasers for advertised offerings.

[dillonstars]

Maybe it is because Google's bots are not likely to be able to index that page (as it is shown only after certain script operations are performed). That would not enable them to target ads on that page.

That was my inital thought too.

[wwuser]

great reponses - thanks! I can't think of too much more on the subject.

As to the situations where it's not clear, hypothetically picture a *service* site (not so much content focused) that is 100% dynamic -- registrations/logins and related messages are handled with a small form that is incidentally included on pretty much every page that comes out. The act of registering or logging in is incidental to the rest of the site, which appears pretty much the same whether you're not logged in, registering, or logged in. A little bit of text above the form tells you about status (eg, you're not logged in, you mistyped your password, the username [xyz] is already taken, thanks for registering!, etc.).

I suppose you can expect this sort of thing with any novel situation that requires T&C to be drafted. The drafters work to cover foreseeable situations, then refine the T&C as they go forward and encounter situations that don't quite fit.

Thanks again.