Sales or promotion of prescription drugs

does this include discussion of prescription drugs?

[badtigger]

Does the rule against "Sales or promotion of prescription drugs", include discussion of prescription drugs?

Say for eg, you have a site where one page lists common medications for a secific illness, with tabular data showing common dosages?

[Woz]

Badtigger, as I understand the rules, the pages you describe may well be acceptable, but you should get confirmation from Adsense Support before proceeding.

Onya
Woz

[badtigger]

I took this advice and emailed them, just to be on the safe side.

It would be good if they would allow a site to talk about percription drug side-effects and the like. Plus, with all of the lawsuits, there would naturally be some good high-paying keywords as well.

What I dont get is this -- I tried to put some adsense code on the page, and viola, it immediately showed a whole whack of "buy xyz medication for 50. cents" ads.

If G doesnt allow publishers to put adsense on their pages, then why do they show ads for pharmaceutical companies? Or is it just that they cannot effectively filter advertisers?

[badtigger]

So I took this advice in the second reply above, and sent an email to Google with th e URl asking them if the content on the site was alright, and they sent me an email (that is obviously an auto response) which still leaves me in the dark:

<paraphrase>
Thanks for the email.

You can place Adsense on any site without any need for review.

However, if we see something we don't like, we'll be sure to let you know. ;)

</paraphrase>

When it comes to certain site's content, G is very ambiguous about specific interpretations of its policies. For eg., me even having a site which mention the names of prescription drugs could be interpreted by them as "promotion". It would be nice just to get a simple definition of what the word "promotion" means in G's dictionary.

[edited by: Woz at 6:32 am (utc) on June 1, 2005]
[edit reason] Paraphrased Email per TOS#9 [/edit]

[totter]

A couple of years back Britain banned the advertisement of prescription drugs. After that search engines banned their use in their contextual advertisements. I'm pretty sure that Google not wanting adsense on pages promoting prescription drugs has to do with these rules. Google doesn't want to be guilty by association. This rule is nice i would think because it helps keep publishers from getting in trouble with lawyers. (drug trade names are copyrighted)

I pretty sure your site as you described it is ok with the big Goo. As long as a page doesn't read like a Bob Dole and his little purple pills testimonial you should be ok. I am in the process of creating a site about a certain test that people can take that will allow them put certain letters behind their name. Part of the knowledge for this test (also content in my site) will be for the candidates taking this test to know for condition x drug y is the treatment of choice. I asked Google about putting adsense on content like this and they didn't say no. As soon as I finish the site I will ask google to review the site and see what they say.

By the way, just to be safe from drug lawyers I would use the nonproprietary name in your site.

[Woz]

badtigger, I went through the same process with one of my sites about a particular malady, including treatments for such. After getting the generic email I asked for more information mentioning the site in question and explaining the concept/plans for the site. The replies I got were then more favouable and I have been displaying Adsense on the site since then with no trouble.

However, the answers I got were specific to my site, so I suggest you ask for clarification in relation to your site.

Onya
Woz