Login to see site?

[vabtz]

- I have adsense on my site which has a forum.
- I now only display adsense, in the forum, for nonlogged in users.

Would a message informing someone that if they log in /join the site they can see the forum relatively adertising free be a violation of the TOS?

[hunderdown]

Email AdSense support. Could be OK but if I were you I'd want their confirmation.

[sirkei]

I am wondering about this too because i saw a large forum with an active userbase displaying the similar thing like:-

You can join our forum to remove the ads below....

And i guess emailing support is the best answer for this. Please keep this thread updated when you have the answer.

[AdSenseAdvisor]

Hi vabtz –

Interesting question… AdSense policies do not prohibit publishers from stating that logging in/registering for a site will remove ads. So you should be able to do this on your site.

However, just be careful to state this in a way that does not draw undue attention to the ads appearing on your site, as this would be a violation of program policies.

-ASA

[vabtz]

Thanks for the clarification ASA

:)

[Swebbie]

I understand that G doesn't want webmasters to call attention to AS ads with blatant things like "Click these ads to help pay our hosting fees" or the like. I'm wondering what the reasons are for not wanting to simply call attention to the AS ads, though. The people on a site have an interest of some kind on the topic at hand, and AS ads are obviously targeted to that interest, so it would seem that the two go hand in hand. What part of the puzzle am I missing?

[hunderdown]

Swebbie, the key word is "undue" in the phrase "undue attention." Don't draw more attention to them than they deserve.

Google states that you can label them as "sponsored links." You can call attention to them with strong colors--though as you know blending works better. You can put them in prominent positions.

But it's not in Google's interest (or, in the long run, in your interest) for people to click on the ads who wouldn't "naturally" click on them because they are interested in them. They want those who click to be genuinely interested in the ads.

So we know that "click the ads" is not OK. We know that "sponsored links" is. Anything in the grey area between I would check with Google--and by the way, I'd STILL check on the original question in this thread with AdSense support to get a ruling. ASA said it's OK if it doesn't call undue attention. Maybe the way vabtz sets this up would be considered "undue attention" by the AdSense support team. So get it in writing that it's OK....

[Critters]

I would say its fine, you can not give incentive to click an ad, but nothing about giving incentive to remove ads.

I even know of a site that has a button next to the ads saying "remove ads" which takes them to a page to upgrade their account to not show ads.

All this said, it never hurts to email G and just ask :) They appreciate users taking an interest in complying with the TOS

[maccas]

I email adsense a while ago asking about a link under each ad saying remove ads by logging in, they said it was fine. Best bet is asking yourself though, something to fall back on if they ever hit you up about it.