Adsense suddenly showing gay/dating ads on Furniture site

[mossroller]

My Home Decor/Furniture site which recently seems to have been penalized and dropped by Google is now showing Gay and Lesbian Adsense ads.

I am wondering if this could be being triggered by cloaking or something I am unaware of that may have also played a hand in my recent penalizing by Google. I don't use any unethical coding or techniques.

My site has good PR and is listed among the top in my category in the DMOZ. I recently lost all my top 10 SERPS for many good keywords/phrases.

I, of course, contacted Google about this.

Very frustrated with Google right now. Anyone had this problem or have any suggestions other than adding these sites to my Competitive ad filter (already doing this... but taking lots of my time)?

[hunderdown]

Sounds like the new "Creative Targeting" program at work....

Just kidding. Seriously, AdSense does go haywire from time to time. I'd be surprised if the ads aren't gone again by tomorrow, even if AdSense doesn't respond.

[bts111]

Google may believe that your target audience may be gay or lesbian and that the ads may convert.

[ann]

Yep, Googles new mind reading algo. :)

Ann

[incrediBILL]

Are you selling slings or just in the market to buy one? ;)

[spaceylacie]

I actually have seen ads for gay/lesbian sites in my home decorating articles. Adwords advertisers must be bidding on related terms. It's been awhile, my average EPC was very low at the time, but I have seen it happen.

[mossroller]

I just find adlinks titled 'Porn Star' to be unexpected from Google. In fact I would think that they wouldn't allow Adsense like that. This is one example of the types of adlinks and adsense appearing on my site.

I've been using this site with adsense for almost a year now with nothing like this before.

Thanks everybody for your responses.

[Swebbie]

This has been the strangest month I've ever seen with AdSense. Oct. 1-6 the ads were ridiculously irrelevant. Not as far off as gay ads on my furniture site, but clearly untargeted. Of course, my CTR and income plummeted. On the 7th things returned to normal and CTR and earnings shot back up. All was good again, the sun shone, birds sang, etc. Today (9th) we're right back to the crap. This has got to get fixed or Google stands to lose a ton of publishers to YPN. Already I've migrated many pages over to them, and while the CTR is much lower, the EPC is much higher. Whatever is causing it, Google must surely be feeling the effects after this many days.

[ann]

sooooo,

big question?

IF Google does not allow porn on the publishers sites then WHY do they sell ads for it?

Is their a hidden network of publishers that we don't know about?

<another conspiracy theory>

Or maybe they just want us to use the section targeting feature. Had to use it on the new site to get rid of Calligraphy ads...nothing on that site is about artistic writing, penmanship, etc.

Ann

[tebrino]

Just started to notice CPM ad about car windshields on my web development site. I'm not sure if this is some glitch or advertiser who doen't know much about advertising. I sincerely doubt that he'll get any conversion...

[larryhatch]

This is just a shot in the dark.
The gay / lesbian / porn people have lots of code words and code phrases.
You may have inadvertently used some in your furniture text. -Larry

[mossroller]

Along the lines that Larry suggested I did some research into this area tonight ;)

Seriously though, I did find a group who shares my keyword, their site is a 'support for lesbians who have also been victims of incest, rape and abuse'

So I guess this comes back to the problem that Adsense is having a real hard time matching relevant ads, from what I hear this is fairly common. Why Adsense is forgetting the nearly a year of good ads for this site, I do not know. I clearly can't allow these ads on my site, they make my site look slimy.

But to show Adsense ads titled 'Porn Star'? I still find this very strange since I thought they didn't allow this type of advertising.

[DamonHD]

Hi,

Not everyone agrees that gay/lesbian ads make your site look "slimy", especially gay and lesbian visitors with lots of money to spend.

Be careful, because one reading of what you wrote could be construed as "hate" crime, or at least discriminatory, in many jurisdictions including here in the UK.

Goodness knows what "code" words you are referring to, maybe "clap" (Smirnoff ad?) or "bed" or "lay" or "pump ship" (the last being a coinage by Admiral Nelson about going to the loo when you get a chance)? Language is full of euphemism, not just to do with sex of any flavour, and indeed much/most of normal (at least English) language is non-literal. So AdSense and its advertisers have to be mindful of that.

For my diverse sites and themes AS has targetted remarkably well, and continues to do so.

Rgds

Damon

[deepesh]

My eCPM dropped 40% :-(

[netmeg]

I got a whole bunch of gay/lesbian ads on a site that lists 4th of July fireworks displays, of all things.

[Tami_SEO]

Yeah, I saw a few dating ads on my commercial power generators website. I filtered them, but this could become like a game trying to filter the non relevent ads. Barf.

[incrediBILL]

But to show Adsense ads titled 'Porn Star'? I still find this very strange since I thought they didn't allow this type of advertising.

You need to contact AdSense about that ad as they do have "accidents" with their family safe filters every now and then.

[Swebbie]

You die-hard Google sycophants paying attention to this? They're losing it. Look at all the complaints since the middle or Sept. or so about poor ad targeting. I'll bet many like me are migrating their pages to YPN in droves. I'd rather have lower CTR with higher EPC, even if it means breaking even, than have ridiculously untargeted ads showing up on my pages. I hope someone from AS is paying attention! FIX YOUR FRIGGIN' PROBLEM!

[Rodney]

I'll bet many like me are migrating their pages to YPN in droves. I'd rather have lower CTR with higher EPC, even if it means breaking even, than have ridiculously untargeted ads showing up on my pages.

If you're leaving Adsense for YPN because of rediculously untargeted ads, then you're jumping out of the frying pan, into the fryer.

From what I've seen of YPN, the ad targeting is even more ridculous.

I don't think this is any sign of Adsense "losing" it. There have always been targeting issues that come and go. If the same site is having issues (with YPN or Adsense) after a month or so (and after they have contacted the network), then I would be concerned.

[edited by: Rodney at 7:13 pm (utc) on Oct. 10, 2005]

[ember]

Moss, please don't say that gay ads make your site look "slimy," any more than any other non-targeted ad. You can easily offend a lot of people with your idea that there is something "wrong" with gay ads.

[mossroller]

I think people are misunderstanding my complaint ... If you read my posts you will find the main complaint is that Google Adsense is displaying ads with titles like 'Porn Star' and it just so happens to be gay and lesbian ads mistakenly targeting my home decor / furnishing site.

My 'slimy' complaint covers both straight and gay ads. It just looks to the average shopper that I'm trying to push adult oriented material while they're shopping for home decor items.

I don't care if someone is straight or gay, I'm just trying to figure out why these ads are on my site.

So please chill out people!

[europeforvisitors]

I don't think this is any sign of Adsense "losing" it. There have always been targeting issues that come and go.

I'd agree with that, although "Porn Star" on a furniture site does seem a bit more extreme than, say, "St. Martin Hotels" on a Martin Luther page or "SudsBuddy beer cooler" in an Oktoberfest article.

[Swebbie]

If you're leaving Adsense for YPN because of rediculously untargeted ads, then you're jumping out of the frying pan, into the fryer.

Even when YPN isn't dead-on with their targeting, it's still in the ballpark. The recent problem with AS targeting is one of completely unrelated ads. I've written AS support and gotten no response (wrote on Oct. 2 and on Oct. 7).

I don't think this is any sign of Adsense "losing" it. There have always been targeting issues that come and go.

Write for yourself! I've been an AS publisher since early 2004 and I track this stuff extremely closely. This is the first time EVER that I've seen this problem.

If the same site is having issues (with YPN or Adsense) after a month or so (and after they have contacted the network), then I would be concerned.

Fine with me... you wait a month. I'm running a business and I prefer to respond immediately when a problem rears its ugly head. I've switched some high traffic pages to YPN for now. If AS gets this squared away, I'll come back if the numbers crunch. So far, I have no complaints with YPN. I'm still running AS on about 10 pages for every 1 page with YPN on it, but that can change in a hurry, and will if AS continues showing unrelated ads. It's that simple. And I know I'm not alone.

[stuno259]

I'm seeing some very weird CPM ads on my site too today. I just popped onto my site and got this big skyscraper CPM ad:

No More Pumper Truck
Septic Problems Solved
Liquifies Sludge Opens Lines Fast

And my site has nothing to do with sewage issues/clogged toilets. It's actually a bit embarassing to see ads like this for me. I'm sure money wise it's helping me out, but I also have some standards and a regular client base to keep happy. One of the main reasons I use google is for targeted ads on my site. It's not fun getting off target ones, even if they are paying based on impressions.

[Rodney]

Even when YPN isn't dead-on with their targeting, it's still in the ballpark. The recent problem with AS targeting is one of completely unrelated ads. I've written AS support and gotten no response (wrote on Oct. 2 and on Oct. 7).

The YPN targeting I've seen is WAY out of the ballpark. Not even the same sport. You can see similar posts in the YPN forum (generic ads for vonage on non-phone related sites and such).

Write for yourself!

I always do :)

I've been an AS publisher since early 2004 and I track this stuff extremely closely. This is the first time EVER that I've seen this problem.

I've been with Adsense since they started in 2003 and I've always seen posts and heard stories about targeting being off.

You can see the posts from this very forum from a month after Adsense launched (some posts even closer to launch as well):
[webmasterworld.com...]

I don't think then or now that it has been a problem that spanned the WHOLE publisher base (or even a majority...although that's hard to tell). From what I've seen it seems to improve and have glitches.

Fine with me... you wait a month.

The targeting has been fine for me (and to be honest, YPN's targeting seems to be getting slightly better, but still not even close to Adsense).

I'm running a business and I prefer to respond immediately when a problem rears its ugly head. I've switched some high traffic pages to YPN for now.

Nobody is suggesting you do otherwise. You should always do what's best for your business.

My response was just based on your post saying that they were "losing it", when from the start they have had similar issues (which I agree should be fixed sooner rather than later). I was also posting my experience that YPN isn't necessarily the holy grail (although I can't complain about their earnings).

I'm still running AS on about 10 pages for every 1 page with YPN on it, but that can change in a hurry, and will if AS continues showing unrelated ads. It's that simple. And I know I'm not alone.

Why wait? If YPN is performing that much better for you, seems like it would be smart to give them the majority of your adspace.

With competition, there will always be people who fair better with one service over another (that's how they *compete* :)

[roadhazard]

Ha, when I first put Adsense on my site, the teenager birthday gifts page was showing FUNERAL FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS for awhile. Then this disappeared. Since then, I really have no complaints. G. will also not allow us to plug pharmaceuticals. The reason is they want the Adsense merchants to be able to sell their products. So we cannot use any pharmaceutical affiliate links. BUT we can use HERBALS the Adsense team advised me...Of course, you cannot compare herbals to the sales of the popular drugs such as Viagra, for instance. Who would want herbal "Viagra" substitute? Not too many folks...If you do an info page on Viagra, G. puts up the PSAs.
Back to the original question: I think G. believes that a lot of decorators may be gay. I personally don't know if they are right or not...but G. usually knows where the money is... so they could be targeting furniture sites OR maybe the gays are specifically requesting that their ads for gay dating be placed on certain sites such as the furniture sites...I have no quarrel with G. I make a little more income from Adsense every month. No argument from me on their business methods...

[roadhazard]

My mistake: ADWORDS merchants, not Adsense merchants... sorry, it's been a long day...

[dollarshort]

may be you have a gay looking website

[dauction]

mossroller

I took a look at your site ..I think the problem is some of the keywords and phrases on your site are triggering the gay ads..

You'll like our Hard Wood ...

and our beds will make you feel like a queen

ha

[rockfen]

Just to let you know. Google Adsense support emailed me back and clarified that the Adlink 'Porn Star' is against their own policies and it sounds like they are working to remove those ads from triggering on 'my' site.

Sounds like the rest of you are on your own though...