Google Ban from AdSense Application

anyone been grey barred after adsense ap

[nuevojefe]

I'm interested in applying for AdSense, but my concern is that we have some "sponser ads" at the bottom of the site.

They are plain text off topic links, basically the advertisers want some PR and anchor text.

What's the chances of us getting accepted, and further what are the chances of us getting a ban if a human editor sees that while checking for adsense eligibility?

[Blue_Fin]

You can email [e-mail] and ask them before you apply for the program.

[cornwall]

>>what are the chances of us getting a ban if a human editor sees that while checking for adsense eligibility?

I think yu have to weigh the pros and cons, what do you stand to earn from AdSense against what you stand to loose from dropping the "paid links"

Make a decision on whether to take the links off or not based on that equation.

If someone is paying you for links then I assume that you have high traffic (and high PR), so you should stand to earn reasonably well from AdSense.

[jomaxx]

This is obviously just a guess, but I don't think having sponsors per se should set off any alarms. It's extremely normal - just be sure not to mention Google or Pagerank in the context of any sales pitches on the site.

However that's an excellent point in general. As an AdSense publisher your site is guaranteed to get a lot of personal attention from humans at Google, so you should stay away from any deceptive search engine optimizations.

[europeforvisitors]

I agree that sponsor links per se shouldn't be a problem. If you've got a site for stereophiles, it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a hi-fi equipment manufacturer as a sponsor. But if your stereophile site's "sponsor" is an affiliate site that's selling weight-loss remedies or hotel rooms, Google can hardly be blamed for thinking the worst. :-)

[jomaxx]

Yeah, that sort of thing looks dubious, but I think AdSense people probably have better things to do than investigate such a triviality.

[europeforvisitors]

Yeah, that sort of thing looks dubious, but I think AdSense people probably have better things to do than investigate such a triviality

What's to investigate? The Webmaster hasn't even applied yet. When he does, Google will take a look at the site, and there's certainly a chance that the Googleperson will notice those questionable sponsor links and click "no" instead of "yes."

[jomaxx]

Well those ads are totally irrelevant with respect to the terms of service of AdSense (as long as they aren't casino ads or something). I think nuevojefe's concern is that it will result in a penalty on the search engine side.

[Jenstar]

It shouldn't be a problem. But then I am sure that many of the people who are doing the really black hat stuff with great success in the regular serps probably aren't eager to wave their site in front of Google employees - even though they are from the AdSense team and the FAQ says that running AdSense has no bearing on the regular serps.

Like with anything, balance the possible negatives with the positives and see what comes out ahead, but in your case it sounds as though it shouldn't be a problem.

And on a related note, it is believed that each site running AdSense receives a hand check by the AdSense team for compliance now, so if there is something on your site you don't want to bring Google's attention to, applying with a "clean" site then adding the code to your "not-so-clean" site is not truly an effective workaround.

[europeforvisitors]

And on a related note, it is believed that each site running AdSense receives a hand check by the AdSense team for compliance now...

That much be a huge undertaking. Does anybody outside Google have even a rough idea of how many publishers are in the AdSense network?

[nuevojefe]

[nuevojefe's concern is that it will result in a penalty on the search engine side.]

Exactly. It's not that I am worried whether or not I will get approved for adsense, I can live without it... It's just that if I get denied for adsense and then also get a SERP penalty then I'm f...ed.

Of course the AdSense revenue could help a lot since the products offered on the site should attract visitors that will click thru for related listings.

BTW, since I haven't applied yet and been accepted, could some one real quick tell me what you get paid per click? (obviously different for certain terms, is there a method for computing using AdWords bids?)

[PatrickDeese]

I recommended to a friend that he apply for a Adsense with a "clean website" and then a few days later throw the code on the sites with some "promotional" interlinking etc.

Hasn't seemed to hurt him.

[Jenstar]

And on a related note, it is believed that each site running AdSense receives a hand check by the AdSense team for compliance now...

That much be a huge undertaking.

AdSense Advisor commented on this last month:

Finally (for now!) in regards to the quality of sites, there is a team of quality specialists who are increasing the monitoring of existing sites. They're reviewing all sites running the AdSense code, and sending warnings to anyone not in compliance with the policies. This is an ongoing effort to weed out those who are abusing the system.
[webmasterworld.com...] msg#30

I agree, it is a huge undertaking, but I think it is very neccessary to the success of AdSense and to keep the advertisers happy and opting in (or prevent them from opting out) from AdSense.

[PatrickDeese]

Just to make it clear, there was nothing wrong with the content of the 2nd site, it just was a question of avoiding the possibility of any sort "spam report" initiated within the Google intranet (I have a feeling that those probably take precedence over ones from "outside"). ;)

[buckworks]

One way I've seen that such links might cause problems is by confusing Adsense. Adsense sometimes latches on to the oddest things when deciding what ads to serve, and off-topic links can trigger off-topic ads. That might make Adsense less productive for you.

[nuevojefe]

buckworks,

Thanks, that is a good point.

Thanks to everyone else, your input has been great.