adsense and the definition of a blog

[SlowMove]

I understand that I can't run adsense on blog sites, but how does google define a blog? The reason that I ask is that I'm thinking about putting a small rss portal site together. Should I stay with feeds from news and informational sites, or am I allowed to use feeds from blog sites even if I don't allow anyone to post comments on my site?

[Jenstar]

They allow blogs, you just need to get permission first. If it is your first site with AdSense, you can use it to apply to get permission. If you already have an account, just drop AdSense a support email asking whether your blog can be approved for AdSense or not.

[Small Website Guy]

Where does it say you can't put adwords on a blog? The Program Policies page only says you can't put adwords on "personal pages". This isn't defined exactly.

I presume that a "personal page" is in the nature of "Hi, I'm John Doe, these are pictures of my dog."

If people are actually visiting your site in decent numbers, it's likely not a personal page, because no one wants to look at pictures of your dog.

[Jenstar]

I just went and checked, you are right - they used to only allow blogs by permission, but it was changed a few months ago. I do remember someone had a problem with a blog that was told by AdSense to remove it but I can't find the thread on it for the reason behind the removal.

I believe the change coincided with the AdSense addition on Blogger.

[Small Website Guy]

I would say that the reason behind the rule is that Google doesn't want the Adsense ads on rarely visited pages, especially pages only visited by friends and family of the webmaster. That would make it too easily subject to fraudulent clicks.

I would guess that once Google accepts you to the program, you won't be flagged on this rule unless you are generating a very small number of page views combined with an unusually high click rate.