Google AdSense Terms and Conditions Changes

February 26, 2008

[Noel]

Is it juts me?

Just now when I logged in I got a new "Google AdSenseTM Online Standard Terms and Conditions" page from AdSense

[HuskyPup]

if you have more than 100k URLs

I would venture to guess that not many here have more than 100,000 URLs!

On a personal note I have to say I am appalled that so many of you do not have Privacy, Legal and Cookie page information on your sites already.

</rant>

[TheSkepticGuy]

Indeed... I read the new T&C notices and thought, "Fine, been doing that for years."

Our privacy policy, which mentions cookie usage, has been linked on every page of the site for over three years.

[HuskyPup]

Yes, there is a reason, if you have more than 100k URLs you will not add a footer link with a privacy policy to all of them. This will cause major trouble with your ranking.

I just had a thought about this statement and decided to see who ranked #1 in Google for Privacy Policy, interestingly it is the BBC with supposedly 28,200,000 pages listed.

This Privacy & Cookies Policy page in the footer appears to linked to all their English language pages as a standard format!

The #2 result with 1,650,000 pages also does it this way.

Hey, just like me:-)

[tim222]

I just had a thought about this statement and decided to see who ranked #1 in Google for Privacy Policy, interestingly it is the BBC with supposedly 28,200,000 pages listed.

That seems reasonable. I can see where it might make a difference if the link leads to an offsite page, but it doesn't seem likely that a link to another page on the same website will affect search engine ranking.

[sven1977]

Yes, there is a reason, if you have more than 100k URLs you will not add a footer link with a privacy policy to all of them. This will cause major trouble with your ranking.

I dare to challenge above statement. Quasi every website in the world has its homepage linked from every other page of that website. Does that mean that all homepages suffer from low rankings?

I think this is only true for outgoing external links and incoming links from external sites.
If a page of your has 100k incoming links from the same external site, yes, then you are in trouble. That's why crosslinking different subdomains with each other is so dangerous since they count as different sites.

I linked to my new privacy policy page from every page of my website.

[farmboy]

Just keep in mind this thread is focused on pleasing Google. If you're in the U.S., you should consider there may be legal concerns that dictate how easy or how difficult it is to find your privacy policy on your site.

Now back to your regularly scheduled AdSense discussion.

FarmBoy

[Swanny007]

Well I'm good to go now. I grabbed bits and pieces of a couple of privacy policies and I think I've got it covered. I uploaded the same policy to each of my sites and accepted the new T&C.

[coosblues]

I've tried keeping up with this thread and it may have been addressed before, but what is one to do that has multiple sites? Here's what I've done for now. I put a Privacy Policy on my main site and then linked to it from my other sites (only 2). I'm a bit concerned about the duplicate content issue and I'm NOT going to write a separate policy for each site. I really didn't want to link the sites together, but they are in the same field and compliment one another. Thoughts please.

[Swanny007]

I have the same policy, word for word on each site. I have it linked from the home page. I guess you could add meta noindex tag if you want to avoid a duplicate content issue.

[ann]

It might be prudent to put a statement about scrapers on every page or a link to your Policy which also has the warning, on every page. It's not just all about Google it is about looking out for your best interests.

-------------------------------
From:
wilmerhale-dot-com
Privacy policy...every page or bottom of page

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act:

.....it would appear that anyone who, without authorization, uses a web "scraper" or similar computer program to access and download data from a third party website risks potential and perhaps serious legal claims from the website operator. However, the cases suggest that, for website operators that wish to protect the data available on their website, the failure to observe some basic precautions may compromise or even preclude such claims.

Specifically:

website operators should ensure that their website terms and conditions specifically prohibit unauthorized access or downloading of data using any computer program; and
website operators should either clearly identify the terms and conditions of use on each webpage containing valuable data or provide an obvious link to a webpage with those conditions.

Ann

[annej]

coosblues, That is exactly what I did.

swanny, I hadn't thought about it's being a problem but it would be pretty easy to do the same one for each site. I will noindex it anyway as I've done with my contact form and other such pages.

[farmboy]

website operators should ensure that their website terms and conditions specifically prohibit unauthorized access or downloading of data using any computer program;

I wonder how "data" is defined. The written word or "content" on a site is protected by copyright law regardless of the presence or wording of a terms and conditions page.

FarmBoy

[Visit Thailand]

Now how many people have put Ads on their privacy page?!

Sure it won't get many views but......

I am also surprised the browser compatible privacy form has not been mentioned or did that die some time ago?

[ann]

Well,FB,

Further reading will come up with lawsuits and or other remedies are lost to the webmaster if not on site.

Not being there, in lawsuits etc causes the content to come under the term: Implied consent.

I would rather err on the side of caution. :-)

Ann

[willybfriendly]

website operators should ensure that their website terms and conditions specifically prohibit unauthorized access or downloading of data using any computer program;

I wonder how "data" is defined. The written word or "content" on a site is protected by copyright law regardless of the presence or wording of a terms and conditions page.

I'd be more interested in the definition of "computer program".

Is a browser not a computer program?

[malinkacc]

Has anyone received a reply yet from google if this has to be linked on every page? or just home page, or site map etc.

[farmboy]

Further reading will come up with lawsuits and or other remedies are lost to the webmaster if not on site.

Not being there, in lawsuits etc causes the content to come under the term: Implied consent.

If I understand correctly, you're saying the protections provided by copyright law are not sufficient to protect content on a web site and that specific wording must be present in terms and conditions somewhere on the site to enjoy the protections provided by copyright law.

That's certainly at odds with the information provided on the U.S. Copyright Office's site and it's news to me.

But if you know of such a legal ruling, please provide a reference. We should probably take this over to the Copyright and Content board instead of here. Plus, I think the people on that board would also be very interested in the reference you find.

FarmBoy

[annej]

Has anyone received a reply yet from Google if this has to be linked on every page? or just home page, or site map etc.

Look in this thread at message #:3590531 from Ember

[nickreynolds]

I've dipped in and out of this thread. Apologies if this has been mentioned or if its a stoopid question.
How will they enforce this privacy policy thing? Is it just, they will look for it if an issue arises or will they disqualify sites that don't have it?
Some people may want to use a robots.txt nofollow to avoid potential duplicate content. However if Google sets an algo to check if people have a privacy policy then using a robots.txt nofollow would be unhelpful as then Google wouldn't be able to find your policy?!

[malinkacc]

Where do I find # 3590531 ?

[annej]

I found it about two pages back in this thread. It's a pain finding messages by number but I don't know a better way.

Here is what Ember said.

I asked Google about linking to the privacy policy from every page and they said it just has to be from the homepage. I'd post the exact wording they sent but I can't do it here.

[LostOne]

"avoid potential duplicate content"

I find it hard to understand why anyone would be concerned with dup content on a privacy page? Am I missing something here?

[annej]

Am I missing something here?

Yes, you must have lost your tin foil hat.

{I'll admit to being a little paranoid at times at well. Crazy what we wind up worrying about but strange things happen with Google and dup content is one way us earthlings try to make sense of it all.)

[tallguy]

jensense has given a privacy policy format which we can use.

[AdSenseAdvisor]

Hi all,

Although our response to this thread is late, I figure better late than never. Apologies once again for the absence of an ASA here when our new Ts&Cs were introduced. I am happy to clarify the aspects that you have questions about.

Regarding web beacons/cookies, in most countries the standard business practice is to notify users of third-party cookies and/or web beacons in a site's privacy policy. Please note, however, that we cannot comment specifically on what the laws in individual countries may require.

I see that some users would like us to provide an example of privacy policy language, or indicate where and how this language should be displayed. Unfortunately, we can't provide advice as to how you display your privacy policy because this depends on your site. We appreciate your understanding.

Regarding some publishers noticing the Terms and Conditions appearing in a language other than their account language; the language of the Terms and Conditions that appear in your account depends on your interface language preference and the location of your payment address, which is why you the Ts&Cs may have appeared in a language other than that of your Google interface.

You can read the Ts&Cs in another language by visiting the Help Center (http://www.google.com/adsense/support), choosing your preferred language from the drop-down, and choosing the Terms and Conditions link at the bottom of the page. Please note that the Terms and Conditions vary according to the country/territory of your payment address. If you select a different country, the Terms and Conditions you see may not be identical to those appearing in your AdSense account, and therefore may not apply to you.

If you have any other concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know.

ASA

[creeking]

hello, ASA.

does Google use web beacons in its adsense ads?

[kaz]

Can you clarify if there are any requirements in regards to linking to the privacy policy

Any page with adsense
All pages on site
Only from home page

Or just do what you think is best?

I think your answer, whatever it is, will help us understand expectations regarding this a little better.

[annej]

This question was already answered in this thread at message #:3590531. I quoted it just a few messages back.

But I can understand you many want the answer from straight from ASA to be sure.

[edited by: annej at 1:41 am (utc) on Mar. 11, 2008]

[kaz]

Thanks anne! I didn't catch that. Just from the homepage is a good answer to me. Unless I hear otherwise from ASA.

[farmboy]

I haven't yet accepted the terms as I've been waiting for the dust to settle.

Yet when I login now I don't see the page asking me to accept or decline or delay.

Anyone else or just me?

FarmBoy