Will Google Ding Me for Having more than 3 pieces of Ad code?

[epicRelic]

On my website, I have very non-invasive Google ads placed within each post, but of course, only 3 show up. The problem arises from the fact that the code shows up 7 times on the page.

Will Google get mad at me for having the code on there more than 3 times, even though I know (and expect) it not to show ads?

[ganderla]

Yes. You are going to be banned for life. If google detects more than 3 ads, they will only show 3. That is why you are only seeing 3. Prepare to be banned though. Just remove it.

[epicRelic]

Why would they ban me for life even though I'm not _trying_ to have more than 3 ads?

[StoutFiles]

Why would you even break the TOS? Please explain how it's worth the risk and waking the sleeping giant.

[epicRelic]

I sure don't want to break the TOS, so does anybody have a solution to make sure the code is only run three times, because I don't think I can make the code _not_ show up in the HTML only three times. (It's on a blogger template)

[purplecape]

And why can't you create or get a different template?

[Edge]

Why would they ban me for life even though I'm not _trying_ to have more than 3 ads?

How does Google know this? Why shoud they care?

It is lots easier to just ban you and move on.

[ken_b]

Can't you just set your page template to show only 3 posts, hence 3 ad blocks?

[epicRelic]

> Can't you just set your page template to show only 3 posts, hence 3 ad blocks?

That's highly undesirable as it often has more than 3 blog posts a day.

[himalayaswater]

Be serious webmaster and get your own domain and hosting. It only cost $3-5 per month. Don't use blogger or wordpress.com, period.

You will have more control over your work.

[uhwebs]

You can make a blogger template to show as many (or few) ads as you want, regardless of posts.
Or if it's worth it to keep your account, create your own domain so you can design the site however you want...

[Atomic]

Be serious webmaster and get your own domain and hosting.

You can be serious without those, but you'll be a serious webmaster without AdSense if you don't comply with their policies.

[BrandNewDay]

It's rather sad that legit webmasters have to worry about details like these while at the same time obvious rogues commit very serious Adsense violations and get away with it for years.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[ecmedia]

In all my time here at WebmasterWorld I have never read if anyone was banned for this -- the main page of a blog, if you decide to have more than 3 posts will often show code for more than 3 ads. It is a common practice among bloggers to have several posts on the main page particularly if they blog several times a day and G's technology prevents display of more than 3 ads anyway.

[BrandNewDay]

Blogger itself provides a feature that puts an adblock in every post. Although Blogger in that case automatically only shows 3 adblocks per page, it might mean that technically, the ad code is present more than 3 times on one page. I have never thought about this being a violation of Adsense TOS. And to be honest, I think that is going to far. If Google wants me to spend time on that kind of detail (and I don't think they do), I might want to monetize my sites in other ways than with Adsense.

[edited by: BrandNewDay at 3:01 pm (utc) on June 3, 2008]

[koan]

It's very clear in Google's policies that no more than 3 ads should be shown. Why be philosophical about it and wonder if it is right or not? It's not a very difficult rule to follow. Either find a template that will only show 3 ads, or don't display Google ads.

I wish they were all that easy to comply. But this one should really not be an issue.

[BrandNewDay]

The Google Adsense Program Policies say nothing about the number of pieces of Adsense code on a page. It says:
"Up to three ad units may be displayed on each page."
So as long as only 3 ad units are "displayed", whatever the reason, you should be safe.

[Atomic]

The Google Adsense Program Policies say nothing about the number of pieces of Adsense code on a page. It says:
"Up to three ad units may be displayed on each page."
So as long as only 3 ad units are "displayed", whatever the reason, you should be safe.

The AdSense code is what displays the ad units. Put more than 3 on a page and you may very well be displaying more than 3. Using scripts may mean that you have more than 3 in the page code, but you want that script to render only 3 ad units on your page. At least that's how I would do it.

[BillyS]

Will Google get mad at me for having the code on there more than 3 times, even though I know (and expect) it not to show ads?

Give it a try and let us know how you make out. My suggestion is to start that follow up thread something like:

I Just Got Banned and I Don't Know Why :)

As a publisher, you should know exactly what's happening on your site and how content is shown. If you don't then you're just rolling the dice.

You feel lucky?