Why isn't Google clamping down on sites using Adsense + contextual ads

Because I'm seeing the combination more and more...

[Karma]

I'm not sure if the global financial problems are making webmasters take greater risks than usual, but I'm noticing a big increase in the numbers of sites that are running both Adsense and contextual ads (from services such as Kontera/Vibrant) on the same page, a clear breach of the Adsense TOS.

From my limited knowledge of contextual ads - Kontera/Vibrant actively encourage using their ads on the same page as Adsense and preach the finical gains of doing so.

Are there parts of the Adsense terms and conditions that are "more acceptable" to break than others? Surely not.

It almost seems like Google is turning a blind-eye to this - they're not even making an example of the biggest players that are being used as their show-cases.

Is anyone else noticing this increase? I'm just wondering if Google are planning a similar kind of service or maybe a change of the TOS in the near-future.

Are there any documented examples of sites being removed from the Adsense program for breaching this part of the contract?

[edited by: Karma at 11:00 am (utc) on Mar. 26, 2009]

[suzany]

When's the last time you read the TOS? ;-) That is acceptable now, as long as the other ads can't be mistaken for Adsense ads.

[Karma]

!

When was this updated? I've been reading up on this most of this morning!

[Karma]

Despite my ignorance, I'd still like to know if Google are planning a similar kind of service, or is that a given?

[edited by: Karma at 11:09 am (utc) on Mar. 26, 2009]

[suzany]

Can't remember exactly when but it's been awhile -- two years? Something like that. It's definitely not a recent change.

[alephh]

I think other ads were allowed in 2007 (there is confusion about the exact month when the TOS was changed).

I'd still like to know if Google are planning a similar kind of service

What do you mean by "similar kind of service"? Annoying pop-ups?

[dolcevita]

From Jensense blog most important part (posted January 19, 2007):

It’s official! You can now run AdSense on the same page as other contextual ad programs

"I spoke with Brian Axe, senior product manager on the Google AdSense Team on the issue. “As you and others have noticed, the AdSense Terms and Conditions haven’t been updated since 2005, and we’re working on an update to the Terms to bring everything into line. Traditionally, we don’t update the Terms as frequently, since all publishers must re-agree to the Terms whenever they change.”

“When it comes to enforcing policies on third-party contextual ads, we’ll be following the updated program policies instead of the T&Cs on this point. That is to say, publishers may now display other contextual ads on the same site or page as Google ads as long as they don’t have the same look and feel as our ads,” Brian Axe tells Jennifer Slegg of JenSense."

[farmboy]

That is to say, publishers may now display other contextual ads on the same site or page as Google ads as long as they don’t have the same look and feel as our ads,” Brian Axe tells Jennifer Slegg of JenSense."

That line about "same site or page" as Google ads has always caused some angst for some. If you take the "same site" part literally, that means if you have one page with Google ads on a 10,000 page site, you can't use another service that has ads that have the same look and feel as Google ads on any of the other 9,999 pages.

There are a number of services that have the same look and feel as Google ads, YPN for one.

I wish they would clarify whether they mean not to put another ad that has the same look and feel as Google ads on the same page, or whether they literally mean they don't allow them anywhere on the same site as Google ads.

Can you comment ASA?

FarmBoy

[Swanny007]

I've tried Vibrant and Kontera alongside AdSense, been doing that for a year or more now. Kontera has been working well, to the point where it's making nearly as much as AdSense. So that's why ;-)

[netmeg]

I have rotators that display AdSense and other ads; some of the other ads are formatted in the same general sense as the AdSense - at no time to do they appear on the same page together (I only use one ad block) but I'm sure it's possible that one page could be showing an AdSense block while another page is showing an adCenter or other block. The way *I* understand the TOS, that's acceptable. I also understood it that you *could* run both on the same page as long as they were styled different - for example, the Google ad is white with blue text and no border, and the other ad is maybe light blue background with a dark border. So there can't be any mistaking.

Plus of course, most Google ads say "ads by Google"