Danger of controversial sites?

[cmendla]

I have about a dozen sites running adsense. I don't make a whole lot with the revenues but I also don't want to jeapordize it.

I have some interests in topics that are somewhat controversial.(the subject is totally legal) My main question is what is the risk of someone sabotaging my adsense account?

I would assume that google has gotten pretty sophisticated about being able to tell the source of bad clicks etc.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.

thanks

chris

[tim222]

You could experiment with other ad networks. Even if they don't pay as well, you'll get a feel on the traffic without worrying about whether it will affect AdSense.

[netmeg]

As with everything, you have to weigh the risk. Is the risk of losing your AdSense account (when Google has exhibited a tendency to shoot first and not ask questions at all) worth the risk of exploring these controversial topics and trying to monetize them? For me, it would be no. For you it could be different.

BUT if your highest priority is keeping your AdSense account intact, and there's the slightest question in your mind about the content - well then you have your answer.

[Lame_Wolf]

Personally, I see nothing in the world as controversial. What is controversial to one, is the norm for others.

There are two things you could do.

1: Check other sites that are in the same niche and see if they are running adsense.

2: Write to Adsense and ask them. Hopefully, you will not receive an automated email.

[HuskyPup]

Write to Adsense and ask them.

Definitely do this.

Whenever I have had any small doubt I have cleared it with AdSense first and if they say ok keep that e-mail safe!

[skweb]

What do you mean by legal but controversial? Politics is very controversial but so is celebrity news in some ways. I would say as long as it is legal (I am assuming that it is also in compliance with AdSense TOS) then there is nothing to fear.

[netmeg]

Well then there's the side issue of how much can you really expect to earn from AdSense run up against "controversial" topics, whatever they are. Because the smart advertisers have a way to ban their ads from appearing on "controversial" sites, and *relevant* ads probably wouldn't be allowed on AdWords in the first place.

So what it boils down to is potentially risking an AdSense account for maybe pennies. Worth it? Not to me, YMMV.

[jhood]

Controversy is the only thing worth publishing. Just ask Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. My primary site is nothing but controversy and has always done extremely well in the AdSense program, although we have been thrown out of several lily-livered ad networks that are best described as hangers-on.

[cmendla]

Jhood and everyone

Thanks for the replies. One of the reasons I asked the question in the first place was because of what jhood said about controversy selling re Beck and Limbaugh.

I am not worried so much about google having a problem with my content. What I was worried about was someone from 'the other side' deciding to sabotage me by going after my other sites in an attempt to get me banned from adsense.

So, giving that some thought, I'm removing the tinfoil hat, crumbling it up and throwing it in the recycle bin.

I do think that there is some money to be made with a strong opinion site. What I'm going to do as a precaution is to make sure that it is hosted with privacy and not on the same server as my other sites.

One of the things pushing me into this area was that I had been posting on another site that did not have any ads at all. (blog type). The amount of traffic generated per post was a lot more than traffic for more mundane posts.

We'll see what happens from there.

thank again.