Do Google employees have Adsense accounts themselves?

Would be rather tricky, wouldn't it?

[humblebeginnings]

There is a post in the Adwords forum in wich Adwords Advisor (= Google) states that Google employess are allowed to have Adwords accounts. Most of the advertisers in the forum are shocked to hear this because of the obvious conflict of interest.

I would like to ask the same thing concerning Adsense:
Are Google employees allowed to have Adsense accounts?
If so, how do we know they don't use their inside information to have an unfair advantage on other publishers? For example, how do we know they don't keep the best paying clicks for themselves?

[Jenstar]

Yes, Google employees have AdSense accounts, but they need to go through the same application process as anyone else. At the Google AdSense Bay Area Forum [webmasterworld.com] I spoke at, one of the AdSense Team members told how her first application was rejected for "excessive profanity".

The system is automatic, so they can't "keep" ads for employees or favorite publishers.

I think it is important for team members to have first hand experience with the program and how it works, regardless of whether it is AdSense, AdWords, Blogger or any other Google program.

[ann]

well, a little food for thought. The Google employees may have privy info to the highest paying keywords and build sites accordingly?

Ann

[hunderdown]

The Google employees may have privy info to the highest paying keywords and build sites accordingly?

How "insider" is that information, really? There are ways to figure that stuff out.

The Google staff with knowledge of the the AdSense algorithm are the real insiders, in my opinion. That's probably a pretty small group and I suspect that those employees would not be allowed to have AdSense accounts

[loganz]

those certain few who know the algorithms and what not probably get paid good to start.

as with google employees with adsense accounts.. why wouldnt they be allowed to? when you work somewhere a lot of times you get discounts and other benefits... same thing

its not like just because they work for google they can make a website capable of a huge payout. theres a lot of factors that come to play

[humblebeginnings]

This still worries me. Jenstar, are these things possible?

- Google employees who have knowledge about the bids of specific advertisers filter their AS account in order to receive better paying clicks than we get?

- Employees who fully know or operate the AW bidding mechanism have AS/AW accounts? If so, are they in a position to arrange their accounts in a way that fits the bidding mechanism they created themselves?

- Are Google employees whos job it is to monitor publishers websites and ban publishers (who do not act upon the TOS) allowed to have AS accounts themselves?
If so, are they in a position to make decisions about the monitoring and banning of their own published material?

- Do Google employees with AW accounts get discounts on their biddings?

- Do Google employees with AS accounts get the same share (30%? 50%? 70%? I dunno) of AS money as other publishers?

Just making it up on the fly, but still, are these things possible?

[Rodney]

Although there may be some Google employees with adsense accounts, I'm not sure if there are Adsense employees with Adsense accounts.

Just because you're a Google employee, I don't think it gives you access to all of Google's information.

Just like any large company, different employees probably have access to different levels of information. Probably those with "too much" access would have a conflict of interest and couldn't join.

[incrediBILL]

well, a little food for thought. The Google employees may have privy info to the highest paying keywords and build sites accordingly?

So you think Googlers are cranking out Mesothelioma sites by the truckload?

[jomaxx]

Knowing people's bids and what keywords are the highest-paying wouldn't help much, if at all. And I bet if anyone was caught trying to use that information for their own benefit they'd be canned instantly.

[bnhall]

No, what they would get canned for is creating www.factsaboutericschmidt.com

[mike schmitz]

Why are people still concerned about the highest paying clicks?

Most high paying clicks are seldom typed in.

What would you rather have? A site that gets 100 uniques a day and hopes to get a CPC of $5 or a site that everyone needs and gets a CPC of $.30? I'd take the last case every time.

All those people that built metloisloma sites or whatever are morons.

[incrediBILL]

All those people that built metloisloma sites or whatever are morons.

Either morons or lawyers, I don't see much difference really ;)

[pflyers]

A guy on my baseball team last year worked for google. From talking with him, they are just like we are.

[FromRocky]

The most infamous Google employee, Mark Jen, [webmasterworld.com] who has a blog with AdSense on it. Of course now he is an ex-Googler.

[Visi]

I would have to expect that the Google employees that have the inside track on how adsense works are also some of the more senior employees...read millionaires...with the stock offerings. Now do you really think these people need to scam their system?

[iblaine]

Surely measures are in place to prevent employees from taking advantage of their position. It will still happen regardless but the effects are likely small and I wouldn't lose any sleep over the issue.

PS, meso sites are for suckers...avoid them at all costs. Or sell them to me and get them off your hands, ;)

[asp4bunnies]

In all honesty, I don't understand why this is a concern... This isn't like gambling or winning a sweepstakes. It's business. Why can't Google employees participate even if they have an advantage? Without them there'd be no Adsense for anyone else.