Making sense of Google Adsense.
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Google Brand Features

All | Blog | Letter
To: AdSense
I have recently come across a service from iotaweb.org. It's a site that has a database of high-paying key words. Every month or so they update their database by searching AdWords prices. After several emails back and forth with the operator of the site, he assured me that he had spoken with AdSense on the matter and he was not in violation of any Google TOS. I also read through the Google/AdSense TOS and could not find any where he might be in violation.

He also has a revenue sharing program where any visitors to his site that are referred, have a chance of displaying the referrers AdSense code. I know that revenue sharing is o.k. so I put it on my site.

I just noticed today however, that although his AdSense code is still integrated on the website, he is not displaying any ads at all. This
leads me to believe his account, iotaweb.org, or both, have been suspended.

For precaution, I took the referrer link off my website just in case.

I would like to know if iotaweb.org is in fact in violation of Google or AdSense TOS, and if so in what way.

As always, thank you very much.

Googlebot gets smarter; Smile for the picture.

All | Blog
News: Google
Up until now the bot (or "crawler") that Google used to index sites was based on a lynx browser. Which is to say it "saw" text. Previously the only way to tell if information was important, was if we told Google it was by using various forms of markup and a particularly labeled comment that Google would recognize as outlining important information. To get a better idea of how Google used to see your site, load up FireFox and disable images, scripts and style sheets. Start browsing.

Enter: Googlebot 2.0

Searching for high-dollar keywords with iotaweb

All | Blog
News: AdSense
I was recently turned on to a website that has done what I'd consider the best job of providing a viable high dollar keyword search engine I have seen to date. I would be interested to know just how they do it, but I'm guessing it's a secret they're not going to let go of. They also offer a revenue sharing search widget to place on your site like the one in the sidebar of this site. It's definitely worth a look.

You'll notice a very familiar keyword already plugged in our widget. Even after all this time, mesothelioma is still an astoundingly expensive keyword. It's difficult to tell how accurate iotaweb's AdSense bid amounts are, but if you look at the YPN bid amounts you'll see it is above $25.

Advertise on this site.

All | Blog
News: AdSense
I learned of the oddity involved with Google's newest feature "Advertise on this site" recently and thought I would share my discovery. Certain wisdom would tell you that when a potential advertiser clicked on the "Advertise on this site" link, they would be taken to a place which they could sign up to advertise on that particular site; not so. Well, not all the time anyway.

A select group of publishers get notice:

All | Blog
News: AdSense
Select publishers have been receiving emails from AdSense warning describing to them the effects they may experience with the new site targeting options. Well, some of them.

I would like to address to a phrase from the email though:

As part of the test, you may see an increase in revenue as a result of advertisers selecting your site for site-targeted campaigns.
What they fail to mention is that you may also see a decrease in revenue. When users continually see the same ad over and over it causes what we call "ad blindness". It's just an easy way of saying that they get used to seeing it and ignore it. If they don't acknowledge the ad, they don't click. No click, no payment.

I think it's still too early to make any definitive calls on the new program other than people aren't fond of change, but this is Google we're talking about. Do remember these are some of the brightest people in the world.

Read the entire article for the email from Google.

Adsense on unsupported language sites.

All | Letter
To: AdSense
I have pages in English, Spanish, and Italian on my site. I plan to insert pages in Serbian too, but i see that this language is not supported. Does this mean that my site will violate AdSense TOS if i insert AdSense on Serbian pages? Will i be excluded from AdSense if i do this?
Thanks

Google comes close to disclosing payout.

All | Blog
News: AdSense
The AdSense buzz today is that Google has disclosed their payout percentage. The following was printed in a nytimes article:

Define: Confidential Information.

All | Letter
To: AdSense
I need your wisdom once again.

Is the information disclosed by the Google AdSense team in correspondence considered confidential information?

AdSense in IFRAMES

All | Letter
To: AdSense
I am uncertain about using iframes to display AdSense, and there is no clear answer in the AdSense TOS. It clearly states that I cannot obscure any part of the AdSense code, but it does not say if I can place the AdSense code in an iframe that has other content which is obscured.

The reason for my inquiry is [website]. It is an image hosting service, and as such has mostly graphical content which Google can obviously not scan for relevant keywords. I believe my audience is very interested in computer and gaming related ads, so my ads are placed on pages with content matching that criteria. The ads are then displayed through an iframe.

I have searched using google and found many many posts about using this technique, and all state that it is not against AdSense TOS. Nor could I find any reference to it in the AdSense FAQ. And since I value my AdSense account, I found it prudent to get an answer straight from the source.

Thank you in advance for providing me with the guidance I need to comply with the Terms of Service for Google AdSense.

Using AdSense with Google trademarks.

All | Letter
To: AdSense
Is there any rule against placing AdSense ads on sites that have the word 'AdSense' in the URL?

Thank you very much for answering this question.