GETTING STARTED WITH ADSENSE (3) ADSENSE BASICS GOOGLE ADSENSE FOR DUMMIES

 

GOOGLE ADSENSE FOR DUMMIES PART 1. ADSENSE BASICS CHAPTER 2. GETTING STARTED WITH ADSENSE (3)

 

Understanding Google’s Policies If you’ve read anything at all online about AdSense, you’ve probably seen the phrase “familiarize yourself with the AdSense Program Policies” at least as many times as you’ve seen the moon. There’s good reason for that. Google is very strict about AdSense users (publishers, in their jargon) following the guidelines set forth in the AdSense Program Policies document. If you don’t adhere to the program policies, Google reserves the right to disable your AdSense account. And Google will — faster than you can say “What did I do wrong?” They’re that serious about the guidelines because the appearance of your site and your adherence to their guidelines determine how people view the advertisements. Google wants to be in users’ good graces, and your cooperation helps to accomplish that. The program policies aren’t filled with quite as much legalese as you might find in other policy documents, but you’ll encounter ten-dollar words like pursuant. Here’s a quick list of what you’ll encounter in the policy document: Legalese The document starts with an explanation of Google’s legal rights. Basically, the Google lawyers are telling you that you need to be nicer and follow the guidelines Google sets forth or Google can — and will, if it becomes necessary — disable your AdSense account. The rub here is that after your account is disabled, you’re just finished. You can’t use AdSense anymore. (Yes, you could try to cheat fate by creating a new account, but if Google finds out it’s you, they’ll just shut you down all over again.) Invalid clicks and impressions “Clicks on Google ads must result from genuine user interest.” That’s the first line of the most highly debated section of the program policies. This section of the policy lays out the guidelines for what constitutes a valid click. If you click your own ads, those clicks are invalid. If you program (or purchase) some piece of software to click your ads, those clicks are invalid. And these types of invalid clicks are click fraud. Click fraud is fraudulently clicking your own or someone else’s ads with the intent of affecting AdSense revenues or AdWords costs and is enough to get you banned from AdSense completely, no questions asked — and please don’t re-apply. A valid click or impression has these qualities: ·         It’s initiated by a real user to your Web site. ·         The actual click is performed by a real, live person. ·         The click is the result of genuine interest in the content of the advertisement by the real, live person. Any clicks that don’t meet these requirements can be (and usually are) considered invalid clicks. Clicking your own ad even one time could get you banned from AdSense. It’s not worth it. AdSense has a testing capability — the AdSense preview tool. It’s a small application you have to download and add to your computer’s registry, which allows you to see what the ads look like and how they behave without having to click your own ads. Download the preview tool from the AdSense Help Center at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/. In the Help Center, search for preview tool. You should be taken to a search results page where the top result is a link to the page from which you can download the preview tool. The directions on the page walk you through downloading and installing the preview tool. Here’s one catch: If you’re a Firefox user, the preview tool won’t be much help. It only works with Internet Explorer. For the purposes of previewing your AdSense ad blocks, it might be wise to keep Internet Explorer as a backup browser. You don’t have to use it all the time — just when you want to preview your AdSense ad blocks. Encouraging clicks You can’t point out ads. You can’t pay people to click your ads. You also can’t use any kind of misleading titling around the ads (for example, using a Favorite Sites title when the ads really are just advertisements), and you must be cautious about the graphics you include around ad blocks. If they’re at all misleading and appear to be associated with the ads, that’s more fodder for the banning machine. Site content Google’s requirements for site content are basic: no violent content, no adult content, nothing related to gambling, and nothing associated with any type of illegal activities. But that’s not all. Google also frowns on Web sites that are related to anything that could be construed as controversial — tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and weaponry of any kind. Google stops just short of disallowing ads on political pages, though that might not be a bad idea. Copyrighted materials This should really go without saying, but plagiarized content will ensure that Google pulls your AdSense access. Copyright infringement is a serious crime; one that’s more prevalent on the Internet than grains of sand on a beach. Many people mistakenly believe that because articles and other content on the Web are on the Web, they’re free for anyone to use. That’s not the case, and Google is a bulldog in the copyright protection arena. The Google crawler, which is the program that looks at your Web site to determine the main topics, or keywords, that are relevant to the site, can determine if the content on your page is original or if it appears in another place on the Web. If it’s not original and you can’t prove you have permission to use it, you’ll pay the price. So, be kind; use original content. Webmaster Guidelines Google’s Webmaster Guidelines tell you everything you need to know about what the company expects from the design of a Web site. The document is pretty complicated, but it can be summed up in one word: simplicity. Keep your Web site simple, easy to use, and relevant to your site visitors, and you shouldn’t run into any problems with Google where site design is concerned. Of course, it still doesn’t hurt to familiarize yourself with and follow the Webmaster Guidelines. Site and ad behaviour The real key to staying in Google’s good graces (for both search engine ranking and the AdSense program) is to design your Web site with the end user in mind. If you’re designing a site strictly to collect ad clicks, you might get a high number of visitors for a short time, but that number will fall like a penny dropped from the Empire State building as soon as users figure out what you’re up to. Or worse, Google will figure it out first and ban you from AdSense and probably from search engine rankings, too. A much better idea is to design your site for site visitors. Provide the information that visitors are looking for. They’ll spend more time on your site, which means more exposure to AdSense ads, which means ultimately more clicks. And Google will leave you alone to make your money. Not a bad trade for doing things the right way instead of trying to deceive site visitors. Ad placement In case there was any doubt, Google set up guidelines for how and where ad units can be placed on your site. The policy document lists the particulars, but it’s safe to say that Google wants ads tastefully displayed and in context. Google also doesn’t want visitors overwhelmed by the number of ads on a page, so, you’ll also find guidelines for how many ad blocks of each type you can have on any given Web page. Competitive ads and services Google stops just this side of saying you can’t use other advertising services, but only because denying your freedom to use any program without thought of how It could be misconstrued as a Google capability is creating a monopoly. And monopolies draw the attention of Big Brother. He’s a sibling no one wants to spend time with. Product-specific policies AdSense has a few different divisions, such as Internet ads, video ads, radio ads, and a massive variety of content ads. Google is slowing working into many other types of advertising as well. Because there are so many different types of media in which you can use AdSense, and all those media differ in some way, there have to be policies that directly address some of the differences for each medium. You can find those guidelines at www.google.com/ adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=71600.