Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I wonder how many of you have tried this.
So let's see: you're bragging about putting up a page with AdSense devoid of content except a picture that you don't own the copyright of and that can't be of any actual use to anyone.
Did you also disable the back button to keep the CTR high?
I guess if I wanted G to close down my accounts sharpish I'd (1) do what you have done (2) brag about it in a public forum that their employees visit daily (3) email G the URL and tell them to stick their ToS right up /dev/null.
Was my response what you were hoping for? If you are not trolling then I advise you to take down that page (and anything similar) ASAP.
Rgds
Damon
If I were you I'd do it *NOW* and stop breaking the ToS *NOW*.
G's robots don't sleep, and if they happen to wander across your page (and any similar that you have) before you take it down then you may be facing a ban, or at least an additional "bad smell" recorded against your account.
All for how much dubiously-acquired ad-click money?
Rgds
Damon
a) sounds like something quite reasonable to encounter on any random blog. When the point of a page is the picture, it's not that uncommon to have little or no text with it, IME.
b) poster didn't mention any attempt to deceive, that I could see.
c) poster didn't say how he's getting traffic; so if Google's sending him free traffic, then that's apparently their best judgement that the page is worthwhile.
d) poster didn't mention any attempt to force clicks that I could see; if people are clicking and SmartPricing isn't hammering him, then presumably the page is succeeding at connecting customers to advertisers.
e) don't know where the traffic stream is coming from, but I would sort of expect that folks seeking info on NASA and space are more likely than the average bear to know where the Back button is if they don't like the page.
f) far from their old policy of asking people to limit where they put ads, seems like Google these days pretty much wants you to plaster your ads everywhere and let them decide whether it works or not and how much to pay you for it.
What have I missed that makes this likely to raise Google's ire?
If it were me, I would almost certainly have more text than the OP has, but that would be about it.
ToS problems as I see them:
1) The picture is not generally what seems to count as content in AS terms.
2) Using images/MP3s/movies/etc that you're not authorised to use by the copyright holder is against the letter and spirit of AS. Much satellite imagery is NOT from NASA and NOT public domain. (And G doesn't want to be caught up in licensing arguments I assume.)
3) A page where the only way out is ads is often called "MFA" in WW. If the point is to have a funny page, then absolutely well and good. If it's to make money out of AS then don't do it, since the only content on the page is not yours to make money out of.
4) Getting well-paid aerospace ads on a contentless page, and then getting paid for clicks that have almost zero chance of converting is not good for the advertisers.
Rgds
Damon
[edited by: DamonHD at 7:20 pm (utc) on Aug. 20, 2006]
On a side note, if you're so serious, don't ever forget putting the Registration mark whenever you type GoogleŽ and AdsenseŽ anywhere!
There's no blog where 100% of the content actually belongs to the author of the blog.
It was discussed many times that images are considered content.
Finally, I only suggest the owner of the post to decrease the number of ad units on that page. More than one ad unit on a page with only a picture would surely look spammy. Adding more text will also help much.
[edited by: Alioc at 8:02 pm (utc) on Aug. 20, 2006]
There's no blog where 100% of the content actually belongs to the author of the blog.
Yes there is, mine. And not only my "blog", but several other websites of mine only host text written by me and pictures taken by me, nowhere else to be found on the Internet.
And that's why I can't make a page in 6 minutes.
AdSense support responded that ad targetting might be a problem with very little content surrounding the picture and that PSAs showing might be the result. They didn't write that it was against the T&C, which I specifically asked about.
According to the OP the ads are targetted to the keywords (NASA related), so I guess there is enough text information for the targetting algorithm. He also didn't mention disabling the back button or that no internal links to other pages were present, so we should assume that this is a legitimate page on a normal site until proven otherwise.
The only problem might be copyright, but I do not know the copyright status of satellite images taken from Google Earth.
There's no blog where 100% of the content actually belongs to the author of the blog.Yes there is, mine.
Just curious, you don't accept comments on your blog from visitors?
Just curious, you don't accept comments on your blog from visitors?
Indeed. On my blog I have disabled comments. And my other websites also don't have a possibility for visitors to write public comments.
I once experimented with a comments window on my entertainment site.
The result:
- Spam, spam, spam...
- Thousands of return visitors, but guess what; they were busy with their own comments instead of clicking my ads.
- My site was polluted with offensive comments. It took me several hours a week to moderate.
I decided to no longer accept comments and to keep control over my own sites...
Ann
And that's why I can't make a page in 6 minutes.
[edited by: youfoundjake at 1:27 am (utc) on Aug. 21, 2006]
Can I post images to the web?
We're flattered to hear that you're further incorporating Google Earth into your online world. You can personally use an image from the application (for example on your website, on a blog or in a word document) as long as you preserve the copyrights and attributions including the Google logo attribution. However, you cannot sell these to others, provide them as part of a service, or use them in a commercial product such as a book or TV show without first getting a rights clearance from Google.
It took me all of about 5 seconds of searching to find.
Is a website with AdSense a "commercial product" according to this? Maybe, but probably not. Especially since Google is making money from it as well.
But Acting on Damon's advice I have removed the site....
now i feel much better
Well, thank you for being gracious about my quite <ahem> strong </ahem> suggestions: I've seen too many dishonest people around here asking for the best way to rob banks! Glad that you seem not to be among them!
BTW, I like your original idea of the view from space! Just not happy from the advertisers' point of view...
Rgds
Damon
