Saying that there is one type affiliate ad that is a bit questionable. Amazon has an ad block that brings up ads related to the text on the page. I'd avoid that just to be safe.

It's not only allowed but it is a wise thing to do. It's not good to have all your eggs in one basket.
Saying that, there is one type affiliate ad that is a bit questionable. Amazon has an ad block that brings up ads related to the text on the page. I'd avoid that just to be safe.

Just to clarify a bit, you can mix AdSense and affiliate ads on the same page, not just the same site. And it's useful because AdSense requires JavaScript to be enabled. If a visitor has JS disabled, you want something to show that doesn't require it.

Google TOS prohibits mixing AdSense with other content-targeted ads on the same page. Google has not officially clarified whether Amazon's Omakase ads (and potentially also their beta experiment Recommended Product ads) fit Google's definition of "content-targeted", and there are letters reprinted online in which Google has told various individuals that they may use those ads. They haven't given blanket approval, though, and I, too, have chosen to go the cautious route.

However, there is an easy workaround. It only takes a tiny bit of php code to determine by random number whether to display AdSense OR some other contextual ad on each particular display of the page. By this method you can display AdSense some percentage of the time and the other ads the rest of the time. You can compare the results and choose or adjust the percentages according to performance, without violating any TOS.

Or use other ads on pages where AdSense turns out not to work well.

[edited by: SteveWh at 2:52 pm (utc) on Mar. 8, 2007]

I have an affiliate and adsense on my website but I have not used any php. I'm displaying both affiliate and adsense ad side-by-side.

[edited by: Gazatteer at 8:43 pm (utc) on Mar. 12, 2007]