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Policy violations based on search queries

csdude55

5:53 am on Mar 3, 2018 (gmt 0)

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This is an odd one, guys. My site has 8 separate search fields, letting users search through a local business directory, classifieds, and multiple message boards.

For the last couple of months, though, I'm getting hit with near-constant violations that are based on search queries! For example, if someone searches for "guns" or "pistol", the resulting GET url is showing up as a violation; eg:

www.example.com/classifieds/?query=guns

I'm not linking to this query result anywhere, so I'm not even sure how it's being picked up.

This is blowing my mind... how could I prevent users from searching for things like that? Especially when there's no way for me to know every possible gun-related term they could use. Double-especially when they're searching the message boards for discussions about things like the recent school shooter, and they might search for something including "assault rifle".

Obviously I can't control what people search for, so I'm currently waiting until a violation happens and then disabling ads for that specific URL. But this is reactive, and I'm nervous about getting so many violations. I'm seriously getting at least one a week.

The search engines account for a significant amount of traffic, so I don't want to remove ads from search results entirely, either.

Any other suggestions?

keyplyr

6:22 am on Mar 3, 2018 (gmt 0)

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I'm not linking to this query result anywhere, so I'm not even sure how it's being picked up

Chrome users?

The search engines account for a significant amount of traffic, so I don't want to remove ads from search results entirely, either.
Any other suggestions?

Instead of actual Search Fields on the pages containing adds, you could use Pseudo Search Fields.

When a uses puts the cursor into the field to start typing, the actual Search Field either pops up as a child window, or the user is taken to a new page (without ads) to execute the search.

Google & Bing both do this on mobile.

Easy to set up as a () action within your search code.

robzilla

6:46 am on Mar 3, 2018 (gmt 0)

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Here I was thinking AdSense ad units could not be placed on search results pages, but apparently [webmasterworld.com] it's been allowed for at least 12 years (feel old yet?). Perhaps you can weed out the bulk of it with a dictionary of sensitive words? Not an easy task, of course.

Maybe contact AdSense and ask if you're at risk those constant "violations"; I'm sure it's a common issue.

I'm not linking to this query result anywhere, so I'm not even sure how it's being picked up.

It's not about links, this isn't Search; every page you serve AdSense ads on is going to be "picked up".

TravisDGarrett

10:19 am on Mar 3, 2018 (gmt 0)

Obviously I can't control what people search for...

Display Adsense only on pages on which you control the content (including the URL)

If this is only the words in the URL causing problem, then use POST instead of GET and avoid having h1 title like "Search results for Guns".

denisl

10:49 am on Mar 3, 2018 (gmt 0)

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If this is only the words in the URL causing problem, then use POST instead of GET and avoid having h1 title like "Search results for Guns".

I would expect that the search results on that page are an issue.

I too did not realise that you could put adsense on search result pages, but I guess that some things that are now allowed may not work in practice. In this case, the difficulty of controlling user input, makes the use of adsense a risk in my mind.

TravisDGarrett

11:27 am on Mar 3, 2018 (gmt 0)

In this case, the difficulty of controlling user input, makes the use of adsense a risk in my mind.

Agree.

robzilla

12:52 pm on Mar 3, 2018 (gmt 0)

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use POST instead of GET

If you do, keep the following from AdSense crawler errors [support.google.com] in mind:

Using POST data
If your site sends POST data along with URLs (for example, passing form data via a POST request), it's possible that your site is rejecting requests that are not accompanied by POST data. Note that since Google's crawlers will not provide any POST data, such a setup would prevent the crawlers from accessing your page. If the page content is determined by the data the user inputs to the form, consider using a GET request.

Cornish

11:45 am on Mar 5, 2018 (gmt 0)

Just reading the prohibited content policies. As far as I can tell, the word 'gun' (or variations upon) shouldn't be a policy violation in itself. It would only be a violation if the results appeared to be either advocating violence or promoting the sale of weapons. What kind of results to people get if they search for gun-related terms?

NickMNS

3:56 pm on Mar 5, 2018 (gmt 0)

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If I were you I would remove Adsense off the search pages. This will solve your current issue. But in light of the new "brand-safety" policy/update the likelihood that those ads are not being suitably filled by AdSense is pretty high. This is because each url is new (from Adsense's perspective). So the that ads are not earning you very much, and thus the cost of removing them is small.

Moreover, if brand-safety is or becomes an issue on your site it will be unlikely that you will be able to have your site white-listed if there is a records of requests for url with questionable search terms. So what I am saying is that you are putting all you earnings at risks to gain a few extra pennies off a few page views.

I'm not linking to this query result anywhere, so I'm not even sure how it's being picked up

If you are displaying an ad on the page AdSense is getting a request.