AdSense Has a TOS? (A Summary for the Lazy)
Ever since AdSense was introduced I have noticed what I believe to be a worrying trend. Now this isn’t a trend that started with AdSense as it seems to be 
everywhere. Very few people read the Program Policies and Terms of Service (TOS) when they sign up and I am amazed at some of the sites which regularly break it, usually through ignorance. What is to follow is a summary of the most often broken areas of the TOS. This should not be taken as a complete summary and I still firmly believe that every AdSense publisher should fully read the TOS before they put up the first ad and reread it every time their is a change or addition.
Clinking on Your Own Ads
Prohibited Clicks and Impressions
Any method that artificially generates clicks or impressions is strictly prohibited. These prohibited methods include but are not limited to: repeated manual clicks or impressions, incentives to click or to generate impressions, using robots, automated click and impression generating tools, or other deceptive software. Please note that clicking on your own ads for any reason is prohibited, to avoid potential inflation of advertiser costs.
This by far is the most violated part of the TOS even though it is the most talked about. It seems people give all kinds of reasons for clicking on their own ads and some of the most common and/or funny from the various forums are:
I was interested in the site advertised
My cat/dog/rabbit jumped on the mouse while it was over an ad
I was just testing to see if they worked
The money is going to Charity
Note that Google clearly states that clicks on your own site are not allowed for ANY reason. In the end you are responsible for every click so no matter what your reason, they can decide to ban you. Incidently, this also includes using proxies or other means to generate clicks. It will catch up to you and you stand to lose all the money in your account (even the valid clicks). Typically, sites are red flagged and then reviewed before the next payment cycle so you could actually “get away with it” for a while if you weren’t accumulating money very fast but the odds of actually seeing that money are close to zero.
Support This Site
Incentives
Web pages may not include incentives of any kind for users to click on ads. This includes encouraging users to click on the ads or to visit the advertisers’ sites as well as drawing any undue attention to the ads. For example, your site cannot contain phrases such as “click here,” “support us,” “visit these links,” or other similar language that could apply to any ad, regardless of content. These activities are strictly prohibited in order to avoid potential inflation of advertiser costs. In addition, publishers may not bring unnatural attention to sites displaying ads or referral buttons through unsolicited mass emails or unwanted advertisements on third-party websites. Publishers are also not permitted to use deceptive or unnatural means to draw attention to or incite clicks on referral buttons.
It has been quite common in years past to actually include text to the effect of “Please support this site by visiting our sponsors” and that was completely legitimate. After all, they were paying a set amount and wanted as much traffic as possible. With AdSense however, because each click costs money, it is not permissible to request your visitors to click on the ads for ANY reason. In fact their are only two acceptable forms of labeling your ads which are “Sponsored Links” and “Advertisements”. Anything else and you risk a ban for drawing attention or inciting clicks.
You also cannot bring undue attention which could not only mean text but also images such as flashing arrows or pointing hands. If you are unsure if something draws attention, you can contact Google and they will let you know.
Types of Sites
Site Content
Site may not include:
- Excessive profanity
- Violence, racial intolerance, or advocate against any individual, group, or organization
- Hacking/cracking content
- Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia
- Pornography, adult, or mature content
- Gambling or casino-related content
- Excessive advertising
- Any other content that promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others
- Pop-ups, pop-unders or exit windows that interfere with site navigation, obscure Google ads, change user preferences, or are for downloads. Other types of pop-ups, pop-unders, or exit windows may be allowed, provided that they do not exceed a combined total of 5 per user session
- Excessive, repetitive, or irrelevant keywords in the content or code of web pages
- Deceptive or manipulative content or construction to improve your site’s search engine ranking, e.g., your site’s PageRank
- Incentives (monetary or point-based) to users or third-party beneficiaries for online activity including, but not limited to, clicking on ads or links, performing searches, surfing websites, reading emails, or completing surveys
- Sales or promotion of certain weapons, such as firearms, ammunition, balisongs, butterfly knives, and brass knuckles
- Sales or promotion of beer or hard alcohol
- Sales or promotion of tobacco or tobacco-related products
- Sales or promotion of prescription drugs
- Sales or promotion of products that are replicas or imitations of designer goods
This part is pretty self explanatory but the most common sites I see that don’t qualify yet people have used their AdSense code on are Warez and Paid to Surf sites. These sites do not qualify and lathough most times you get a warning first, don’t rely on that as its not worth risking the ban.
Be Wary of Free Hosting
Site Functionality
Your site must not contain broken links and must be launched, functioning, and easily navigable
This is a lot less common but be aware that many free hosting sites have a bandwisth limit where your site will stop responding if you get too much traffic. If this commonly happens during the last few days of the month, be sure to upgrade. You should do this anyway as a way to build your site but if it takes the financial aspect to convince you, so be it.
Last Few Important Bits
Ad Placement
Up to three ad units may be displayed on each Web site page.
A maximum of two Google AdSense for search boxes may be placed on a page.
A single link unit may be placed on each Web site page, in addition to the ad units and search boxes specified above. Link units are considered to be ‘Google ads’ for purposes of these program policies.
A single referral button per product may be placed on a page, in addition to the ad units, search boxes, and link units specified above. Referral buttons are considered to be ‘Google ads’ for purposes of these program policies.
No Google ad may be placed on any non-content-based pages.
No Google ad or Google search box may be displayed on any domain parking websites, pop-ups, pop-unders, or in any email.
No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant.
Elements on a page must not obscure any portion of the ads, and the ad colors must be such that any ad elements, including text and URL, are visible.
Clicks on Google ads must not result in a new browser window being launched.
These last few are commonly asked about although don’t seem to be abused as much. I added this section as its important to note that ads connot be on pop ups, pop unders, or within emails. Its also important that the ads not be obscured in any way. In other words, you can’t use layers to hide the bits you don’t want visitors to see such as “Ads by Goooooogle”, etc.
Overall, just be sure to read the TOS as many times as you can or at least until you fully understand it. If you don’t understand a part of it you can either contact Google or one of the many webmaster resources out there such as the AdSense Forum over at DP. If you stick by these guidelines you can enjoy a long professional life making lots of money within the AdSense program. Try to cut corners and while you may make a few extra dollars, it will surely catch up to you sooner or later and in the long run you will lose out on major money.
Good Luck!