Preferential Treatment by Google on Adsense TOS

I recently applied to Amazon’s Affiliate program. I was approved instantly within a day for showing Amazon ads on my blog. (Take a hint : Getting approved for Amazon affiliate program is easy!)

After Amazon approved me, I contacted Google to let them know if it’s alright to serve both AdSense and Omakase on the same page as the TOS clearly states that publishers are not allowed to serve ads that “mimic Google ads or otherwise appear to be associated with Google” or any other contextual ad service.

I’m thinking of placing Omakase (Amazons affiliate program) in my blog page along with AdSense. Can I go ahead? Already I see a lot of sites with them and Adsense together in the same page.

They replied after 4 days:

Google AdSense program policy does not permit Google ads to be published on the same web page as other contextually-targeted ads. More broadly, our policy does not permit Google ads to be displayed on the same website as ads that mimic or attempt to be associated with Google ads.

Our intent with this policy is to be as fair to our advertisers as
possible and to maintain the integrity of the AdWords and AdSense
programs.

When I pressed that “Omakase is NOT exactly contextual unlike AdSense. They sell “physical” products. It’s not PPC (pay per click), it’s CPA and pay 4% of what they earn when I send traffic from my site. So it’s more like a affiate program than a contextual program like AdSense.” They replied:

Thanks for your response. I understand you would like some clarification on our competing ads policy. Unfortunately, we generally do not provide guidance on third-party networks while they are still in beta launches.

As you already know, we do not permit Google ads to be published on web pages that also contain what could be considered competing ads. This would include all content-targeted ads as well as text-based ads. We do allow affiliate or limited-text links, but we do not allow text-based ads that either directly mimic or attempt to be associated with Google ads.

Please note that we constantly monitor all of the web pages displaying Google ads. If we find that one of your web pages violates our policies, we will notify you and ask you to remove the AdSense ad code from that page.

Joel Comm, a an Internet entrepreneur quotes here:

Omakase isn’t really a contextualized ad program like AdSense or YPN. It’s more like a kind of smart affiliate program. (Although with commissions ranging from 4 to 8.5 percent, it’s one with pretty low fees.)

AdSense team when asked to comment on this, they said:

According to our program policies, Omakase may be displayed on the same page as Google ads on your site.

How can they say no to me (a small publisher) whereas entertain the big sites? Atleast they should edit their TOS or have a clause stating that such and such site meeting this and that requirement can violate the TOS.

There are so many sites which have both AdSense and Omakase served in the same page. I’m not going to waste your time (and mine) on pointing such websites. I know Google doesn’t care some times but I want to play safe. I don’t want to loose my hard earned money.

Google AdSense also has some “premier publisher” program, where you can have different type of ads. Example of this the technology site Digg. You can also apply for the program. All websites that receive at least 20 million page views per month are eligible. At least this is acceptable as they say we need this-that and if you need our requirements, then be my guest.

Another AdSense publisher Brent also faced such issues when he wanted to serve Vibrant Media’s IntelliTXT ads with AdSense and Google didn’t allow such practice. Read more : Adsense TOS Applied on a Per Site Basis

Now I have removed all the Omakase links and I really don’t feel that bad as I don’t get heavy targeted traffic..as yet. Also I was earning something with AdSense and I didn’t want to spoil that.

Many “big sites” have been doing this for months and seems to be able to get away with it. Are we, the small bloggers, the only ones who violate the TOS?