Google Bans Deceptive AdSense Ad Placements

It took them long enough, but Google has finally put the kabosh on deceptive ad placements. Specifically:

• You can’t place ads under misleading titles or headings; and
• You can’t blend the ads such that they’re indistinguishable from other content.

This is not a ban against ad blending in general — choosing ad colors to match the color scheme of the rest of the page — but a ban against ad placements that are specifically designed to fool the user into thinking the ads are not ads, but content.

I’ve seen some egregious placements over the years. I remember once reading an ebook that specifically recommended you use a heading like “Top 10 Methods To Stop Smoking” followed by a large rectangle ad unit and then a list of 6 stop-smoking tips. This made it seem like the ads (which would normally — but not always! — show 4 ads) were part of the list. That kind of reader duping is now specifically forbidden.

Google Improving the Content Network

These measures are part of Google’s overall strategy of improving the quality of the sites in the Google Content Network, which includes us AdSense publishers. AdWords advertisers can now use demographics to target the content network . Many of the recent messages from Google to its AdWords customers have been trying to encourage advertisers to try the Content Network.

It may be that Google is seeing slower growth in its core search advertising business and has therefore renewed focus on the contextual advertising business. It’s too bad it’s taken so long for these things to happen, though.

See also Search Engine Roundtable.

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