Most Important Part of the Google AdSense Program Policy

This is one of the most important part of the Google AdSense Program polices and one of the most disregarded part of it or the one which publishers tend to overlook not knowing its importance. I myself overlooked some of its basic instructions and immediately pulled out some of my advertisements in order to comply with this program policy. This is one of the reasons why so many publishers get their account penalized just by not following a simple policy. They think that this policy only discusses about the content that are not allowed to publish in your site but reading this policy very carefully not only discusses the content in your site but also the content of other sites that you are allowed to link to.

Thou shalt not link to!

Publishers may not place AdSense code on pages with content that violates any of our content guidelines. Some examples include content that is adult, violent or advocating racial intolerance.

Sites with Google ads may not include or link to:

• Pornography, adult or mature content
• Violent content
• Content related to racial intolerance or advocacy against any individual, group or organisation
• Excessive profanity
• Hacking/cracking content
• Gambling or casino-related content
• Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia content
• Sales of beer or hard alcohol
• Sales of tobacco or tobacco-related products
• Sales of prescription drugs
• Sales of weapons or ammunition (e.g. firearms, firearm components, fighting knives, stun guns)
• Sales of products that are replicas or imitations of designer goods
• Sales or distribution of coursework or student essays
• Content regarding programs which compensate users for clicking ads or offers, performing searches, surfing websites or reading emails
• Any other content that is illegal, promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others

Publishers are also not permitted to place AdSense code on pages with content primarily in an unsupported language. – Google AdSense Program Policies

Part of the the Google AdSense Policy Program mentioned above speaks about the content that you may not publish within your website if you are going to choose AdSense to monetize it. Not only does it itemizes those content that are not allowed, Google also says that you cannot link to those websites who has published the content that is not allowed. This includes advertisements, links in your posts or articles, products or services that you might endorse and other links that will point to websites publishing disallowed contents.

“Sites with Google ads may not include or link to:” This statement is where most webmasters overlook the word “link” and I read so many questions in forums if placing an ad linking to paid-to-click sites is a violation of the Google AdSense Program Policy or not. But reading this policy carefully we can derive a statement that says “Sites with Google ads may not link to Content regarding programs which compensate users for clicking ads or offers, performing searches, surfing websites or reading emails” which is clearly a violation of the program if you are using Google AdSense and at the same time will place an ad going or linking to paid-to-click sites and other related content.

So if you are using AdSense to monetize your site, always keep in mind that this Google AdSense Program Policy does not only prohibit certain types of content to be published in your site, you must also stay alert that you don’t link to websites publishing them. So be careful in accepting advertisers and guest posters, check the their links carefully, making sure that it does not make your site in violation of the Google AdSense Program Policy. Putting a disclaimer on your site or using the “nofollow” attribute to links going to site prohibited by this policy in my opinion will not excuse you; you are not allowed to link to them, period.

There is an unlimited earning potential in using Google AdSense, do your best to follow the policies laid out by Google to protect its advertisers, do take advantage of this opportunity by earning simply from the legitimate clicks of your targeted traffic or visitors.

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