Adrants says Feedster #1 blog, Engadget might be in breach of Google AdSense terms of service because it is putting more than three ad units per page. Its actually the case on other popular Weblogs Inc. Network blogs, like Luxist. Not knowing anything specific, I have a feeling that something’s up. Jason has said that he makes a million dollars from AdSense, and I am not sure he is dumb enough to jeopardize all that. Don’t you think? (I just confirmed this with Google, which says it is an experiment with Engadget.)
Perhaps that’s why I think this Adrants piece is a bunch of baloney. It is quite possible that Google might be toying with the idea of boosting ad-units per page, and Weblogs Inc. might be a test case. Mind you, I am just thinking out loud. I think the implications of this could be big - for instance more revenues for Google from AdSense. (Folks forgive me for feeling uncharacteristically optimistic and looking at the glass half full!)
(I just confirmed this with Google, which says it is an experiment with Engadget.)
7 comments so far
3:08 PM PT
Right in comments there Jason says he’s doing nothing wrong. Someone with his amount of pageviews has got to be able to negotiate special treatment from AdSense folks. I could see how Google would be open to collaborate with EnGadget on that seeing how their pages are *long*, so inserting an extra ad doesn’t create the overload effect.
3:12 PM PT
Om:
Jason replied to AdRants in the comments to their post:
“My official statement:
If you would like information on Google Adsense running on our sites please contact Google’s press or Adsense departments. I can assure you we are not violating any terms with them.
I can not discuss the issue beyond on that.”
So your uncharacteristic optimism is completely justified. The glass, in this case, is decidedly half-full.
Disclosure: I write a number of Weblogs, Inc.’s blogs.
3:22 PM PT
If Jason did disclose how much he makes from AdSense, that in itself is a violation of the Google AdSense TOS.
3:50 PM PT
I don’t think they have been testing this out yet. Some people inadvertly breach the contract by using rss feeds with ads in them. This is a tricky thing since someone could put it in a feed and you may not know it until after google dissables your account. Iv discussed this before over at
(link)
4:19 PM PT
Dan - no, you’re allowed to disclose how much you make, you aren’t allowed to disclose specific pageview and click-through data.
8:12 PM PT
We are not breaking the TOS, but I have to direct all questions to Google on these issues.
best jason
6:35 AM PT
Wow a million? My domain over the past year has generated enough revenue to pay for its re-registration of $16….. Guess in the popularity contest I got a lot to learn LOL
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