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Displaying Adsense Referral and Chitika Referral Programs on the Same Page? Google's Answer
November 16, 2005
After seeing other sites that have been placing banners for both the Chitika Referral Program and Adsense Referral Program on the same page, I was a little confused, since I had thought publishers weren't allowed to do this. (And if we were allowed to, I was definitely going to make some quick changes to some of my sites!)
So I emailed Adsense support for clarification (always the best route, I find, when in doubt about Adsense policies).
Here's a quote from their email replying to my question:
I understand you would like some clarification on our competing ads policy. To be more specific, 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. Specifically, we ask that you not place an AdSense Referral link on the same web page as a Chitika Referral link.
(emphasis added)
So it looks like we're not supposed to display both Chitika Referral program banners and Adsense Referral program banners on the same page. Which is really too bad - it's going to be hard to choose. I keep going back and forth on this one myself.
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Posted by BJ at 04:38 PM in Adsense | Permalink
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Comments
Several people who seem to know say that if you set chitika ads up so they are not content-targeted then Google does not mind. I would write back and tell them you have reconfigured chitika so they are not content-targeted then see what they say. My guess is your answer will be different.
Posted by: brent | Nov 17, 2005 12:29:24 AM
Actually, I was asking Google specifically about the referral links, not the regular Chitika eminimall ads, Brent. Chitika eMinimalls are set so that by default they are not content targeted, but it was the banners for each program's referral program that I wasn't sure about.
Posted by: BJ | Nov 17, 2005 12:54:36 AM
It seems to me that the question was not answered very precisely.
The google referral banners themselves seem to suggest that the site is google only and I would say that is an important part of their design.
They really stake out their territory, however, there is nothing I have read in the actual terms and conditions that state an answer to this clearly.
Letters to Google asking questions seem to get different responses depending upon who you ask, so I don't really think this a reliable way of getting a policy clarification for the purpose of decision making.
By saying that you cannot be an affiliate of
another program is really going too far, in my book - and I think will do more harm than good to Google in the long run. They really need to be specific about policy and make it
well known and published. The grey areas slow down individual site owner decision making processes, leading people to avoid decision through fear - it works in the short term only.
It is not too much effort to write - you may not place a referral banner to another contextual advertising site if you are a member of the google referral program, but stating this so clearly will create a backlash - hence it is subtely implied in the banner itself.
Posted by: icooltools | Nov 19, 2005 7:41:09 PM
You're right - I never thought about that, but the wording of the banner does indeed imply that a site is Google only.
As for different answers depending on who's asking, I wouldn't be surprised by that, either.
Posted by: BJ | Nov 19, 2005 8:00:59 PM
