Allowed sites now an option in Google AdSense

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 | Contextual Advertising, Google Adsense & Adwords

Google is acknowledging that this is a concern for publishers. From their help center:

We’ve added the Allowed Sites feature because we’ve learned that some AdSense publishers are concerned about potentially malicious behavior from others on the web, such as stealing their ad code and placing it on an inappropriate site. By offering this feature, we allow AdSense publishers more control over which sites or URLs can have their AdSense code.

The two selections in the account are “Allow any site to show ads for my account” or “Only allow certain sites to show ads for my account”. Then you get the option of adding domains or subdomains to your approve list.

If you belong to any revenue sharing forums or blogs, be sure to include those URLs in the allowed list. But do be aware that your ads will no longer show on cached copy pages or archive.org unless you add those URLs as well (including all the Google cache IP addresses).

However, there is one VERY odd thing about this new feature. If your AdSense code is on a site that is not on your approved list, ads will still show. Which means while your ads are displayed, you won’t get any revenue from the clicks (or show impressions either). I think a better option would have been to show PSAs or alternate ads if one is specified, although I suppose that might not be the best option for user experience, although it might mean we get to see some new PSAs other than the Katrina fund one.

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

Search