Once upon a time in days of old you could sign up as an Adsense publisher and whack your code on very low quality content pages. People were cranking out sites using software such as Traffic Equalizer and making a lot of money. To an extent it was an internet gold rush and it wasn’t unheard of for publishers to be making $10,000 a month + providing they kept building sites and getting them indexed. To an extent it was spinning wheels because the sites would get indexed for a while, then they would fizzle out, but that’s okay because the return on investment was incredible.
Obviously all good things come to an end and this was no different. A flaw in using common software was the footprint which enabled Google to come along and de-index sites built with software like this. The way this software worked was by predominantly scraping content off the web and using it as website content. Webmasters were targetting keywords and using this software to get traffic to the terms once they were indexed.
It’s no surprise that this happened because Googles business revolves completely around what the searcher wants. If the users experience of their search engine is poor, Google would lose favour and the searcher would go off and use another search engine like Bing or Yahoo. Google would eventually lose market share, advertisers would disappear and the business model would crumble.
And Google just can’t let that happen can they. To be fair, we’re all searchers and if we find junk when we enter a keyword into a search engine then in the end we will vote with our feet and use something else, so you can’t blame Google for that can you.
Common sense tells you that low quality junk content is not going to survive and prosper on the internet in the long term. Even if you find a technique that works now, in time to come Google will work out how to filter out more and more of the garbage.
So what does Google want? Well, in theory it wants webmasters to build high quality sites filled with unique and relevant content that is adding to the web as oppose to just filling it up with junk. If a searcher is happy then Google is happy. This is business 101, right? Content is king…
Or is it?
You see, although Google *says* that’s what they want, just recently I have been reliably informed that they have been clamping down on publishers in a big way including sites that fulfil the criteria of being a ‘high quality content site’ in nearly all aspects other than a few minor details. So minor you may not even realise you are doing anything wrong as a publisher.
1) These publishers have been using unique content ( which should be a good thing )
2) They thought they were following Terms of Service
But they were missing some crucial elements they needed on their site to stop their sites being classed as MFA
What’s MFA?
MFA stands for Made For Adsense. If a site is deemed to have been ‘made for adsense’ ( i.e. that’s its sole purpose ) then Google does not want to partner with you.
This is a FACT.
Without realising it you could be unwittingly not following Terms Of Service and putting your Google Adsense account at risk as a publisher. Without realising you are doing anything wrong you could end up having your Adsense account disabled or having ads to a site ( or more than one site ) disabled.
Fortunately there are ways to ensure you are not breaking Terms of Service which will enable you to keep your account in good standing. By this point you will be wondering exactly what they are.
In Part Two I am going to recommend some easy to implement measures you can take to ensure your sites comply with TOS but since I am doing this for FREE ( which I don’t mind ) I want to be sure enough of you out there need to know this information, so Part 2 will go live once I have 10 legitimate comments from readers on this post.
By the way, if you want to subscribe to all my blog updates you can do so by entering your email address where it says RSS ( Subscribe ) in the top right hand navigation menu. You’ll then be notified before anybody else when new posts are live.
Looking forward to part 2 - I have some sites that are on the “fence” about this subject. I am selling the sites so really they were built not just for adsense but it might look that way.
Dean, you are doing a great service by showing honest and ethical internet marketers what to do so that google doesn’t arbitrarily deindex otherwise legitimate websites.
I look forward to part two of this series to see what I need to do to keep from falling into disfavour with google.
Keep up the great service!!!
Thanks very much for your kind information. It was worth reading. Hope such inform could reach us before we made ourselves into duds.
Let us have the information needed.
Please keep the good work done.
Bravo.
Respect
Nick
Really looking forward to part 2 of this post. I too make adsense websites but I am very scared that Google will pull the plug on my adsense account one day so I am currently looking to also add some affiliate type websites to my portfolio.
Good points in your article - however Minisites are not dead (yet) especially if users use alternate means of monetization to Adwords. Staying away from the MFA slap is the key and making sure content is unique is the best way to stay indexed and keep Google happy.
Thanks for the heads up on this.
I would love to hear the solutions that you mention as I am planning on putting up some new sites soon.
Thanks
Phil
I have some Adsense sites and want to build more.
certainly want to comply with google TOS
Hi Dean,
Lloyd Marsh here, just read your post on Google adsense, very interesting read.Looking
forward to Part 2.
Regards,
Lloyd Marsh
@Clint - Selling the sites does lower risk somewhat as you lock in the capital gains but the changes you need to make sure you comply will literally only take minutes. More to follow in Part 2.
@Stevieod - Thanks. Implementing these changes are crucial if you’re an Adsense publisher. If you have an income from Adsense you want to protect then you can’t afford not to do what I am going to outline in Part 2.
@Nick - I certainly will be helping all my subscribers and readers of this blog to make sure they comply with TOS now that Google is really clamping down.
@Minisite King - If you have Adsense running on your site you need *more* than *just* unique content on it to remain in compliance. The game has changed in 2009 as Google enforces TOS that some publishers are not even aware of. More to follow in Part 2. Oh.. and I agree, mini sites are far from dead
What I do is have outgoing links on my websites to products or services that I’m an affiliate of. Can’t be MFA if Im trrying to make money by other means on my site. The sites are built however to maximize adsense clicks as it’s just too easy to get people to click on ads in my opinion.
Great article and I’m looking forward to the second part. I am new to writing articles and new to adsense as well so I am quite interested in learning all I can. Great work!
Thanks for the update, Dean. You are doing everyone a great service here. Really interested to see what changes you need to implement to comply.
Sandra
@Lee - Thanks! In one sense it’s good that you are new to Adsense as you’ll have less changes to make on your sites to ensure you fully comply
@Beautifeel - Don’t be scared but don’t rest on your laurels either. Diversification is good once you are experienced enough at one thing to be making a meaningful income for your needs. One of the best examples I have ever heard is that you should build your business like a table. If one of the legs falls off it still stands.
@Lee - Great attitude, keep up the enthusiasm. I’ll be posting up Part 2 soon.
@Ray - It sounds like you’re in some decent niches with high converting keywords
@Sandra - Thank you. Good to see you on here, how are your sites doing? Everyone that reads the next update will have nothing at all to worry about once they implement the changes I outline. As Christmas approaches I know how important that Adsense income is for many of you.
Hey, I’m really anxious to see what’s next. This was informative, and pq’d my interest to find out how to best address this problem.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Thanks for this informative post. I am using adsense on some of my blogs - so certainly looking forward to part 2 of this.
I also have some click bank - so hopefully that helps to show that adsense is certainly not the reason for the existence of the blogs.
Look forward to seeing your comments in part 2.
@Jill - Hurrah someone has an avatar photo, it’s always good to see the person you’re talking to, even in the comments ( us humans are funny like that aren’t we
). See you in part 2 where I will clear everything up so your sites pass with flying colors if any of them are subject to human review.
Important Info. Looking forward to part 2. Thanks!
Hi
i partly agree with you, as there is still room for a debate about this.
I know a succesful european adsense publishers that create websites mainly to generate adsense revenue. Google actually contacted him as they wanted to expand their business in Europe and gave him instant premimu adsense publisher statut. He got a manager in google help him to generate more revenue from his websites.
The things is simple, do people love your websites yes or no. Do they spend 10 sec or 10 minutes on your sites. That’s what matter, another case that’s not so funny for the publisher, was a non MFA website that had build a web presence for years. And last year he was receiving 150k visitors a month for a dogs lovers websites. Google banned his website 2 months after he added the adsense code, they banned his website from the search engine. Why???? they though it was a made for adsense website, when it never was. Google have a very bad attitude with webmasters. better to build a website that do not rely on google adsense at all.
Kah
Hi Dean, you have more than 10 comments already, when will you release part II? I just can’t wait to read them. Thanks.
@Kah - Interesting story. Thanks for sharing. I agree that nobody should rely solely on Adsense for their income *but* in the beginning everyone should focus on one thing until they are good at it ( and making money at it consistently ) before they move onto something else, otherwise you just get distracted and ultimately overwhelmed, particularly when starting out.
@Harvey - Yes, well over 10 now. Part 2 will go live early in the week. Thanks!
Dean,
My adsense was terminated by Google recently. They said I did not met their requirementa but did not specified why. I think it’s mainly because I had adsense in one of my dormant account and I had been inactive in internet marketing for a while.
Now that I plan to create new sites, what alternative can I do to generate income or will you cover this in part 2?
@Ivan - Sorry to hear that. It won’t help now but if you look at the site you had Adsense running on and compared that with their TOS you should have an answer, but it could be any number of things and speculation is probably an exercise in futility. Google is still the ‘don’ when it comes to contextual advertising and it can be a tall order to make good money from the others. YPN is probably the best alternative if you’re in the US. Things like Kontera are okay as complimentary monetization but don’t expect to make tons off these. I would recommend looking at CPA networks as these can be lucrative if you choose the right offers that are relevant to the content. You may also want to look at affiliate marketing ( both info and physical products ).
Ladies & Gents, sorry about the delay getting Part 2 live ( it’s been a hectic week ). It’ll be online and published asap, I am just making sure all points are covered