After a couple of non-eventful AdSense weeks earlier this month, the past week or so has seen plenty of new AdSense changes, many coinciding with the WebmasterWorld of Search Conference.
First, Google AdSense engineers were in abundance at the “Meet the Engineers” evening that Google hosted. Set up at several tables, publishers got the opportunity to chat with AdSense engineers and product managers, and ask pretty much anything they wanted. And from what I heard back from publishers, they were open and more than willing to discuss all things AdSense, and write down all the suggestions and feedback that publishers gave. There were very few “no comment” responses (mostly to “what is the revenue split”, I’m sure!) and most publishers felt it was a great experience and a perfect opportunity to voice any concerns or questions in a format other than the Google support form or email.
Gokul Rajaram, one of the AdSense Product Managers, also participated in one of the contextual publishing panels (yours truly was on the other one) and discussed the new features AdSense has rolled out recently, including the new Ad Links formats as well as the new AdSense for Feeds that bloggers (including ProBlogger & JenSense) are currently beta testing.
But the biggest surprise was the announcement Matt Cutts made in the Super Session about spam reporting AdSense sites. Now, if you see a site violating the AdSense terms and policies, click on the “Ads by Google” link, and be sure to include the keyword “spamreport” (one word) in the form, as well as what you believe the violation is. You can keep yourself anonymous, or you can include your email address.
AdSense continues to make great steps forward as we all await the inevitable launch of the Yahoo Publisher Network. It will be interesting to see what YPN does to attempt to dazzle publishers away from AdSense.
I have to say that adsense is very very effective and profitable for those who know how to use it (not that i know, but i think iv’e made a good start until now :P )
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