Google and the Bandit

If you are using Google Adsense to monetize a website, take heed. According to the latest Adsense Terms of Service (you know, that page we always skim over, say “Yeah, right”, jump to the bottom and click the Accept checkbox), all pagess displaying Adsense ads must have a Privacy Policy link on the page. So far I’ve hear various reports of sites getting put on hold or even canceled for violating this.

This appears to be another move by Google to reduce the number of spam sites and MFA (Made for Adsense) sites that benefit none of us. The new Google adage regarding “Improving User Experience” seems to be gaining ground, and it’s fine by me. I, for one, am tired of searching for something – expecting a “real” answer – and getting trapped in one of the myriad of directory or spammy clone sites.

If you already have a Privacy Policy, good for you. If you don’t, here’s a couple links to use to get one up and running (these will open in a new window):

http://www.easyriver.com/myprivacy.htm

http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/privacypolicygenerator.shtml

Both are free. The first link is simple, requiring only a site name, and should suffice for 90+% of the sites out there. The dma.org site requires a bit more information, but it also allows for a bit more customization if you needed.

If you are using WordPress or some other blogging or CMS platform, it should be a no-brainer to just create a page and display it in a sidebar (or link buttons if your theme does it that way). Then it will automatically appear on all pages and you’ll be covered. For Blogger blogs I think the best avenue would be to create a post, date it waaaay back in time, and link to it from a widget in a sidebar or footer.

The only part of this I’m not sure about is how Google will discover your Privacy Policy. If it’s by spidering your website, I guess you’ll have to name the link “Privacy Policy” specifically. There may be a Meta tag for it somewhere, but I don’t know about it. Likewise the HTML Link tag.

If Google is manually checking for it, then you should make the link to your Privacy Policy as obvious as possible (i.e. – don’t “hide” it or make it a tiny, little font in your footer) because they will want to make sure your visitors see it as well.

Well, that’s about all I know at this time. If I learn any more about this I will post it here.