Google Revises Monetization Guidelines for Publishers

Google has updated its publisher conduct policy to consider violations of its content policy at a page level rather than at a site level.

Now Google will only disable monetization on individually non-compliant webpages, rather than the entirety of a publisher’s Google AdSense or DoubleClick AdX account, when the content policy is violated.

The policy pivot aims to improve Google’s ability to administer selective enforcement on content and readiness to deliver transparent notification of its policy violations to publishers.

Previously, when an AdSense or AdX violation had occurred, publishers had their AdSense and/or AdX website monetization account paused until the violation was corrected, often to the dismay of publishers, without specificity, the precise violation and where it that had taken place on the website.

The publisher had to select which of his pages were appropriate to send through to Google to monetize, either through their CMS or through some other system.

However this is costly and requires lots of resources from the publisher.

Through transparency and clarity upon occurrence, AdSense publishers will now receive email notification when website content is non-compliant. 

In addition, publishers can visit to a “policy center” to investigate the exact cause of the violation along with compliance recommendations for AdSense restitution onto the page.

Ben Erdos, VP of Platforms and Services at Oraki said that the changes are sure to be welcomed by publishers everywhere.

“The developments from Google are great step in assisting publishers who have a range of mixed content in remaining policy compliant. Any steps to greater transparency from Google as to where and why policy infringements have happened are greatly welcome.”

“The policy center should also reduce the time it takes for publishers to resolve any site wide issues as well,” said Erdos.

Comparatively, publishers using AdX will also receive violation notification email with more details. A policy center for AdX is also in the works.  For more information about the AdSense program policies and what constitutes prohibited content, visit the Google AdSense program website here.