It’s official. You can run contextual ads from a different ad network on the same page as Google AdSense (think Google AdSense and Yahoo! Publisher Network ads side by side).
“When it comes to enforcing policies on third-party contextual ads, we’ll be following the updated program policies instead of the T&Cs on this point. That is to say, publishers may now display other contextual ads on the same site or page as Google ads as long as they don’t have the same look and feel as our ads,” Brian Axe tells Jennifer Slegg of JenSense. (highlights are mine)
That’s a very bold move by Google, quite a departure from their our-ads-only policy of old. Two things come to mind:
- Google wants more publishers - publishers who’ve switched to or are loyal to other networks are prime candidates for recruitment. Previously, Google couldn’t touch this group because of their own program terms and conditions prohibited them from doing so. Not anymore.
- Google is going for the jugular - what better way to convince publish to abandon other networks than allowing them to test Google ads against other ads on the same page. Being able to simultaneously compare ad performance (targeting, CTR) and earnings is an extremely powerful publisher recruitment (and retention) strategy.
Hat tip to Jensense.