AdSense Alternatives

A Readers recent inquiry brought to mind an incident I had many years ago, when AdSense warned me to remove my sites from an Auto -Exchange. Auto exchanges are definite no no’s. Manual Traffic Exchanges though may be a different matter. In order to answer the inquiry I had to do some research at some Traffic Exchanges. It seems that,true or not,many Traffic Exchanges still warn members not to display sites with AdSense Ads on them.

EasyHits4U,one of the worlds largest, has this warning:

 ”Please avoid submissions of sites with AdSense ads to any traffic exchange. This is against Google AdSense Program Policies and may result in cancellation of your Google AdSense account.”

However, when asked,the Owner of TrafficDelivers.com, one of the most modern and progressive Traffic Exchanges told us:

“It is true AdSense fears Traffic Exchanges, as they do not wish members to see all the great Alternatives out there. However due to simple economics and pressure of numbers they no longer prohibit the use of Manual Exchanges. Look at BlogClickers or BlogExplosion? Members have been displaying AdSense ads on them for 7 years that I know of.”

So who is right and who is wrong? The one of the  World’s Largest and most popular or the more modern and progressive? For that answer it dawned on me- gee-why not ask Google?

Q:Can I use traffic exchange programs?  

This is indeed a hard one for me answer, and I would hate to give advice that got someone’s AdSense account cancelled.

While Google TOS now leaves room for the use of  Traffic Exchanges,I would ask myself why do I want my page there?

The days of using Traffic exchanges as a way of getting unique impressions to aid in rankings is about over.Today Traffic Exchanges are dominated with information offers using a “Squeeze Page” – example “Make Money with AutoResponders“  and/or make money offers,using the “ Splash Page “( a small page directing you to the Target Page where the full information is; example-  JV Elite Promo ) which I would say -NO-do not put AdSense ads on one of those.

First,a Squeeze Page leaves no room for an ad,and on a Splash Page you want just one link, a “call to action” and placing an AdSense Ad on it would defeat it’s purpose. Also the very nature of the page calls out to be clicked on- so the percentage of unconverted clicks could set off warnings to Google that Click Fraud may be going on.

There is also the matter of content,Google frowns very hard at pages with no real content-never put an ad on an ad is the Policy there.

However if your page is of a Blog nature, say  speaking of a Home Business ,and you place it on a Traffic Exchange in hopes of business,do not expect many readers at all, but the ones you do get would have genuine interest and so any Ad Clicks should be perfectly acceptable,and the limited number of them should not cause any alarms to ring out at Google.

If you do get a sudden influx of clicks coming from a Traffic Exchange; immediately  contact the Owner, you will find most very accommodating. It may be that some small but kind minded individual is thinking he is helping you and clicking every time they see your page.

That, while extremely rare, has been cause of trouble for people in the past-so if detected early, work with the owner to find and warn off the individual-never think of it as a good thing- it will not be.

I know I may not have answered the question to everyone satisfaction, I do though feel I have given you the tools to think it out and make an educated decision for yourself.

Traffic Exchanges are great marketing tools,and every person with any sort of wish for income from the Internet  should be using them.

I do!