Updates to our ‘Modifying Ad Code’ Policy

Web trends and technology demand that your site evolves quickly to maintain a growing user base. We’ve heard your questions and feedback on areas like responsive design, and we’re happy to let you know that we’ve updated our existing guidelines around modifying the AdSense ad code. We hope that this increased flexibility will help you continue enhancing the user experience on your site.

Going forward, we will permit publishers to make modifications to the AdSense ad code so long as those modifications do not artificially inflate ad performance or harm advertisers and otherwise comply with our Terms and Conditions and program policies. This will enable you to try a range of techniques on your site such as:

• Responsive design: Enabling publishers to create a single webpage that will adapt to the device on which it’s being viewed, whether it’s a laptop, smartphone or tablet, to maximize user experience.
• A/B testing: Running a test by creating multiple versions of a page, comparing user behavior to see which page is the most effective.
• Setting custom channels dynamically: Tracking performance of segments of users, sections of your site, or other behavior to maximize ad and user experience.
• Ad tag minification: Enabling your site pages to load faster by reducing the amount of data to be transferred.

For more details and to find the specific code snippets related to the bullets above, visit our updated Help Center article.

Even with this new flexibility, it’s important to proceed with caution to ensure the ecosystem remains balanced for publishers, users and advertisers. Please note that publishers must not make modifications to the AdSense code if those modifications are not permitted by our program policies. Publishers should always use caution when modifying the AdSense code and must not use techniques like hiding ad units, implementing the AdSense code in a way that covers content, creating ‘floating ads’, or manipulating ad targeting as they are a violation of our policies. More information about these types of prohibited techniques can be found in our updated Help Center article. In addition, please be aware that some types of code modification may prevent ads from appearing correctly, which may negatively impact your revenue.

We also look forward to hearing your feedback and suggestions on our AdSense +page.

Policy refresher: family-safe content

For our next installment of our policy refresher series, we’re talking about a topic we’re frequently asked about...adult content and keeping AdSense family-safe.

We’ve made a commitment to our users, advertisers and publishers to keep the AdSense network family-safe.  A general rule of thumb when it comes to the adult content policy is: if you wouldn’t want to share this content at a family dinner or view it in your boss’s office, you shouldn’t place AdSense code on it.

Let’s take a closer look at our adult content policy:

Still have questions? Don’t forget that we’ll be hosting a number of Hangouts on Air as part of our policy refreshers series.

Check the schedule below to sign up for our Hangout on Air about adult content.

View our Hangouts schedule

AdSense Policy TeamPosted by Pamela Malone -

Samsung opens US-based patent beachhead focused on display tech 

Smartphone patent disputes may get all the glory, but display battles can be no less pitched. To that end, Samsung launched a US IP company in March sans fanfare called Intellectual Keystone Technology (IKP) to "trade and develop" OLED and LCD patents, according to The Korea Times. A spokesman said the company opened the office as a way to smooth innovation, but also warned that it intends to use it "to protect our intellectual property by strengthening our patent-related business." So far, it's already shored up Samsung's portfolio by purchasing display tech from Seiko Epson -- after all, it never hurts to have as many cards up your sleeve as you can when things get ugly.

 

Microsoft Goes After 'xboxone' Domain Names

If you haven't thought of it already, now might be a great time to go out and snag the domain name xboxtwo.com. Or, perhaps, it's not that good of an idea – Microsoft is currently disputing the ownership of the domain name related to the name of its recently announced, next-generation gaming console, the Xbox One.
Well, two domain names, actually – both xboxone.com andxboxone.net are registered to the same "Krasimir Ivanov" in London, and both registrations were created in late December of 2011. Which is to say, the alleged cyber-squatter (both sites point to parked domain messages at the time of this article's writing) was able to pull the name of Microsoft's newest console out of a hat years prior to its official announcement.
To Microsoft's credit, Fusible reports that the company purposely avoided buying up a number of Xbox One-themed domain names prior to the console's announcement for the express purpose of not tipping off the name (or potential names) of the console to antsy domain-watchers.
Microsoft filed the complaint to the National Arbitration Forum this past Thursday, all of two days after the public debut of the Xbox One. The case (#1501205) is noted as "pending" within the NAF's database, and it's unclear at this point just how long Microsoft might have to wait before it gets the domains transferred over to it – assuming it's able to prove that the domain names in question are "identical" or "confusingly similar" to a trademark that Microsoft owns (easy), that the owner of said domain names doesn't have a right to the trademark (easy again), and that the domain names were themselves registered in "bad faith."
The "bad faith" clause of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy notes that a domain name registrant would be considered to have used a domain name "in bad faith" if it can be shown that he or she registered the name "primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark…"
In other words, cybersquatting.
Additionally, a registrant could be seen as registering for a domain name in "bad faith" if he or she attempted to confuse site visitors or otherwise direct traffic to an address for which he or she would appear to be affiliated with another company's trademark or service mark. For example, if the owner of xboxone.com attempted to launch a shopping site that appeared as if was an official, Microsoft online marketplace for purchasing Microsoft gaming consoles, to name one crude example.
Microsoft won a similar cybersquatting victory in July of last year, acquiring a variety of Xbox-themed domain names from a registrant in China as a result of them being "confusingly similar" to Microsoft's trademarks.