AdSense in Domain Name - Oops?
January 15th, 2007 by Scott W
When trying to rally up some constructive criticism and to steal a few visitors from the DigitalPoint forums (heh heh), I noticed someone had responded to one of my threads saying that it was against Google’s policy to have trademarked names in one’s domain name. In fact, here is that response:
nice site & good design but rememeber as per google TOS having adsense name in domaikn name is not allowed ur account may be cancelled by google adsense so remove google ads
Well, needless to say that scared the Bajeezus out of me and I promptly did some research on the subject. A couple of websites said it was fine as long as you didn’t do anything too outlandish in your content. Other websites said you needed strict permission from Google but the link they gave was dead, so I was left with a big question mark over my head. After not coming up with any solid information, I decided to go straight to the big dogs themselves. I busted out with an email and sent it using their contact form:
Hey guys,
I recently started up a how-to website for the AdSense service. After asking for a review on DigitalPoint.com, it was brought to my attention that it might be against your policies regarding domain names.
I did some research and came up with shady conclusions, so I decided to come straight to you.
Will you allow me to operate http://www.adsense-fire.com as a tips, tricks and how-to blog?
Pretty please?
Thank you,
Scott Weaver
Yeah yeah, it sounds a little grovely but hey, it’s Google for the love of pete. You don’t just shoot Google an e-mail. It’s got to mean something.
Anyway, their auto-response told me they’d get back to me within 48 hours or so. There is a chance I might have to shut this thing down though. That sucks.
But if not, then I’ll have a Google-approved blog which will cause me to dance around. Well .. I won’t dance around but I will grin like an idiot. Either way, I’m going to feel stupid.
Let’s hope the latter happens. Peace out.
-Scott
