Other Contextual Ads Get the Official OK from AdSense

I just received an email from Google in which they confirmed my interpretation of the Program Policy changes and, as a result, you may now run any other contextual ads alongside AdSense ads provided they have a different appearance, which, in some cases, means a different color scheme.

In addition, the email also confirmed that excessive advertising is no longer prohibited but is merely discouraged because "doing so may result in fewer repeat visitors."

Note, however, that the terms and conditions of the other advertising programs may prohibit their use alongside AdSense. In particular, the Yahoo Publisher Network's conditions prohibit their use alongside AdSense ads.

The bulk of the response that I received from Google is copied below:

AdSense publishers may display ads from other contextual ad networks on the same page as Google ads only if the formatting or color scheme of these ads is sufficiently different from the layout of the Google ads. In other words, if you choose to place non-Google ads on the same site or page as Google ads, it should always be clear to the user that the ads are served by different advertising networks and that the non-Google ads have no association with Google. If the formats are naturally similar, we'd ask that you use different color schemes for the competing ads.

Of course, we're constantly investing in our advertising technology, and we believe that Google ads will monetize best for most publishers. Be aware that the addition of third party ads to your site may cause fewer users to click the Google ads on your site and thus your AdSense earnings may decrease. We'd also recommend that publishers be careful not to place excessive advertising on their sites, as doing so may result in fewer repeat visitors.

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