What ‘Third-Party Ads’ means for Google Adsense publishers

If you are a Google Adsense publisher, you probably have already received Google’s email about Third Party Ads:

We’re happy to announce that the Google content network now
accepts display ads served from qualified third-party vendors.
During this initial release, only ads in English are eligible,
although we look forward to offering more options in the future.

By accepting third-party ads, we can attract a greater variety of
advertising on the Google content network, which we believe will
result over time in increased revenue for publishers and more
relevant advertising for end users.

What this means is that Google has opened its content network and can now accept ads from qualified third party vendors. Some of the identified third party tracking vendors include DoubleClick DFA, Mediaplex/ValueClick, Eyeblaster, EyeWonder, Interpolls, Pointroll, Unicast, Dynamic Logic/Safecount, Factor TG, IAG, and InsightExpress.

Many large, top-brand advertisers use third parties to create and manage their ad campaigns. By accepting ads from these third parties, the Google ad inventory is expected to increase — ultimately translating to more ad earnings for Adsense publishers.

But before you rejoice, read the following first to learn more about Third Party Ads.

How do I allow third-party ads on my site?

1. Opt into image ads – because third-party ads are currently in image or Flash formats only
2. Enable advertisers to target your Adsense channels
3. Opt into placement targeting – meaning, allow AdWords advertisers to choose specific ad placements in your site where their ads will appear

How are third-party ads different from normal Adsense ads?

Not that different, except that third-party ads won’t include the line Ads by Google and, when clicked, will open in a new window. Nice, huh?

Do I need to change anything in my site if I want to allow third party ads?

Yes, you need to update your Privacy Policy to reflect as follows:

• Notify your visitors of the third-party vendors serving ads on your site
• Provide links to the appropriate vendor websites
• Inform your users that they may visit those vendor websites to opt out of cookies (if the vendor offers this capability)

A sample paragraph that you can use to reflect this update on the Privacy Policy is:

We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, (click here).

Will I earn more from third-party ads?

It depends. Third-party advertisers will most likely choose to advertise on big and/or high-traffic sites, so if you are a small-time blogger with a low-traffic site, don’t expect third-party ad servers to come running to your site. Probably soon!