There is yet another update to Google’s Adsense TOS. The last update cleared up the foggy topic of placing images next to ads to encourage click throughs; however, the new update completely reverses a previous stance Google once had on ad placement:

In order to prevent user confusion, we do not permit Google ads or search boxes to be published on websites that also contain other ads or services formatted to use the same layout and colors as the Google ads or search boxes on that site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure these ads cannot be confused with Google ads.

This is an obvious attack on YPN – users now can’th ave YPN and Adsense on the same site (even if in an ad rotater) if they’re laid out in the same color scheme. The last line which allows direct ad sales (as long as they don’t resemble Google ads) may also be an attack on AdBrite seeing as how their text link ads are extremely similar to Adsense. There may, however, be enough of a difference between the two to make publishing both on the same site alright.

It looks like Google is finally taking measures to improve the quality of their ad network. If you ask me though, they should be focusing a lot more on snuffing out arbitrage sites which have a much more hurtful result than publishers using ad blocks that kind of look like Adsense. We’ll we continue to see a steady increase in Adsense TOS updates? I hope so.