Kevin Burton is asking other sites to donate their AdSense revenues to him as a form of “angel” funding. The use of AdSense for startup funding is not new, of course. In a recent interview, Google search expert Matt Cutts said that he was “struck by how many tiny companies were able to put AdSense on a site to defray their costs.”
Well, I hope Kevin doesn't get burned by his funding attempt. What he's asking others to do is to place his AdSense code — or, more precisely, AdSense code with his publisher ID — on their sites. The AdSense terms and conditions don't forbid this, but note the following clause:
4. Parties' Responsibilities. You are solely responsible for the Site(s), including all content and materials, maintenance and operation thereof, the proper implementation of Google's specifications, and adherence to the terms of this Agreement, including compliance with the Program Policies.
There's the problem with his scheme. By asking everyone to place his AdSense code on their sites, he's placing his account in jeopardy. The AdSense program policies have some strict rules as to what kind of sites are allowed to display AdSense advertisements and how those ads are to be displayed. To be safe, Kevin will need to personally check out each site using his publisher ID.
Then there's the click fraud issue. By publicly stating that AdSense is going to be a funding model, Kevin may unwittingly encourage others to click on ads for the purpose of increasing his earnings. The intentions of the clickers may be good, but the end result may do the advertisers a disservice.
Let's hope Kevin doesn't lose his AdSense account because of this. You might argue that anyone can go and copy anyone else's AdSense code and place it on an inappropriate site. But Google can filter those out if there's a problem. The difference here is that someone's actively encouraging people to do it.
Eric Giguere is the author of Make Easy Money with Google, a real (printed!) introductory AdSense book for non-technical people, available at all fine bookstores. Be sure to download the free sample chapter for more information about the book. Or add it directly to your Amazon shopping cart!