Adsense for strategy sites

[baldidiot]

Has anybody considered using adsense on strategy sites or gambling related blogs? As far as I can tell it's permitted so long as the site doesn't link directly to any actual gambling sites (eg: casinos, poker rooms etc..).

You would be sacrificing any affiliate commissions, but the high cpc rate for gambling keywords could easily make up for it.

Another factor to consider is that only people from certain countries (UK etc...) will be shown the gambling ads...

Thoughts on this?

[Frank Benjamin]

I was under the impression that any gambling-related sites was a violation of their T&S.

Do a simple search using Sports Betting (a highly competetive keyword phrase) and you will notice that not a single ad is present.

You can't even advertise a gambling-related site with adwords.

Even if you could, I don't think you would make anything close as you would with an affiliate program when you consider the residual.

I believe you would need SO MUCH TRAFFIC to make anything close to what you would with an affiliate program. And if you are getting that much traffic, you would be losing more money because you wouldn't be promoting an affiliate program.

All in all, I think regardless if Google would allow it, you would be better off promoting sportsbooks and casinos if you were able to garner enough traffic to make enough earnings with Adsense.

If you want to give this a try, you can use Bidvertiser. They allow gambling related ads and sites. I would appreciate if you use my referral link.

http://www.bidvertiser.com/bdv/bidve...&Ref_PID=27336

Their ads usually pay more than Adsense anyway. I haven't used them in a while, but I think I will put them in my ad rotation after reading this thread.

Thanks for getting me thinking!

[baldidiot]

The actual wording of the adsense terms doesn't seem to exclude portals, provided that they do not link to any actual online gambling sites. I've also seen a few posts on the google forums saying that adsense can be placed on strategy sites.

AdSense publishers aren't permitted to place Google ads on sites with gambling or casino-related content. In other words, if your site accepts money or allows users to place bets in exchange for an opportunity to earn cash or other prizes, then it's unacceptable to place Google ads on your site. Please note that this policy also prohibits the placement of Google ads on sites that link to online gambling sites.

Also, you can advertise gambling sites on adwords - in fact I've done it! There are a lot of restrictions, such as filters on location and you must have a licence/be approved by google.

If I search for "casino" on google.co.uk (and from the uk) I get a ton of PPC results. My gmail also has gambling related ppc adverts whenever the email is gambling related.

The CPC is pretty big, I think I was paying £2.75 per click for bingo related terms.

Therefore, if you receive 50% of the CPC that would be roughly £1.37 per click. A few people have suggested an average rule of 10 clicks to 1 download, and 10 downloads to 1 depositing player. So for every 1 depositing player you receive there is a theoretical revenue of 100 clicks x £1.37, or £137.

Obviously the click through rate could be lower, but I thought it was worth investigating.

The biggest disadvantage is that the gambling ads would only be shown to UK visitors, or other permitted countries, so ideally you would have to target the site towards UK players. Onbiously non-uk visitors would still be show ads.

Thanks for the link, I'll have an investigate!

[Frank Benjamin]

I see what it is, I am in the U.S. Therefore, I won't see any ads.

I would still investigate other avenues. In fact, I put Bidvertiser ads back on my site and they are in rotation with my sportsbook banners.

Best of luck if you go forward with it. I would love to hear how the experiments goes.

Keep me updated.