Amazon’s Self-Optimising Links Violates Adsense TOS
Amazon UK has a new beta tool for its Associates called Self-Optimising Links.
According to the site, “Self-Optimising Links feature products chosen automatically based on the content of your site. To create Self-Optimising Links simply modify the template and appearance elements and copy the resulting code on to your site. With Self-Optimising Links, you do not need to chose which product, product line or even keyword that best fits a page. Our algorithm will take care of reviewing your site and selecting relevant product offerings.”
This sounds just like Google Adsense, except that it shows Amazon product banners.
We had users of TicTap Contextual Ads write to us before saying that as long as TCA does not ‘magically figure out’ the context of a page, then Google is ok with its use alongside Adsense.
It seems that Amazon’s Self-Optimising Links violates that. So users should check with Google and Amazon to see if both can be used at the same time.
If Self-Optimising Links don’t work for you (and they only work in the UK), you can try TicTap Contextual Ads. It’s free, highly configurable, easy to use and doesn’t violate any algorithmic contextual ads programs like Google, MSN or Yahoo!.