Useful Revenue Data Method?

[Andy]

When looking at an adsense site it dawned on me - Adsense reports can be sent directly from Google to any email address. This would not only be hard to fake but would also provide some verification of the impressions.

So I PM'ed the seller of a site I'm looking at to see. He's okay with it BUT he's reluctant to send Clicks, CTR and CPM data. Of course he also mentioned he doesn't want to violate Google's TOS.

From my standpoint, I don't see what the big deal is with the clicks, ctr and cpm. It's just data - not national secrets. As far as the TOS is concerned, I don't see a problem there either. Sharing such data in good faith to a potential new owner would almost have to be an exception to any TOS restrictions if there are any that apply to something like this.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Andy

[tke71709]

Would he be breaking the ToS? Technically yes
Would Google know? No

[Andy]

Hi tke,

Thanks for the input. Any idea WHERE in the ToS? I looked but couldn't find anything.

I did find where google states in the FAQ section ""You can choose to have your reports sent on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule to any email addresses you wish"' Oops. Someone could have some fun with that :-)

https://www.google.com/adsense/suppo...n&answer=28853

On the other hand, even if the goog knew, I'm not so sure they would care. The whole thing comes right back to the intent and purposes of doing it. Not that I expect the 8,000 lb grrrilla to suddenly make sense or be reasonable, but such details ought to be too unmicromanagable even for them.

Andy

[benitez17]

Thanks for the input. Any idea WHERE in the ToS? I looked but couldn't find anything.

Look at condition 7, part b of the Adsense Terms and Conditions at https://www.google.com/adsense/local...rms?rc=US&ce=1, which states:

Confidentiality. You agree not to disclose Google Confidential Information without Google's prior written consent. "Google Confidential Information" includes without limitation: (a) all Google software, technology, programming, specifications, materials, guidelines and documentation relating to the Program; (b) click-through rates or other statistics relating to Property performance in the Program provided to You by Google; and (c) any other information designated in writing by Google as "Confidential" or an equivalent designation. However, You may accurately disclose the amount of Google’s gross payments to You pursuant to the Program.

That said, Google would probably not bother to check if the email address that a report was sent to was connected to the owner of the Adsense account or not, so I don't think anything would happen if the seller did violate the agreement.

Also, I would be much more concerned about the seller running Adsense on more sites than he is claiming, though there are tools to check for that and limit the risk.

[Clinton]

From my experience a lot of first time sellers are overly cautious about this. I've learnt not to suspect foul play purely on the grounds that they wouldn't give me a full CSV.

When I'm selling a site I wouldn't dream of disclosing lightly commercially useful information such as channel by channel breakdowns.

[Andy]

benitez,

Thanks, that is exactly what I was looking for.

When I'm selling a site I wouldn't dream of disclosing lightly commercially useful information such as channel by channel breakdowns.

Clinton, I'm not at all sure what you mean here. Are you saying the information I was asking for is too good for a seller to give up?

It just seems to me that getting a report directly from google (or upon expanding the idea - nearly any revenue source) would cut through the bogus claims worries while providing some hard data.

Andy

[benitez17]

benitez,

Thanks, that is exactly what I was looking for.



Clinton, I'm not at all sure what you mean here. Are you saying the information I was asking for is too good for a seller to give up?

It just seems to me that getting a report directly from google (or upon expanding the idea - nearly any revenue source) would cut through the bogus claims worries while providing some hard data.

Andy

From my experience, most sellers don't have an issue sharing channel or site revenue figures. Whether it is a good idea for them to do so is probably a separate debate, and depends on what side of the fence you are on.

I would not buy an Adsense site without running my own ads on the site for a few days to see how they perform because of Smart Pricing and to reduce the risk of any seller shenanigans, so I don't get too stressed out about the details of their Adsense performance anyway. Also, getting a report right from Google doesn't eliminate the risk that the seller is paying for ads that he hasn't told you about, running ads on multiple sites, or using any other tricks that a seller can use to pump up their revenue.

[hooperman]

I would not buy an Adsense site without running my own ads on the site for a few days to see how they perform because of Smart Pricing and to reduce the risk of any seller shenanigans, so I don't get too stressed out about the details of their Adsense performance anyway.

I'd not thought of asking to display my own ads on a site. Have you tried this yourself benitez?

[Clinton]

Andy, getting the Adsense stats is one of the first questions you ask. My point was that if a seller is reluctant to disclose this it's sometimes because he's genuinely terrified of the Gorg, not because he has something to hide.

Unlike benetiz17 I've never put my own Adsense code on a site I didn't own. For one, I think it takes a long while before you can see the real smartpricing effect. Secondly, it's a security risk to my account to give someone else an incentive to organise a clicking party on my Adsense code.

What I do agree with him on is that having the stats doesn't prove very much as the traffic could have been bought, sent from other sites he owns etc. One way of doing DD on the Adsense is to plug the figures into a spreadsheet together with traffic log figures. Where Adsense metrics (particularly page views) suddenly diverge from traffic figures I'd do some digging.

[hooperman]

Secondly, it's a security risk to my account to give someone else an incentive to organise a clicking party on my Adsense code.

I suppose also that the seller might put your code on other sites they own to bump up the revenue.