What Exactly is a MFA Site/Page?

I have recently ventured into the realm of designing specific pages that very highly optimised for AdSense, and I can't help but feel that I may be moving towards the "dark side", but at the same time I'm not exactly sure what "dark side" tactics are.

Basically what I have done is written completely original articles, they are n't just rubbish articles either, and placed them on an established website and then done some very basic SEO work on them to rank well in the search engines. The pages are setup such that it essentially has the site header at the top then goes straight into a couple of AdSense boxes next to each other which span the entire page and are above the article then it goes into the 400 - 800 word articles before having more links at the bottom to a different articles and sections. The AdSense ads are obviously blended nicely and very promient, but they don't have any images or anything like that next to links or anything of the like to increase CTR, just plain old blue links on a white background and they are getting a very solid CTR in my opinion.

Now like I said the content is completely original and whilst not the world's most ground breaking stuff it is still informative and far form completely useless, but that said it can also be a little bit ranty as I just give my opinion on things etc rather than provide the worlds most informative information. It can also at times be a little wordy as I try to do a bit of keyword stuffing - not for the purposes of manipulating AdSense or anything but for SEO - but I mean it's completely readable and all. I don't feed the pages with any AdWords or pay for any other programs to send visitors so they click the links or anything like that, I don't believe in those sorts of techniques, all my visitors are completely organic.

So I guess I'm wondering is this still considered to be taboo and essentially a MFA site, because I mean you could argue the pages are "Made for AdSense" but they aren't made to be useless to visitors either. I guess I'm also wondering what people believe MFA sites to actually be - as in what are some common characteristics and is there a common definition of what these sites must consist of to be classed as MFA sites, because I'm not really looking to make MFA sites or anything.

 

MFA made for adsense .................... no original content ............... just for clicking through .................... not looked on favorably at all...........restrictions are being applied by G on MFA sites

 

So with what I have outlined above - would you consider my page's to be MFA - I mean they are original, but they are designed for traffic are well designed for clickthroughs?

 

MFA :made for adsense !

 

I think there are probably alot more people on this forum that have sites they made for adsense, than would like to admit. Your site has original content, so that is good. Let's say someone thinks they want to start a blog to make money from adsense and they are writing about something that interests them. Well, technically they made it for adsense...But there site is probably still interesting and has value. It is not "dark" to want to make money. People use the term of MFA site so generally and with such disdain. I bet there are alot of good sites out there that were started with the idea of making money from adsense but ended up to be cool sites with alot of repeat traffic. I just don't care for MFA sites that are completely made up of advertisements. I wouldn't worry so much

 

So is what you are saying is essnetially that making sites with AdSense in mind is more common than many people would admit to. So by the sounds of it there are two sorts of MFA sites; sites made for AdSense that still have useful content; and sites made for AdSense with no useful content at all. The later is obviously something that I'm not interested, but I mean I'd be lying if I said I didn't at least consider AdSense when designing a site, but that said I was just reading over the AdSense policies and I noticed this:

"No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant."

So does this mean MFA sites are a breach of AdSense policies?

 

I supose technically they are in breach, but the quality (or lack of) of the content is quite subjective.
From what you have said, it is not a MFA site, as you are providing somthing other than ads to your visiters. I have used the same aproach, written about things I like and built up some sites. But my main motivation has been adsense and affiliate monetisation of the sites.
The main problem with MFA is they are hard to get good serps, if yours has original content, thats fine.
Good luck with it!
DD

 

In my opinion an MFA is a website that its sole purpose is for ads.

There might be some content, but that content is either useless, generated or scraped.

Peace,

 

Well my content isn't generated or scraped - and I'd like to think it is useful.

Well I have found with this good original content that my pages have actually received reasonable SERPs within a reasonably quick amount of time as well - like within 48 hours, but I imagine this is largely because of the sheer fact that the pages have just been added to the already established site, so it's not like having a new domain being sandboxed by Google or anything.

 

By MFA I understand those pages that have content specially to get well paid keywords and then they participate at the adwords with small amount bets hoping to get paid more than they pay.

 

I agree with azizny -

I think most people around here, if using adsense would admit that they to some degree 'optimize' their site or pages for adsense - so to that respect you could call some of the stuff they do "made for adsense".

But really, I think the more common use of that MFA term is like Spam - MFA:Adsense :: Spam:Email.

In general, I'd say characteristics of a MFA are as follows:

1. No meaningful or original content
2. Few if any regular updates
3. Excessive use of ads, especially near the "prime zones"
4. Few if any other links out of the site other than the ads
5. Often redundant, silly, or gramatically incorrect, wordy, or trite as the title, such as something like "www.viagra-cialis-medicine-lowest-price.com" or no title at all.

If your site doesn't fit those characteristics, I'd say you don't have a MFA