Well, google is not really a sponsor, right? I think you can label them as ads, but sponsor might violate the TOS. Sponsor has different meanings than just an ad. I know google does want you to make sure people know they are ads and not fool them into content. I would choose a different word than sponsor. Stephen C
they're not? maybe it's not the same as having gatorade on your nascar,but the ads on your site covers costs and makes you money. as for labeling ads as sponsor,yes you can.you can label it anything you want as long as your telling people they are ads. https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=48182
Point taken, but I still feel that a sponsor denotes someone paying to put an ad on your site, which google does not do. They pay for clicks. And because they pay for clicks, anything that looks like you are encouraging people to support your site by patronizing a sponsor, that being google, may be frowned upon. I know that google probably does not care, but you need to ask yourself, "Why do I want to label them?" If you label them in such a way that people feel enticed, obligated, or other, to click a link because they think they are doing you a favor, you are not working within guidelines. I'd say the whole idea of labeling them at all is for a reason that may not be all that innocent. That was my point. I would just refrain from labeling them anything. Again, why do you want to label them? Stephen C
Did you read the program policies? https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=48182
So it is allowed, but whether it is ethical or not is a touchy subject -- I will probably remove the label