Hey webbies - It can't be against the Google TOS to do this, but I haven't seen any posts in this forum about displaying AdSense ads on a 404 page. I have a dynamically created 404 page that helps users to search for what was removed (I keep the data, just set a field to enabled="N" on that table). These search links have a small amount of content (as GET variables at the end of the link URLs, for example: search.php?search=Something%20That%20Was%20Removed). For a couple examples of the 404 pages: http://betterwindowssoftware.com/products-41999.html http://betterwindowssoftware.com/download-90463.html http://betterwindowssoftware.com/orderpad-102862.html I have had this running for only a couple of days now. I would have expected that these ads would be getting a slightly higher eCPM, but it's slightly lower than my average on that site. I thought that users who land on those pages are ALL looking for the "right" link to find what they were looking for, eh? Even so, it is good that users are clicking on my search links to find what they were looking for - within my site.
I don't know for sure. But, I have seen Google Adsense referral banner on 404 pages from HostGator.com. You can see it for yourself here. As far as I think it is not something that you will be disabled for.
I am 90% positive it is against G's TOS to put adsense on 404 error pages. they must be shown on content pages only.
Yes, I am pretty certain too that it is not allowed. Not worth the risk, imo. However, you might consider putting a Google site search box on your 404 page.
If I were not mistake, it is again TOS. Ads only must be display on content page which is following TOS.
No, they are not. Read this previous thread. But, I am still not sure if they have changed their TOS regarding 404 pages and Adsense since then. So it's worth asking them directly.
These pages were genuine content at one point in time, but the main content for the end-user and all links are removed. A lot of those pages were previously indexed, but for the most part - they have all been serving up a 404 response for a while. As to whether or not there is enough content for the ads, this may or may not even be an issue. I didn't place the ads on my 404 until I saw it at another site or two - and then I read the AdSense forums for an answer, but both "Yes you can" and "No you can't" were there. There were several posts that said that the rules have changed, but also a few that stated that the pages for AdSense must be content-based pages (which, I feel that my pages should qualify as since they contain many links to relevant info for the original content ... it is still linked in where it "belonged"). For me, there seems to be a gray area in the definition of a content page. I will have get a definitive answer from Google directly. I can see the concern for sites that generate fake pages and just create the page for whatever word - with tons of AdSense ads.
I think customized 404 with content may be okay but standard 404 page will not be allowed for Adsense.
I read that post you linked, and I feel that if it comes down to whether or not the Google engine can actually serve up a relevant content ad -- I will rest assured that I CAN have them on my 404 pages. If you check one of my initial links, the ads that I saw certainly looked quite relevant. In my case at least, the AdSense technology IS able to serve relevant ads.
Now, this is poetic justice. I'll explain. Many of the pages that lead to these 404 pages were actually removed because they were duplicate PAD (Portable Application Description) submissions. These are submitted by "PAD site spammers" or "PAD hijackers" as I like to call them. At BetterWindowsSoftware.com, our submission policy does not allow submissions like this. These removed submissions more-or-less contain the affiliate links to their site - with the exact same description, executable, screenshots, etc., etc., as another listing on my site but they were stealing the affiliate credit for MANY downloads. So, while looking at the ads that were on a few of my 404 pages, I noticed that one of the ads leads to one of the URLs was from one of the domains that was SPAMMING the hell out of my site!! Now, these sites that were stealing my revenue with their submissions are actually going to start paying me for the traffic to their download site. That's the way it should be.
you can use adsense in your 404 pages coz it has more contents not just only the 404 message. but according to adsense you cant use ads in 404 pages
Hmm, I might be in trouble. I use a script that places the Google ad on every single page and this also inlcudes the 404 error page.