I run Funny Commercials and am wondering if putting ads on your site can keep it from ranking high. I'm thinking that Google may think that sites without ads are more legit. So I'm thinking that I should wait to ad adsense until after I rank highly. It involves patience but I think it will pay off after a few months. What do you think -- does Google like sites without ads more for rankings?
No, you will get punished by Google if you are selling or buying links without nofollow tags. Google does not have a preference of liking sites with or without ads.
I don't have any links on my site. My plan is to put adsense on my site after getting good rankings. The question is: does Google prefer (rank you higher) if you don't have ads?
My opinion is that if you place any 'do follow' ads other than Google adsense then there is a risk they could decide to penalize you. I can promise you though that 'real' people like sites with few intrusive ads or none at all. Many experts advise that you not place any ads at all on a site until you develop a loyal readership.
Google AdSense does not lower search engine rankings or page rank. When you read something on the Internet from a Webmaster or blogger who blames AdSense, or some other ad network, for their poor search engine results, it's usually something they did to their site. It has nothing to do with contextual advertisements. If your Web site is playing by the rules and not participating in paid link schemes, your site should be fine.