Adsense PHP script to rotate ad placement a bad idea?

Question

I have a page with around 30,000 views per month and something like a 0.14% click through rate because I serve a technical audience I suspect. So I decided to rotate the placement of my ads (based on a random number) to try and reduce ad blindness on my website. To do this, I created a simple PHP script that looks something like this:

$rand_no = rand(0, 12);

function place_ad_1($rand_no){
    if($rand_no == 1 || $rand_no == 2 || $rand_no == 3){
        // google adsense code here
    }
}

I have four different functions for four different types of ads. I just include the php script and throughout my page call the functions in the places that I want them to display like this:

<?php place_ad_1($rand_no); ?>

The script works fine but I'm wondering if this is somehow a violation of the Google Adsense TOS or if its just generally a bad idea for some reason?

I have searched through the placement section of the Adsense TOS and can't seem to find anything to suggest that this is not allowed, I also can't think of any consequences to this method. Seeing as I'm a bit of a noob to Adsense I thought I may have overlooked something and wanted to get run it by you guys who have more experience.

Thanks in advance!

Negative voters please provide some feedback to make this more constructive. — coffeeNcode, Feb 03 '14 at 10:19
I don't think it should be illegal, as long as you don't modify the code ot the ads itself. — , Feb 03 '14 at 10:44

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 03 '14 at 14:40

1

Not only is this okay, I believe it's encouraged. Google wants to get the most clicks as long as they are legitimate, and split testing helps that happen. They have an internal way to test the look of their ads, and there's nothing in their TOS about split testing.

I know of many other people doing this, including wordpress plugins that automate adsense split testing (http://www.ampedsense.com)

answered Feb 03 '14 at 14:40

Shane N

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Thanks for the response! What do you think about if I let it just keep randomizing permanently instead of just during the split testing period? Like if the randomization of the placement itself helped the click through rate and I just left it like that? Do you think that is alright? – coffeeNcode Feb 03 '14 at 16:10
1

I can't think of any reason why that wouldn't be alright. Google has a policy about no cloaking - but as long as you're showing their spiders the same stuff you're showing your visitors, I don't see a problem – Shane N Feb 04 '14 at 16:40

Adsense PHP script to rotate ad placement a bad idea?

1 Answers1