I've got a quick question concerning Adsense.

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 11 years ago

   We all know that it is against Google's terms of service to link to sites that sell firearms or ammunition.
   
   While it may be "fine" to write a review of a shotgun, or what have you, it is at the same time a violation to link to a gun dealer's site...even for an image credit.
   
   So forth, and so on.
   
   Here is my question:
   
   Just now I denied someone's comment on my hub about twelve gauge shotguns used in deer hunting because the comment included a link to some firearms auction.....would that comment, had I left it there, be in violation of Adsense TOS?
   
   If not...is there anything clear as to whether or not such links in the comments on a page...get the page penalized by the ...all seeing eye of search engines?

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      fpherj48posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      And I have a quick answer....I think you did the right thing.  Even in a comment, it's connected with your hub.  Why gamble?

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   LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

   Play it safe, if in doubt, throw it out!

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   tlpoagueposted 11 years ago

   Hey Wesman, I don't know about it affecting the adsense part of things, but I deny any comments with promotional links because I heard it was frowned upon by HP. Sorry I couldn't answer your question better.

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   livewithrichardposted 11 years ago

   You did the right thing by denying the comment that links to forbidden topics.  Adsense TOS explicitly states:
   
   Sites with Google ads may not include or link to:
   
       Pornography, adult or mature content
       Violent content
       Content related to racial intolerance or advocacy against any individual, group or organisation
       Excessive profanity
       Hacking/cracking content
       Gambling or casino-related content
       Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia content
       Sales of beer or hard alcohol
       Sales of tobacco or tobacco-related products
       Sales of prescription drugs
       Sales of weapons or ammunition (e.g. firearms, firearm components, fighting knives, stun guns)
       Sales of products that are replicas or imitations of designer or other goods
       Sales or distribution of coursework or student essays
       Content regarding programs which compensate users for clicking ads or offers, performing searches, surfing websites or reading emails
       Any other content that is illegal, promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others
   Or to any page with an unsupported language.
   
   I personally do not allow links in my comments that do not add value to my content.  For the most part, I only allow links in my comments that point to other hubbers hubs and then only if the content is related.  I delete any comments that point outside of my content to unrelated topics.

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   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   I think it would best best not to allow in comments what is not permitted on the page.  I would not trust a bot to know the difference between the two.

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      livewithrichardposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely true... I'll add though that unless you are running on your own site where you can noindex your comments... the comments that are allowed to remain become part of the content... It is dynamic content in the same manner as RSS feeds that is constantly changing and being crawled by the SE's.
      
      It is one of the main reasons why so many bloggers put the noindex/nofollow attribute on their comments, the comments section can run havoc on your page if left unattended.

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         Wesman Todd Shawposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I've noticed for a while that fresh comments on my hubs tend to spike the traffic a bit.  I'm just not the sort of web comprehending guy to know how to find out some facts about it...just an observer of what I've done, etc.
         
         Thanks for making it clear to me how I need to delete spam comments of my blogger blogs.

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   wjack2010posted 11 years ago

   You follow suit of the best course of action. Links to sites selling firearms is forbidden, and therefore should not be allowed, otherwise, the WHOLE HubPages community could suffer.

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   brakel2posted 11 years ago

   I have a link to a heart website on a comment from a doctor who liked my hub on wearing apparel for winter. She wants to know if I want to put a link on their website. Is that OK?  Wesman. you did the right thing. It can get confusing.

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      livewithrichardposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      A link here and there to unrelated content is not going to hurt you.  What hurts is excessive link exchanging (hundreds or even thousands) where there is a 'I will link to you if you link to me' type of linking scheme going on.  Also, allowing links to bad properties can hurt, not only your page but also your entire subdomain. 
      
      Just remember, the comments here on hubpages are part of your overall content.  There is no signal to the SE's that tell them content ends 'here.'  Dynamic content should be related to the overall content of the page... this is the reason hubpages took away the Newsfeed RSS capsule and other RSS capsules.  The feeds were delivering unrelated content mostly because they were being used incorrectly.  Dynamic content is content that changes on its own or content that is constantly updating.  It is good to have this since the SE's see something new each time they crawl.  However if they 'see' something thing that links to a bad neighborhood or other bad behavior, you will get penalized. 
      
      Best practice is to not allow active links in your comments without first following them to make sure the content is relevant or adds value for your readers.

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   LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

   Brakel: I have done that for people if their website pertained to my content. For example I did an article on sea glass jewelry due to a website I had seen. I placed the link to her website, she made sea glass jewelry in my article.

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