• Search Engine Watch, Tuesday, May 22, 2007 10:32 AM

It's long overdue, but Google is finally dealing with the rampant problem of so-called AdSense arbitrageurs on its search engine. These sites, also called "Made for AdSense," have no content other than AdWords ads. Google last week sent several MFAs a letter explaining they would be kicked out of the program as of June 1 for having an "unsuitable business model."

Some of these sites, by the way, pull in significant amounts of money. Of course, many also pump a lot of that cash back into AdWords in order to drive traffic to their site. AdSense critics point out that Google let these sites live for so long because the search giant also makes money from them. However, now that Google lets AdWords advertisers refuse to place their ads on AdSense, bad content like MFA sites are to Google's disadvantage. MFAs are precisely the reason many advertisers opt out of AdSense.

The ripple effect of the takedowns will be the removal of a large swath of advertising from the Google network, although a better-quality network would presumably bring in more advertisers in the future. It's unclear how many sites will be taken down.

Read the whole story at Search Engine Watch »