Google AdSense Stop Words

Google Stop Words

Google AdSense "Stop Words"
(Also called "Poison Words")

In order to achieve search engine optimization, you must avoid using any "Stop Words".

Here are a few suggested Stop-Words, which MAY prevent normal Adsense ads from being shown. These reputed stop-words cause PSAs (Public Service Ads) to be substituted, instead of normal AdWords ads. PSAs do not pay any money, but count as impressions, thereby diluting your AdSense statistics, and degrading your search engine marketing efforts.

This adsense poison word list is pure webmaster speculation.
NONE of the words below are proven stop-words, but
ALL the words have been mentioned by webmasters, as POSSIBLE AdSense stop words.

In no way, is this meant to be a comprehensive stop-word list.
It is intended to help direct your SEO thinking in your particular situation.
The words are grouped by category, to make associations easier.
Update: You can add the following words to the list (spelled correctly):
herracane, herricane releaf, catrina - these words can produce persistent PSAs.

.
Oh, yeah? But some pages that contain the words above
show Adsense ads normally. Why am I getting PSAs?

Possibly, because you tripped a threshold, such as -

Theory #1 - Bad Theme in Totality
Each stop word has a weight - the (weights times occurrences) are summed - if the score is too high, you get PSAs.

Theory #2 - Bad Combinations, Proximity
If certain combinations of stop words are on the page, you get PSAs.
For instance, the word love associated with a number of other words, such as what you get when you squeeze oranges. Either word used alone is fine, but together, no way!

Theory #3 - Too many, simple count
If a certain number of stop words are used on the page, you get PSAs.

Theory #4 - Odious domain
Even though there are no stop words on a particular page, other pages on the same domain may receive such a "bad score", that only PSAs are given for ALL pages on the domain. If reviewed, Google may ban the domain entirely from the program.

If you are diligent, you can please the Google filter, and make everybody happier -
Yourself, Google, and your Visitor. Root out the offending words!
Give your visitors more choices.
And, make more money.

STICKY
Keep in mind that the AdSense stop-word filter CAN BE sticky.
It has been reported that even after a page is "fixed", it can still return PSAs until the next "review" of your page, whether software or human. This has been demonstrated by renaming the file. By renaming the exact file, the PSAs have been eliminated immediately. One must weigh this against the immediate, although temporary link loss, unless you skillfully redirect.

Some say that stickiness is to prevent testing in real time.
But I just don't understand why they wouldn't want to help us comply.
There must be reasons.

Reminds me of Kramer in the Seinfeld episode "The Pool Guy" (on the phone with George, pretending to be a movie information robot) - "Well, why don't you just TELL ME the name of the movie you want to see?"

"Why don't you just tell us the words you don't want us to use?"
Too easy, I guess. Maybe because the list probably changes daily, as new bad combinations are discovered.

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If there is a word or words that absolutely must be on the page, create a graphic of the word, and insert it instead. That way, you will not offend the mediapartners spider by activating the "adsense-stop-word-filter". Make sure the "alt text" is something else as well.

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Consider also the implications with AdWords customers (the advertisers).
The advertisers find pages that they don't want their ads shown on. In some cases, it is just counterproductive; in others, it can be in bad taste, sometimes terrible taste. Examples have been given.

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If you are serious about search engine marketing, you should be diligent about avoiding any STOP words that may exist, in order to achieve the best search engine optimization.

I made this adsense chart originally to save myself some time -
I thought I would save you some time, too!
Watch your language. Seek not to offend. Don't cuss! Wash out your mouth with soap. Ha!

I believe that this page is helpful for SEO webmasters, and especially helpful for Google.
Google, website visitors, and webmasters ALL prefer to see AdSense ads instead of PSAs.
Let's help 'em all!

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Disclaimer
NOT A Google, Inc. Site
In no way, did this data come directly from Google, Inc.
This page consists of a compilation of public information, commonly available on the internet, at multiple sites, as well as public webmaster forums, and simple manual tests.
The opinions stated above are merely the personal opinions of the author.
I am not privy to any inside information.
This information is continually changing, and may not be relevant when you read it.
Although the author makes every effort to verify the information on this page, no information on this page is guaranteed to be correct, and any data contained herein may be erroneous.

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This Vaughns Google AdSense Stopwords Summary Chart was last updated on 2009-04-22.