Google will purge ad-heavy websites

Sites which are heavy in ads but light in content may be bumped from Google's AdSense program. Several so-called online publishers who have ads with little content have already received emails saying their websites will be dropped from the AdSense program. Google says these sites influence search results, not necessarily for the good of users, by pointing users searching for specific products to these sites. Once they click through, the user may get the information they are looking for but they also may only find an ad or picture related to that product.

The change is scheduled for June 1. Google says, the clean up will affect the Internet, primarily by cleaning up search results so that users don't click through to a site filled with ads but with no content to support the ads.

For legitimate online publishers and advertisers, this is good news. With fewer of these so-called spam sites, search results could become much cleaner and users may actually find the information they are looking for without slogging through pages of ad-only content. Users, in turn, will likely be much happier with the publishers whose sites they are directed to, making them more likely to purchase a product or service.

Tags: AdSense, Google, online advertising, online publishing