“MFA” Made for Adsense does NOT Equal “Black Hat”
July 3rd, 2008 | 24 comments
After publishing “The $5 Mini-Site Formula” I’ve been asked MANY times whether or not I worry about Google suspending my adsense account for putting up “MFA” sites.
My answer is always similar to this:
“No, “MFA” sites are not all bad. If I were publishing crappy content, which didn’t help anyone, then I would be worried. But I don’t!”
What is an MFA site?
An MFA site is one that was made to generate income from Adsense. With that in mind, many people start shaking when someone quotes this, within the Google Adsense Program Policies:
No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant.
The reason they added this was because spammers were putting up trashy sites, which scraped content and provided absolutely no value to the viewer. They put up these sites full of trash just to make a few cents with adsense.
Good on Google! This guideline was necessary!
Google WANTS Good Content and I provide it!
If I were to ever receive an email or a phone call from a Google rep asking me to take down my niche mini-sites I would be VERY surprised! Why? Because they fill gaps and answer questions… they contain quality content! They just happen to be monetized with Google Adsense.
If you find a handful of long-tail phrases that have little to no competition, but receive some daily search volume, wouldn’t Google WANT you to fill that gap with good info? Of course they would! What they don’t want is for that gap to be filled with scraped crap that isn’t going to convert an ad that their advertisers are paying for!
So, some MFA sites are indeed black hat, but not all!
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3rd July, 2008 at 4:42 pm
How very true. Good content is good content. If you fill a void, my power to you and you should be rewarded
3rd July, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I agree completely. Like you said, scraped content is just rehashed content and not original.
3rd July, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Josh, I think the distinction lies with the term itself “made for adsense” or MFA - over time we’ve come to think of the term to mean a crap site with nothing but adsense ads. Thankfully, those site don’t dominate the top of the SERP’s any more.
3rd July, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I agree with you Josh - it’s an issue of quality not motive. The only issue I have is why bother with adsense when you can make affiliate commissions that pay a lot more?
I’d be interested in hearing what you think about the other topic that bugs a lot of people which is “footprints” . If all your adsense sites have certain common features does that worry you?
If you are delivering relevant and quality content why should it be an issue?
All The Best
alex
3rd July, 2008 at 5:02 pm
However, you cannot place MFA sites on traffic exchanges, which I find somewhat odd.
3rd July, 2008 at 5:05 pm
@ Alex - It depends on the niche… not all niches convert with affiliate ads and some don’t have any which are targeted enough to convert. I target high-paying niches and can easily be making $5/day with only 18 visitors. Very few affiliate programs will convert that good!
I don’t worry about “foorprints.” Each of my mini-sites contain different, unique content. Different unique header and footer graphics. Different alt tags, different page titles etc. etc.
Just think of how many blogs there are out there running off of the same exact default WordPress theme.
@ Anita - Oh well, traffic exchanges are a waste of time anyway
3rd July, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I just love you Josh, you aren’t afraid to say, no it’s not like that. Sometimes people get their panties all in a bunch and they just need to step back, take a deep breath and regroup. When you approach a topic with fresh eyes it looks different and feels different. If you build sites for visitors, what problem would you have AND isn’t that what it’s all about, helping people??? If you help them, they help you make money and all is right with the world.
Rhonda
3rd July, 2008 at 5:45 pm
People over react about MFA as you point out. Really any site that displays adsense is technically MFA. Google likes good content, even good PLR but hates scraper sites and auto generated content which is the target for the MFA policy
3rd July, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Josh,
I think those crap sites are from people that think they can just put the site up with enough phony keyword possibilities (usually hidden in source code) so that you end up reaching them. I’ve come across many of these and would usually click through an Adsense Ad, but never do on these “ad only” sites. Thanks for the post.
3rd July, 2008 at 6:20 pm
The perception of MFA is really all down to misinformation or so called experts saying things that they really know nothing about. Most people seem to consider MFA as any site that has adsense on it. If that were the case, the internet would be a graveyard by now because G would have banned all of those sites. G would probably not exist either, since the majority of their income comes from Adwords advertiser revenue.
That phrase about MFA in the TOS has been there since around 2005 when John Reese released his infamous videos about how much he made from Adsense using auto generated sites. Good on him but those tactics do not work in todays world although you would never believe it judging by some emails I have received recently offering various adsense ’systems’.
As far as footprints go, if G want to find your sites, they will just by looking for your adsense publisher ID which is the biggest ‘footprint’ of the lot.
Just keep publishing good and readable content, get some backlinks and you won’t go far wrong. Oh, and listen to what Josh has to say. What is good enough for Tim Gorman is good enough for me.
Alan
3rd July, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Hello Josh,
I totally agree. The whole fear of made for adsense sites is overrated. Google makes money every click. Thanks for your articles and your book 5-day minisites is on the top of my read and re-read pile.
Rick
3rd July, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I recommend a new acronym for the quality MFA sites, just so people stop getting confused. How about “OFA” or Optimized for AdSense? I have 4 of that kind all using the same theme because it’s fast and furious and not bogged down by unnecessary images and other eye-candy.
3rd July, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Hi Josh
I couldn’t agree more. I think if people can only remember one thing from the google guidelines it should be the bit about “Consider the user of your webpages. Write content for people not for search engines” - well it’s something like that anyway!
If I search on a term and find a site that has interesting/useful information about it I might be very pleased to find one with adsense on it so that I can continue my research somewhere else/buy something.
Neil
3rd July, 2008 at 10:21 pm
@ Rhonda - lol I love you too
Don’t let me wife know. Many great points there!
@ Alan - I totally agree with everything you say. Good point with the pub ID as well.
@ RT - Sounds good to be. There needs to be something to separate the good from the bad.
@ Neil - True, many people don’t understand that adsense can actually improve the visitor experience. No matter how good your content is, there’s always something related that the visitor may be interested in when they’re done reading your article.
4th July, 2008 at 1:41 am
OFA definitely clarifies why sites like HubPages and Squidoo pack the PRs they do.
Why not lead your readers to interact with your ads and vice-versa? Seems that’s the real sport, right?
Thanx for clearing up MFA and footprint issues.
4th July, 2008 at 4:17 am
I agree. MFA sites that Google doesn’t like would be scraped sites without any unique content.
As long as the content on our site is good and unique, there is no need to fear the big G.
4th July, 2008 at 5:16 am
You make some great points Josh, content is always the key in all IM strategies, some of the best niche info sites are built with the goal of making money of Adsense and they are quite successful because the content is good.
4th July, 2008 at 6:46 am
Interesting post as always, Josh. Thanks. I enjoy your content. In the end it is all about good quality content. If you give your visitors what they are searching for, you will be happy with the results - and Google will be happy.
4th July, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Josh
great post as always, oh and by the way I have made it to page 13 on google with your help and “The $5 Mini-Site Formula” The formula works.
Thanks
Michael Darrell
4th July, 2008 at 6:31 pm
For some reasons, MFA actually has a bad reputation. People think that if you blog or create content-rich site to monetize on AdSense, that is not MFA.
But I agree, Jason, that term is used inappropriately.
4th July, 2008 at 8:54 pm
This set me straight a bit, but I still don’t see how one can always be absolutely sure the Google bots (or over-zealous Google humans) can always tell the difference.
6th July, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Hi Josh - If they contain good content I don’t see the problem. I’ve experimented with them. The ones that work best weren’t deliberately made for adsense - adsense just seemed to work well on them.
My adsense revenue has really plummeted recently though - I’m getting less in a week than I was in a day. I haven’t really had time to look into it yet - but I hope I’m not being penalised by Google.
8th July, 2008 at 4:11 am
Just take a look around blogger if you want to see some MFAs. Google hasn’t banned them but people should still watch out. Really all you have to do is make sure you’re putting out original content.
10th July, 2008 at 1:57 pm
@ Matt Wood - Yep, but that’s a whole other story
@ Michael Darrell - Congrats! Keep up the good work.
@ Hendry Lee - Very true. btw, my name is Josh, not Jason
@ Dennis Edell - Well I would hope they can or their search engine is going to go down the tubes real quick
It’s very easy to see. These spam sites either contain no real content at all or the content is 100% scraped from other sites. That’s why they use algorithms. Programs are smart 
@ Cath - You’re not alone. I was on my way to $2,000/month just through Adsense and I’m not lucky hit $1k For me it’s because I haven’t been building any mini-sites for the past few months or maintaining my others really. Plus I lost a competitive top 10 ranking.
@ Cash Kid - No kidding! Most of the spam on the net comes from Googles own; Blogger. They should really do something about that. They’re fighting themselves.