All ad campaigns are reviewed to make sure they meet our Advertising Policies. Typically most ads are reviewed within 24 hours, although in some cases it may take longer.
IN THIS ARTICLE
Prohibited Content
Content Categories
- Pornographic language or imagery
- Suffering or violence
- Exploitation or endangerment of minors
- Weapons or explosives
- Illegal drugs or tobacco (including e-cigarettes)
- Non-government approved pharmaceuticals and supplements
Information Harvesting
- Harvests personal and/or confidential information from users with the intent to distribute
- Engages in lead generation with the purpose of generating profit off the sale of information gathered
Malware
- Contains adware, malware, spyware, virus, Trojan horses or other features designed to infiltrate or damage computer systems or access personally identifiable user information without explicit user consent
Misleading Advertorial Practices
- Site-wide advertorial disclosure
- Limited or no organic navigation on site
- “Shell” sites that employ deceptive editorial practices to redirect users to a parent site
- Duplicates or mirrors ad-copy and images from other advertorial sites to give the impression of an editorial presence
- Employs deceptive practices to encourage readers to sign up for continuity newsletters or products
- Publishers are not permitted to encourage accidental clicks by implementing ads that appear to be organic content, such as navigation or download links
Negative Earned Media
- Direct competitors cannot promote negative earned media or content that defames or otherwise compromises an industry competitor without clear disclosure.
Tone
- Promotes hate, violence or discrimination
- Defames an individual, organization, or group of people
- Is intended to frighten or alarm the reader into taking a specific action
Restricted Content
Shareaholic reserves the right to block content from the following groups and categories. Restrictions may vary depending on the region your campaign targets, the value provided to the reader, and the quality of the content. These categories have a higher rate of deceptive business practices and have received a significant number of complaints in the network. Therefore, these categories are subject to greater scrutiny. Submissions will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
- Adult: Content that is explicitly sexual in nature
- Alcohol: Content that promotes underage or irresponsible drinking; sites that enable the sale of alcoholic beverages
- Gambling
- Health services: Promoted products and services must be FDA approved when appropriate; products and services may not make illegitimate or unproven claims about results. Weight-loss, muscle-building, and anti-aging products are very rarely accepted.
- Negative Earned Media: Direct competitors cannot promote negative earned media or content that defames or otherwise compromises an industry competitor without clear disclosure.
- Political advertisements: All political content must have clear disclosure (ie. Promoted By [Political Party])
- Subscriber-only content
Gambling-related Content
Shareaholic restricts the promotion of the following gambling-related content:
- offline and online gambling
- online gambling-related information
- online games played for money or prizes
- online casino-based games, regardless of whether money is exchanged
When promoting gambling-related content, you need to do the following:
- Comply with applicable laws and industry standards for any location that your campaign targets.
- Meet local licensing requirements for all gambling-related products and services that you're promoting.
- Clearly display information on your website about responsible gambling.
- Ensure that you don't target minors.
Examples of what's allowed in some circumstances
Here are some examples of gambling-related content that we allow only under certain conditions:
Offline gambling:
Promotion of physical, real-money gambling establishments or "brick and mortar" casinos
Examples: Casino in Las Vegas or Macau, offline poker tournaments
Online gambling:
- Promotion of online, real-money gambling
(You must be certified by Shareaholic in order to promote this content.)
Examples: Online casinos or bookmakers, bingo or slots sites or apps, online lottery ticket or scratch card purchase, online sports betting - Promotion of sites that contain or link to content relating to online gambling
(You must be certified by Shareaholic in order to promote this content.)
Examples: Promotional products such as vouchers or bonus codes; educational materials such as tutorials or e-books; software such as poker odds calculators; other gambling-related information including tips, odds, handicapping, and sports picks; aggregator or affiliate sites that promote gambling-related content
Non-casino-based games played for money or prizes:
Any internet-based game where money or other items of value are paid or wagered in exchange for the opportunity to win real money or prizes based on the outcome of the game
Examples: Fantasy sports, online chess tournaments, or "match-three" video games played for money or prizes
User Experience
Content should provide a positive, value-adding experience for users.
Advertising
- Content must not spawn popup advertisements that cannot be closed, page takeovers, or other media that covers or hides portions of the content
- Content cannot contain link-backs to low-quality content to boost SEO
- No hidden text or links
Authenticity
- Content cannot be copied from another site, using techniques such as “mirroring.” Any plagiarized content without clear disclosure of authorship will not be allowed.
- Content must clearly display logo of website
- Content should illustrate a clear understanding of the intended subject matter
- Must not mislead or deceive the reader
Design
- No grainy or improperly formatted images
- No illegible fonts or copy
Editorial Standards
- No improper spelling or capitalization
- No incorrect language or grammar
- Coherence in structure
Page Format
- We do not accept traditional advertisements or commercials, including banner ads or 30-second commercial spots that end in a call-to-action to promote the sale of a product or service
- We do not accept home pages, directory listings, product pages, press releases, or general navigation pages
- Content must live on HTML page (no PDFs)
- Content cannot require a login for access
- Content must be the primary focus of the page and live above the fold. Calls-to-action, forms or sales copy must not detract from the content itself.
Headline Style Guide
Please adhere to the following grammar, punctuation, and style regulations when submitting titles.
Capitalization
- Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading
- Capitalize all major words in the title, including the second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., Self-Report not Self-report)
- No excessive capitalization or inter-capitalization, such as words or phrases in all capitals (exceptions include trademarked brand names, acronyms, and common abbreviations)
Grammar
- Observe correct verb tenses, subject-verb agreements, and spelling
- Use correct spacing (e.g. no missing or excessive spaces between words or punctuation)
Punctuation & Symbols
- Refrain from inappropriate, aggressive, or tasteless punctuation in headlines
- Do not use periods at the end of headlines
- Repeated punctuation (?!?!) or symbols are not permitted
- Do not include a price point in headlines
Headline Restrictions
When creating additional titles for your content, please ensure all new titles accurately reflect the tone and subject matter of your content. Headlines will be rejected if they attempt to mislead or falsely entice readers.
Shareaholic also reserves the right to reject headlines for the following quality, tonality, and style infractions:
- Inaccurate or Misleading headlines
- Does not accurately depict the content
- Exaggerates or embellishes the content
- Sensational or Salacious headlines
- “Pimp sues Nike for not warning shoes could be dangerous if used to beat people”
- “Wait until you see the secret account the rich and powerful use to keep their money hidden from the gov’t”
- “Prepare for Massive Wealth Destruction (Shocking Video!)”
- Sexual/violent/explicit language that sensationalizes content
- Aggressive Marketing or Sales language
- “The Secret to Getting Best-Selling Books for Free”
- “Must-Have Products Being Sold for Next to Nothing”
- “This 1 weird “loophole” has become the car insurance companies worst nightmare!”
- Specific and/or clearly unrealistic price points (eg. “Free”)
- “Too good to be true” headlines
- “One weird trick that will help you lose that belly fat”
- “Mom reveals clever $4 wrinkle therapy, makes doctors furious”
- “Pastor Reveals a ‘Biblical Money Code’ – Turns $40,000 into $396,000 (Shocking)”
- If it sounds too good to be true, it is
- Calls to action
- “CLICK NOW to find out which new driving rule has drivers shocked!”
- “Call Travis Sickle 813-868-8725 Your Local Ameriprise Advisor”
- Registration pleas, sales offers
Image Style Guide
Thumbnail images cannot include:
- Nudity or sexual imagery
- Drugs or drug paraphernalia
- Imagery that is designed to provoke or offend
- Weapons
Quality & Appearance
All images must be relevant to the linked content. Images must be clear, recognizable, and properly oriented.
Your ad image may not include more than 20% text. This helps ensure that site visitors only see high-quality content. If your thumbnail includes more than 20% text, you'll need to edit it.
Allowed in the 20% text policy:
- Pictures of products that include text on the actual product
- Photos of products in real situations or photos of products with a background
Not allowed in the 20% text policy:
- Images that are zoomed in on logos/images with text overlay
- Images that are clearly edited to include text on the product as a loophole to policy
“Trick to Click”
Images cannot employ deceptive practices to entice a user to click. These include:
- Images that pretend to be a system or site warning
- Images that use sensational tactics that are not relevant to the source material
- Images that mimic editorial content of the host page
General rules of thumb for health-related promotions
- Don't make any claims that you can't certify (ie, "Lose 5 pounds fast!" or "Say goodbye to back pain, forever!"). Herbal remedies and supplements are usually a no go because they don't have substantial data to back up those claims. If you do, perfect.
- Don't suggest what worked for one person will work for another ("Marta lost 20 lbs on XYZ diet, and you will, too!")
- Don't phrase copy in a way that suggests you know what someones health struggles are (Don't say "Do you suffer from back pain?", say "If you suffer from back pain..." or "People who suffer from back pain...")