We can now expect [tag]Google [/tag]to keep a tighter watch on our landing pages – as if they weren’t already. Reported in the Inside AdWords blog, Google pulled all ads that redirected people to malicious sites that would attempt to install malware on your computer. As a consumer, I very much want them to review the pages they send me to because my computer (and data) is at risk. In today’s world that’s a pretty high risk.

As an advertiser, though I’m not super worried. Yes, it does mean we’ll probably have to jump through more hoops to advertise. Some might even see this as advertising censorship – though that’s a bit drastic from where I stand. All this again boils down to a simple thing John Reese and Alice Seba keep drumming into my thick skull.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Some businesses live (and die) on one or at best, two traffic sources and when there’s trouble, their business goes South. In a traditional brick and mortar business, if you have a store on a busy street and the city decides to divert their traffic through a new highway, most businesses suffer badly. It’s not easy for them to relocate or to find other ways to generate the foot traffic they had before.

Online, you can decide which roads lead to your site because you can build those roads. So why limit yourself?