Why is there a splash page ad on my FREE Doodlekit website?

One word: SPAM. Without diving too much into the intricacies and complexities of how search engines/SEO works, I'll explain how these new ads effect FREE websites and how they help prevent spam.

The #1 way to get your website to show up high on search engines for certain keywords is to generate 'keyword links' to your website from other websites. That being said, spammers like to create as many websites as they can and fill them with spam links to their website(s) so that they can increase traffic. 

So how does the splash page ad stop the spammers?

The best way to stop spammers is not only to block them (which we do), but also to remove the incentive they have to begin with. Thus enters in the new splash page ads for FREE websites. Instead of Google and other search engines finding the spam sites these guys generate through us, they will now instead find the splash page ad. The search engine robots that index websites and all their content will not be able to get past the splash page, therefore spammers get no benefit out of creating junk websites.

Why do you have ads on the splash page then?

Why not? We have to put something on it. The revenue it will generate will be fairly insignificant, but it helps fight the good fight against spam.

Will everyone that visits my FREE Doodlekit website see the splash page ad?

Yes - but only once (for the most part). Depending on their browser settings, a cookie will be created during their the first visit and after that they will not see the splash page ad again (until the cookie is gone or removed).

I hope this helps explain this latest updates. Feel free to post any questions you may have about the new ads here.