SEO impact of AdSense Matched Content

[Rabies]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but it seems only this one and the Marketing one mention “SEO” in their topic descriptions… I’m hoping someone experiences with SEO and Adsense Matched COntent ads can reply:

My site is approved for Google AdSense Matched Content ads. My site (Wordpress) currently has a built in “you might like these other articles” type of module that recommends other site posts at the bottom of every post page. Now, Google Site content looks quite similar, but mixes in some ads. This seems like a good option instead of the leaderboard ad banner I have below posts.

Anyways to get to my point… I’ve read that “internal linking” is good for SEO. If I go and replace my built-in recommended posts solution and replace it with the Adsense Matched COntent one, will I be sacrificing internal links? Or will the ones Google places there “count” ?

[annaholloway]

Those ad links will not count as internal linking. So it is better to keep them in place. For a better user experience, you can however do internal linking inside the content rather than below the content as similar content.
Or you can also place the matched content ads at a different location than below the content. Try to adjust it, don’t remove your similar article for matched content ads.