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No matter what justification an advertiser can bring to the discussion, no matter if he or she can debate the issue like Henry Clay, you cannot have any sort of popup ads on AdWords landing pages.

Google's AdWords team addressed the issue of popup advertising in its blog, and cited the existing policy banning them as noted in the AdWords Editorial Guidelines:

"We do not allow links to landing pages that generate pop-ups when users enter or leave your landing page. We consider a pop-up to be any window, regardless of content, that opens in addition to the original window."
"Boo hoo hoo," cry some advertisers. "My popup isn't so bad," they claim.

Google's reply can be summed up in two words: too bad.

It seems that typical Internet users despise popups, pop-unders, delayed pops, etc. Google referenced usability expert Jakob Nielsen's essay titled, The Most Hated Advertising Techniques.

Apparently users who despise popups tend to despise the sites that display them. Bad user experiences with those landing pages could discourage users from clicking on AdWords advertising, a situation that could impact Google's revenue should it hit a high enough scale.

No trust means no clicks. Thus the policy on no popups. No exceptions. There is a reason why Firefox and Opera browsers, and Windows XP, have popup blockers: because users hate popups.

So don't even ask.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.