wanderingmind - 10:02 am on Apr 23, 2011 (gmt 0)

Adsense guys want you to take a risk. See News Site > Content page in the One Click Optimizer. Then see Blog > Content page.

The Blog content page design is as they say on the main post. Content should sing, while Adsense should play second fiddle.

Now see the News Site content page design. Ads still are very prominent. Adlinks are at the top, Ad block is above the fold, all the way on the left.

Note that this seems to be the the only design they have where they have allowed an ad block and ad link at the top. (or they are just greedy - news sites not having those ad positions might affect their revenue a bit!)

So what should a content site do?

To play safe - follow the blog design. Use one ad block only, and get rid of ad links. You may call yourself a news site, but if Google thinks you are a blog, you are in trouble. Only a site that fits their definition of a news site is allowed an ad link and an ad block on the left.

Nice.