Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I wondered if:-
a) anyone here had done the same
b) if anyone had example code to post to the forum for a floating menu in which the adsense ads would appear
c) if any of this is in breach of any of the Google Adsense terms
d) if it would increase clickthrough rate (logically it would seem to)
?
I had a flying navigation menu until recently, but I didn't ever consider stuffing the adsense code into it. If I put my "user/reader" hat on for a minute, it's hard to imagine anything more annoying than an ad you can't escape from, except by cliking off the page. I think it would drive people away.
I got rid of the nav menu motion to lighten up the pages and make room for other stuff in the space it occupied. Leaner and cleaner has been working well for me.
I would guess if it was permitted, and increased ROI, we probably would have seen it on many more sites by now.
I don't see anything wrong with that.
However, if by "floating" you mean with parts of the page moving underneath and being hidden with the ads staying on top (almost pop-up window-ish), then I could see where that would be really annoying and may violate terms against pop-ups, even if it's not technically in a different window.
I already asked the tech team. They approved the 'floating ads' idea in a lengthy email. In the end, I chose not to implement the code because scrolling causes weird effect.
linear - yes that was the reaction I got from user testing - however my aim was more to make a section of the page that would stay in the same place, even if the user scrolled down.
The fact that the menu moved was seen as annoying - however the ad moving into place made it more noticeable. Perhaps the phrase floating menu was a little misleading. I use (mainly) the skyscraper format - 120x600 - so it was more a floating sidebar.
I don't mind if it drives them away to an Adsense click. ;)
Jenstar - yes but annoying ads do get clickthroughs! I have just read through the T&C and Program policies - as far as I know there is nothing stopping this. As far as I know it can't be considered as a popup as that would be a seperate window (which this isn't) - it's all part of the same page. The same effect could be achieved just through frames anyway....
It's hard to give an example of what I'm trying to do without breaching the T&Cs of this forum.
Basically it boils down to having the Adsense ad stay in the same place on the screen even if the visitor scrolls down (which would normally mean they can't see it).
"I would guess if it was permitted, and increased ROI, we probably would have seen it on many more sites by now."
I doubt it - as the code required to do it is quite difficult to write without encountering the problems of annoyance etc...
Sharper - yes I agree with you and it does increase CTR.
However, if by "floating" you mean with parts of the page moving underneath and being hidden with the ads staying on top (almost pop-up window-ish), then I could see where that would be really annoying and may violate terms against pop-ups, even if it's not technically in a different window.
No, I didn't mean that - although when testing it out I did accidentally create that effect once.
irock -
"In the end, I chose not to implement the code because scrolling causes weird effect."
Yes, I too abandoned it because of this problem. However I didn't mean one that scrolls. I meant one that stays in the same place on the page if the user scrolls down without moving. I have an example of what I mean but I'm not allowed to post the URL.
Whether or not it was originally allowed, it is currently being described as 'editing the provided js' and therefore not allowed by G (Violation of TOS).
Been meaning to find this thread and write this for a while; G explicitly asked me to remove the code about 10 days or so ago for a site I had added it to. (Before this thread :-))
Anyway, just meant as a heads up!
Cheers, DS
There are ways to do this without adding extra javascript to the page. If Google wants to describe it as editing the provided javascript - it's not true. The javascript Google provides is not being changed.
>Been meaning to find this thread and write this for a >while; G explicitly asked me to remove the code about 10 >days or so ago for a site I had added it to. (Before this >thread :-))
Hmm, as I say there are better (eg don't cause flicker) non-javascript ways of achieving this effect without breaching the Google conditions. Maybe when I have enough time on my hands I'll do it...
I doubt it - as the code required to do it is quite difficult to write
Not really, kenb has the right idea. Except it should be position: fixed, rather than position: absolute. Position: fixed; is not supported by all browsers. In the non-supporting ones the ads will just scroll with the page.
A non-javascript method for doing this would be to wrap the AdSense code inside of a DIV tag that had the style position:absolute applied to it along with the positioning styles necessary to put the banner in the right spot (e.g. left:615px; top:0px).
Yep... Right along those lines. I didn't say that I HAD modified the code, I said that Google said that having the code in a floating Div was modifying the code and therefore not allowed. For the record, I had not touched the code.
Also, something else just for the record, site was designed around this placement originally; it just held other ads before AdSence. No problems with anything like covering text and so on. It was built in and done in a clean and professional way.
All I can say is that while I felt I was doing it correctly, Google didn't and I thought you all should know. Perhaps instead of discussing it here, all would be better served asking good old Google themselves...
Just my 2 cents and my situation. Do what you wish... :-)
DS
Not really, kenb has the right idea. Except it should be position: fixed, rather than position: absolute. Position: fixed; is not supported by all browsers. In the non-supporting ones the ads will just scroll with the page.
D'Oh! Sorry about that I copied the wrong style instruction from my stylesheet. Here is the problem. Mozilla, Opera 6+, Gecko based browsers (e.g. Netscape 6+ and Safari) and IE6 will handle position:fixed correctly. Older browsers will not. I handle this problem by first calling the normal stylesheet that contains "position:absolute" like this:
<LINK rel="stylesheet" href="/Primary.css" type="text/css">
I then call a special stylesheet that contains "position:fixed" Like this:
<style type="text/css"> @import url('/Secondary.css');</style>
I then deal with IE5 issues with a stylesheet that contains "position:relative" like this:
<!--[if IE 5]><link href="/IE5.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"><![endif]-->
This order is very important.
Now granted what I'm doing on my webpage may be more complicated than what is needed for the AdSense banner, but it was necessary for my implementation.
either
a) frames
b) div
or c) something else I haven't thought of yet.
