Tos?

URL same color as background

[ineedmoney]

I just realized this today, you can block out parts of your text ads by making them the same color as the background when setting them up. This seems like something google wouldn't like, but since there program let me do it, I figured it must be OK....Am I being a fool? Is this against the TOS? Anyone else doing this?

[Knappster]

Google will adjust the colors to allow sufficient contrast between text and background -- no matter what you specify in the code.

[ineedmoney]

afraid not, I currently have this running on one page, no contrast, URLs hidden

[OptiRex]

no contrast, URLs hidden

And it's not a 728 x 90 Leaderboard or 600 x 120/160 Skyscraper displaying four ads?

[ncw164x]

stop trying to be clever and abide with the TOS because if you happen to get a hand review of your site you certainly will need the money because your publisher account could be terminated

[jomaxx]

I doubt the URL is hidden. Switch the focus to the ad block and hit ctrl-A (highlight all). You'll probably see the URL isn't there at all.

[Garry4Ads]

Hi Its Possible to hide the URL (from visitor)by making it as the same color as that of the background color. But I hv nt done b'cas i dnt want to be booted out by G. :)

[jomaxx]

Miracle of miracles, someone actually tried it out (me) and this gimmick DOES NOT hide the URL. Google will override the specified colors and the URL will be displayed legibly.

If someone can describe a combination of ad sizes and colors that does hide the URL or any other portion of the ad text, feel free to post it here.

[ineedmoney]

"stop trying to be clever and abide with the TOS because if you happen to get a hand review of your site you certainly will need the money because your publisher account could be terminated "

I'm not looking for opionions of morality, Google allows me to do this through normal adsense setup...

Let me get back to the original question....

Does anybody know......

Is this against the TOS?

Thanks

[edited by: ineedmoney at 1:44 am (utc) on June 4, 2006]

[edited by: martinibuster at 2:02 am (utc) on June 4, 2006]
[edit reason] Clean up. [/edit]

[G_Smitty]

Trying to outsmart the system or trying to gain clicks in a non ethical manner will result in the famous "My account has been disabled" Email.

The best way to decide if something is ethical or not is to put yourself in the place of an advertiser.

[martinibuster]

Google allows me to do this through normal adsense setup...

1: As has been stated already, you can set it up to match the background but Google will show the URL.

2: As has already been stated, some ad displays do not show the URLs. Many of my AdSense units do not show the URL. This is something that Google did, not I.

So there is no question left to ask, regarding if this is a TOS violation, because it can't be done, or else Google is already doing it for you. ;)