Large rectangle results in drop from SERPS

After switching ad types, I was dropped from the SERPS

[markis00]

I recently changed my Adsense format on my two sites to large rectangle. After which, both my sites were dropped from the SERPS. I think it might be because I put the large rectangle at the top of both site's pages, and Yahoo & Google cached that as the first thing on the page, resulting in none of my optimization being found and only Adsense...

Since then, I've moved the large rectangle to the fold of the page, now I have to wait and hope that I wasnt' assigned a permenant penalty.

[irock]

markis00,

I don't pretend to know much about ranking algo and plenty of Google God. But I do know that your site isn't the only site that is changing during the period between your rank changes. As a matter of fact, I don't believe Google reads the content inside a Javascript unless I 'think' someone report it as cloaking. I doubt some 10 lines of javascript code is going to affect your ranking. I guess OTHER sites that pump up which leads your rank fall.

[markis00]

Well, I'm less concerned about Google and more about Yahoo, as I hold (or was holding) top SERP positions on there

as for Google I've never held rank on there

[markis00]

And I guess it does make a big difference b/c both my sites were dropped from the SERPS after I changed the ad layout

[JohnKelly]

You know it's interesting that this was brought up. Because around midweek I saw a massive drop in traffic. I too upgraded to the large rectangle, but that was some time back shortly after they introduced the few format.

It's tough to diagnose the problem, since it's a holiday weekend here in the U.S. and traffic levels are normally low anyway. But come Tuesday I will be exploring all avenues to see where the problem lies. My sites were receiving a very large amount of traffic from Yahoo, and perhaps they did dump a lot of the AdSense sites. Income has dropped 75% or more since midweek as well.

[Rodney]

The title of this thread is a bit misleading.

It seems more like the ad placement *may* have had an effect on your rankings, not necessarily the ad type.

Since as you say, the top placement shows adsense showing in front of your content in the SERPS.

It could be that you could still use the large rectangle and put it in a different spot and still have good positions.

It could also be that it's all a coincidence :)

[Bluepixel]

Since 5 days ago, I get twice as many visitors from google as before. So it can't be adsense, but as the poster before said. The ad placement can play a role in the ranking.

[annej]

You can use CSS in a way so the ad won't show at the top to a web crawler. I have set my left hand columns that way as they include both navigation information and adsense ads. In the HTML the code and text is actually at the bottom of the page even though it would usually come first in with a column on the left. There must be some way to do this for your situation as well.

[wgonz]

Markis00,

I think the first lines of files are very important for many engines. In case they read javascript code and the ad type is new in some page, untargeted ads may appear and that may cause SERP problems.

On the other hand, large rectangles perform very well when they are in the body of the content, when visitor has begun to focus on your page.

Hope this helps.

[wgonz]

Markis00,

I think the first lines of files are very important for many engines. In case they read javascript code and the ad type is new in some page, untargeted ads may appear and that may cause SERP problems.

On the other hand, large rectangles perform very well when they are in the body of the content, when visitor has begun to focus on your page.

Hope this helps.

[JohnKelly]

Ad placement had not changed, only went from medium rectangle to large rectangle.

[cagey1]

Google says having Adsense on your pages doesn't help your rankings. It would seem pointless (and really bad business) if it actually hurt your rankings.

On the other hand, Yahoo's take on Adsense pages may be worth discussing.

[asinah]

Their seems to be currently a pattern for Yahoo to dump publishers that use Adsense and Google maybe doing the same.

I too use the large rectangle and CTR and EPC have doubled even over the weekend with the US and some European countries having a holiday on Monday.

I think Yahoo maybe dumping links from publishers that use Adsense.

[jim_w]

asinah

Lets hope not, that could be an anti-trust issue.

It would be like Newsweek not running Sports Illustrated ads because Sports Illustrated runs Time ads.

[Sunflux]

Mmm, I'm still listed on Yahoo... #1 result in my primary keyword(s) as well (same as with Google).

[markis00]

Well, I've moved the large rectangle down a bit, hopefully I make it back into the SERPS.

The wierd thing is, when I was using the banner format at the top, I had no problem.

switching to large rectangle somehow resulted in my drop from the SERPS...

[markis00]

Has anyone else been dropped with this same problem?

[europeforvisitors]

Their seems to be currently a pattern for Yahoo to dump publishers that use Adsense and Google maybe doing the same.

Well, they haven't dropped me, and I've been running AdSense ads for nearly a year. I'm sure there are many other AdSense publishers who have hundreds or thousands of pages in the Yahoo index.

[Rodney]

I think Yahoo maybe dumping links from publishers that use Adsense.

I don't think there's even a breathe of evidence to support this theory at all.

[markis00]

No, but there's some evidence here as to Yahoo dumping large rectangle ad types

until I get bakc into the SERPS, this is my only theory

[markis00]

although I still think it's because I placed them at the top of the document under my heading tags

I have to wait now and see if I regain those positions after I moved the code

[GrantNZ]

I didn't see any problem with my google rankings at Yahoo with having adsense on my sites.

Side notes:

I have dropped using adsense on my sites at the moment because income from adsense steadily declined and I think our web sites' real estate is worth more.

I will be watching for e-mails from google over the coming months to see if they have changed anything that would prompt me to try using adsense on my sites again.

I am still using adwords, but not as much

[markis00]

I still haven't made it back into the SERPS yet

if I'm not soon I will go back to my old adsense format

it dosen't make sense that Yahoo would drop me for switching my adsense layout, though.

[markis00]

I have an update to this now

after moving my code my one site made it back into the index but is now fourth page for a search which it was FIRST for.

I don't understand; I think I've been assigned a penalty but I don't know for sure.

Can I get any conclusive answer to this at all?