Are related links on top of every article a problem?

[My_Media]

Hi guys,
I have put a related links above but below the title of every article. It contains around 5-7 links. Is this a bad practice to draw more pageviews and will Google punishes my site ?

Thanks

[goodroi]

Google tends to like links that are embedded in content the most. Having relevant hand picked links above or below the article can provide benefit. If the links are not hand picked you can open the door for some headaches with unrelated links on a page.

Since you have already done this do you see users following the links? Is googlebot following the links?

[My_Media]

I do see users following the links therefore more pageviews. Regards to Googlebot, I am not sure about it but am sure they will follow since they crawl every links.
My question is that is this a good practice for SEO?

[tedster]

As a visitor, I prefer seeing related links in a sidebar or at the bottom of the page. If those links push the start of the main content down the screen, I don't think that's ideal. Starting the content too far down the page is the kind of thinking that seems to have generated Panda Update problems.

[eltercerhombre]

@Tedster: so, you're saying (and I probably agree), that the Panda update goes -among others- to those pushing the content below the fold and putting the "unrelated stuff" above the fold?

Like if what they really wanted to have the users to see is not their content, but "the other stuff". ;)

Honestly, if Panda is pushing down in SERPS those kind of sites, I can't disagree with Google. And, from Google's point of view, I can undersdant it: you're not publishing for the users.

[tedster]

Yes, that is my suspicion and I've got a lot of company with that. It's just one factor in a very complex mix, mind you, but still...

[My_Media]

So you guys are saying that anyone has an Adsense ad above the fold will get an Panda Eye(black) soon or later? Then how are we going to put our ads? We can't survide just buy CPM banners? Also Adsense is a stumbling block to us then since they want us to put above the fold of our content. This is so contradicting from Adsense and Search team. Even my Google account manager can not help me with this since they acted separately.
Any suggestion how to monetize a medical blog?

[TheMadScientist]

So you guys are saying that anyone has an Adsense ad above the fold will get an Panda Eye(black) soon or later?

It's going to be site, and even page specific, imo ... Meaning there is no 'one size fits all' answer to your question.

This is so contradicting from Adsense and Search team.

My Opinion: Best to think of them as polar opposites ... One (AdSense) is absolutely set on making visitors to your site click those links ... One (Search) is absolutely set on making sure your visitors don't have to 'surf more' to find the answer they were looking for, which includes scrolling past the fold and/or clicking on those links the other guys want your visitors to click.

Any suggestion how to monetize a medical blog?

Carefully, with surgical precision ... ;)

[celgins]

I think if you have a combination of Adsense ads and related links above the fold, and they are pushing your content down the page, it is not ideal.

According to the Adsense Heat Map, however, having an ad directly above centered content is a good place for it.

As far as monetizing a medical site goes, that is a tough one. Have you tried both text and banner ads? Also, have you tried any of the affiliate networks?

[ken_b]

So you guys are saying that anyone has an Adsense ad above the fold will get an Panda Eye(black) soon or later?

I'd be more concerned with ads that were "below the header and above the content"

I doubt if a leader board above the header is a problem, and that could still leave plenty of room for content below the header and above an ad block which could still be mostly above the fold, something like this.....

Leader board
Header
Content
Ads

[My_Media]

I use adsense text ad only and banner for the side. I have no luck on affiliate so I stopped and use adsense and CPMs. Anyone who is expert of affiliate please so let me know and give me advice cause this Panda update killed 70% of my income as I have get rid of 2 of my other adsense ads. My health site has avg now 30k/day and 90% organic.
Please advice.

[tedster]

You're asking for advice when there is no definitive knowledge so far. We're all working to figure things out. Some scattered reports of partial recovery, yes, but they are for sites that changed a lot of factors.

With regard to your opening question, I'd say make sure plenty of content is immediately visible when the age loads - and do what ever you need to to make that happen.