setting up banner ads for advertisements

[onlinesource]

I'm trying to create an advertisement banner to my own blog. Basically, I have a very old blog - which ranks very good - that is essentially a doorway domain (it is what it is) that I need to convert traffic from. BUT I believe the blog itself is hurting the site I send traffic to, by simply throwing up a jpeg image in the sidebar that says CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME SITE with a link back to my main website.

I noticed when I go to professional blogs that rank well and run Adblock plus on them, none of their banners appear. It's my assumption that is Google sees a connection between two sites (ie: a doorway domain), that isn't good.

With real advertisements, hidden by Adblock or not, the blog itself ranks, Google doesn't think it is doing anything more than making some money off their ads, and that's it.

When I scan my site because they are standard img src images with href links back to me, that even Adblock plus doesn't spot, it appear to be a regular link. That would be fine but I believe Google is connecting the dots between both sites and punishing me for abuse.

I am trying to remove all of my links to my main site off of my blog. The problem is, I need some way to convert sales. I was thinking about doing a advertisement banner.

How do I set an advertisement banner up so that Adblock plus or Google sees this as an actual ad and not just an image with a link?

What is it that makes an ad look like an ad?

[Wilburforce]

a jpeg image in the sidebar that says CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME SITE

Google generally frowns upon showing users one thing and giving them another, so using images as links isn't ideal practice: the algorithm can't see the image, so can't tell whether your alt text and title match it (or whether you are using alt text and title to tell search engines one thing, and the image to tell users another).

Whether CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME SITE is great anchor-text anyway is another moot point.

As far as Google is concerned, you should make a link look like a link. My advice would be to remove the link(s) altogether until you meet at least that requirement. However, it sounds like you are trying to monetise your blog by diverting bloggers to your main site, and if that is your aim you need to tread very carefully.

[onlinesource]

I guess my question is, when you land on blogs with ads for other websites... they are often blocked by adblocking software. That means that it is viewed as a banner ad and not simply an image with a blacklink.

How can I create an ad, so it's viewed an ad? Is there something like rel="ad" or rel="advertisement". I guess that is my question?

I fear that simply having a backlink may look abusive, which is why I want to make sure it's an ad.

[FranticFish]

Banner ads are usually served in such a way that they contain tracking code, and it's probably that type of code that triggers an ad blocker.

If you want to recreate that sort of link then you could serve the ad via Javascript from a file or folder that Google is not allowed to crawl, although Google themselves recommend that you allow them to access styles and script files.

The Google-approved solution here would be to make the link nofollow if you want to send traffic but don't want to pass PageRank.

[Wilburforce]

I think you are conflating several issues.

A backlink is more likley to "look abusive" if you use an image rather than text, and if you use CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME SITE instead of anchor-text that is relevant to the destination page.

It is less likely to trigger any Google reaction if the destination page/site is of clear relevance to the blog, and the link looks like it adds some value for users.

Apart from what I have said about using images, the mechanics of the link are unlikely to make a difference to Google unless you are obviously trying to conceal it. A pop-up using javascript (which some software might block as a pop-up or because the js source or destination is in an ad-blocking database) is not a signal to Google that it is OK, and will not make it immune from penalty, or necessarily offer any improvement over the link you have already. There isn't a rel="advertisement" attribute (your best hope for avoiding problems would be rel="nofollow").

However, the fact that you address your question in terms of whether the link will look abusive to Google should trigger alarm-bells. Ask whether the link improves user-experience (and in that context look at your server logs to gauge click-through, bounce-rate and, if possible, conversions). If a lot of blog users click on the link to your main site AND browse extensively or make purchases there, the link probably adds value for the user. Otherwise, it probably doesn't.