Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I am ALWAYS looking for new ways to improve my Adsense earnings (aren't we all?), so if anybody has got any good tips in this respect, please do let us have them.
To my surprise (and disappointment) I was basically told to shut up and was given instructions how to place this website into my network website filter.
So this technique is maybe officially against the AdSense terms but it is very much tolerated as high CTR is good for Google too. (especially after disappointing 2nd Quarter). So go for it! You will increase your CTR and you do not have to worry about any consequences.
To my surprise (and disappointment) I was basically told to shut up and was given instructions how to place this website into my network website filter.
Now, if Google only would do the same to their publishers and offer an unlimited filter to us... Then they could step back and see the market develop!
Can I place small images next to my Google ads?We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads.
...it is very much tolerated as high CTR is good for Google too.
A high CTR in itself is not a bad thing, as long as the clicker is clicking because they are after what the ad promises. In that situation you aren't going to be smartpriced.
Work on your content so that you have a better relationship between the content on your page and the content in your ads.
[edited by: martinibuster at 7:06 am (utc) on July 21, 2007]
ANSWER FROM GOOGLE: We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads. If your visitors believe that the images and the ads are directly associated, or that the advertiser is offering the exact item found in the neighboring image, they may click the ad expecting to find something that isn't actually being offered. That's not a good experience for users or advertisers."
Then the posting also offers examples of placement - read the complete posting:
[adsense.blogspot.com...]
To be honest the aim of my placing the thumbnail images up there might have been also to make the ads look "more attractive", and not to show the images as enrichment to the page. Many visitors probably pass their mouse pointer over the small images to see if they can be enlarged and this obviously leads to inadvertent clicks on the adsense below.
To be on the safe side, I removed the images.
Still today I think I was right - unless I read somewhere in the TOS that it is ok to draw attention to the ads.
Try experimening with colors and placements to try and increase CTR. Images are not recommended so donot use them.
If people are not paying attention to your ads, how about going in for contrasting colors... This should draw their attention!..
Put them on a page and send email to google with a link. Ask for an official yes/no response. If they say Yes, then save the email in your dooms day folder.
In my case they said NO. So I removed them.
However, the waters are getting murky as to what is allowed and what is not in terms of images around the adsense ad boxes.
I, for one, asked G support about website design on a site not owned by me that had a generic, non-related image of a person on the left side of the adsense box for each ad box.
Their response was that of non-interest.
That has lead me to believe, also based on previous guidance from G, that if the image can mislead site visitors to believe that the image is something related to the adsense ads, it is NOT allowed near the adsense box.
If the image is a generic one, and you can't expect to buy something related to the image or it does not encourage clicking the ads, placing images to the website design near adsense seems to be ok.
However, it would be great to hear related actual experiences for this aspect of adsense optimization.
I don't think this is arguable, Google has been pretty explicit that this is a no no.
Whenever you are confronted with this sort of dilemma you should ask yourself will this help the advertiser? Since they have not approved your images to be placed with their ads, and could lead to an irrelevant click thru the answer is 'No, it won't help the advertiser'.
Doing this sort of thing further compromises adsense whose quality just seems to keep going down.
We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads.
This website it is clearly doing it therefore is violating AdSense TOS plus the ads are placed in a custom box with custom label similar to "Explore City Name". As per my knowledge only "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisement" is allowed. So you have 2 red flags plus a CTR for our ad about 30% and it is still OK with AdSense team. (and you have 4 links in this ad nit so I wonder how high the CTR for this ad unit is...my guess is close to 100% if one ad out of 4 has 30% CTR)
For me it is clear situation. As a honest publisher you do not have tools to manage advertisers and therefore the only way how to succeed in AdSense is to cheat which is not recommended but tolerated.
No Thanks!
I've done this a number of times, create a mock-up of the page as you'd like to do it, and place it in an unlinked file temporarily, and they are ALWAYS very quick in responding and extremely helpful in providing a definite yes or no. I often don't like or agree with their reasoning, (like in not being allowed to promote or even briefly explain why a Google Adwords referral link is on our 'advertise with us' page, as an alternate way to advertise on our site, since it doesn't pay on just a clickthru anyway - oh well not OUR loss) but it's the best way to stay safe.
One issue we had a question about a while back was with placing a 300x250 ad unit in-line with a long two column formatted news article (it completely filled one column. Width-wise, not height-wise.) so you have to scroll past it to continue reading the story. At the top of the ad, right after the story breaks, we have a text link that says something like: "More news continues after ads" and takes them to just below the ads if clicked. Surprisingly, even though it sorta brings attention to the ads, G had no problem with it when we asked about it using an example in the above manner.
