Doesn't blending ads with website mean to deceive users?

[openmind]

On most websites I see Google ads "nicely" blended in with the content to the point that is difficult to tell both apart. I'm sure that this has been discussed at length here on WebmasterWorld so could you please point me to appropriate threads? I mean, if you blend your ads with your contents it is obvious that you do so get more ads clicked. But if you get more ads clicked you lose more website users or don't you? How many of your website users return to your site after clicking Adsense ads? Also, if you make your ads look like content, doesn't this mean you are "deceiving" your visitors? After all, they came to your website for the content, not for the ads.

[incrediBILL]

- Article title
- 336 x 280 blended Adsense

That'll get you into trouble because the article title above the ads misrepresents the ads as content, you need to change it to "Sponsored links" with the article title BELOW the ads.

With this new layout, as you can imagine, CTR is through the roof

Yes, because it's deceptive.

I would change it as I suggested BEFORE you get a letter from Google telling you that you're violating the program policies.

Others have already been called out on the very layout you describe so I would fix it before it's too late.