Adsense with a screen shot of the site

[PFOnline]

Go to alexa.com and type in "computers" in the search for example... Notice the "Sponsored listings" to the right of the results. This is basically Adsense with a screen shot of the site.

I don't know, I just really like how this looks, and hope this might be an option in the future.

[PFOnline]

Is there a possible way we can implement this into our own site?

Probably not, but I thought I'd ask.

I'm guessing you probably have to be a premium publisher.

If any Google people are listening, I think this would be a great feature to have available as an option, even for non premium publishers!

[DamonHD]

Hi,

I imagine making a thumbnail of a site's homepage is not too hard: maybe 500 lines of code max in a decent language of your choice given a good rendering library.

What struck me was that for every site I looked at the thumbnail was completely different to the site; in my case about 2 years out of date I think...

Rgds

Damon

[PFOnline]

So does anyone know, if I did somehow come up with the code to be able to do this, if it would be allowed by Google?

I guess I should probably email them first.

[jimbeetle]

Off hand I'd say this is a new product, not Adwords/Adsense, though related. Clicks aren't going through googlesyndication, URLs are more similar to Adwords links on Google.

What struck me was that for every site I looked at the thumbnail was completely different to the site; in my case about 2 years out of date I think...

That makes me think it's a unique product between Google and Alexa, using ads supplied by G along with Alexa's DB of screenshots -- and we know how up-to-date Alexa is ;).

But who knows, maybe it'll come down the pike one day, hopefully after they get rid of the awkward line wraps under the screenshot, looks terrible to me. Might be better in a different format.

[alika]

So does anyone know, if I did somehow come up with the code to be able to do this, if it would be allowed by Google?

Don't waste your time. It is against the TOS to modify the code. You work only with the code they give you. For bells and whistles, you need to be an extra special partner, like Alexa. Then and only then will they bend the trees for you.

[moltar]

You don't need to modify code.

Remember there was a thread long time ago about adsense tracking [webmasterworld.com]? They were able to figure out the URL of the site user wants to visit. So you can use the URL without modifying adsense code. Plus there is a database of screen shots [thumbshots.org]. If you incrorporate the two, you get something similar to what you have seen.

[david_uk]

If it's possible or not isn't uppermost in my mind. Basically, the thumbnails are so small I can't see what they are, and they take a looooooong time to load.

Technically, it might be cool, but bearing in mind the above, it seems pretty a pretty pointless addition to me, and doesn't enhance the browsing experience for me one jot.

[yobo]

Check out moregoogle.com. This site got some press about a month or so ago. They incorporate the Alexa links and screen shots into the google search results.

At first I thought it was pretty cool and even forgot I had it installed.

However just yesterday, I have noticed that google is serving up ADs in (dutch/Netherlands) and when I typed in www.google.com I was automatically redirected to www.google.nl. Very strange, but i assume my browser has been hyjacked somehow or Google's system is screwing up.

I have notified Google and am currently waiting a response. Has anyone else noticed ADs displayed in different languages other than the default language you set up during account set up?