Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I've heard folks reporting a 4 fold increase in ctr, but not sure if this technique is against the TOS.
Depends on the theme, mine is with four muscular men in short pants. :>
Right........ I have an email from the Adsense team which states: NO GRAPHICS, no pictures. NO CHANGE OF COLOR IN THE PRINT inside the ads. Sorry you are so unaware...But I am on top of this information. YOU need to email the Adsense team and ask. Then you will have to take down all your images and graphics which are NOT permitted because they draw undue attention to the Adsense ads. Time for you to catch on and catch up, buddy. When they review YOUR site, you will get warned and maybe banned. Not me, tho....
AdSense has already said my site was okay! :-)
And have you read what AdSenseAdvisor said in this exact thread? Quit being so stubborn -- you can admit you're wrong.
i have four romantic couples loving,kissing and hugging in differnt pictures above the leaderbord.
ctr of this ad unit is 5 times.
ctr of other ad unit fell by few clicks.
epm looks lower
overall daily average earning up by 20% or so.
In answer to your question regarding placing photos next to AdSense ads,publishers should be very careful not to place images directly next to adsif these images could deceive users. There is the possibility of
attributing "undue attention" to the ads if the images placed next to ads are misleading or seem to be directly associated with the advertisers and
their offerings. Highly general "stock" images are less likely to be deceptive than very specific images that suggest a specific offering at the advertiser's site.Another method of avoiding confusion would be to maintain a visible border
around ad units if you choose to experiment with placing images directly next to the ad units.As you may know, the AdSense revenue publishers receive is based on the amount an AdWords advertiser pays for each click on a Google ad. The amount the advertiser pays varies per ad and from website to website,based on the likelihood that a click will result in a conversion for the advertiser. If your site contains elements which increase the number of ad
clicks without increasing business results for the advertiser, the price of clicks may be reduced on your site and your potential earnings may decrease.
Bob has a site about iPods, he has ads for iPod related sites. After reading this thread he puts some generic iPod images above his ads, the 4 images are:
iPod photo, a case for the new iPod shuffle, an iPod mini, and a dock station for iPods
Google will take issue with Bob because the images are suggesting a specific offering at the advertisers site. as the ads are random, a user clicking the ad under the iPod shuffle case could get a site that does not sell that iPod shuffle case. They have been mislead.
highly general images are less likely to be deceptive than very specific images that suggest a specific offering at the advertiser's site
Bob can do a few things to keep google and his users happy:
1) put a visible border around the ad units
2) move the images away from the ad units so there is a clear gap
3) pick very generic iPod images, to minimize the risk of people clicking looking for cases
The whole idea of images above ads was to make the people read the ads, see they were context sensitive and about the sort of things they are on your site for. But if you use images that could be seen to suggest the ad is going to take them to a specific product then this is misleading the user, and this is never good.
Stick to the TOS, brush your teeth and always wear sunscreen :)
If your site contains elements which increase the number of ad clicks without increasing business results for the advertiser, the price of clicks may be reduced on your site and your potential earnings may decrease.
A very important sentence which tells us that--probably amongst others reasons--smart pricing is triggered by the way you present your ads on your site. Blending in, choosing the same font for your content as AdSense etc. might not be such a good idea after all. Many posters in other threads already mentioned that after ad optimization their CTR went up but EPC went down, and here AdSense support seems to acknowledge this.
If your site contains elements which increase the number of ad clicks without increasing business results for the advertiser, the price of clicks may be reduced on your site and your potential earnings may decrease.
Thanks Critter! I plan on naming my next plasma television after you.
ArtistMike
[edited by: Woz at 12:09 am (utc) on Aug. 2, 2005]
[edit reason] Let's keep the discussion on the board please. [/edit]
My CTR with this approach, as well as page views, has increased dramatically. I'm on my way from my first $100 day last month to possibly my first $200 day today. :-)
I believe the images are helping my visitors to read the ads and make conscious choices to check out the very relevant advertiser's sites. The images draw the eye toward the advertising copy and not only help alleviate the ad blindness, but they legitimize the ads as being something that our website considers high-interest value. This is a high-content site, btw... and one that was established long before AdSense. I offer "free widgets" but often my visitors are looking for the "pay for widgets" companies instead. My "free widget" offers pique their curiosity enough to come browse, but I target those who want higher quality widgets and will pay for them.
I have not opted to put a border around the ads, but I am using very generic clip art to represent different categories on my site. It is helping with navigation, too! :-)
Unless I get an email from Google personally, I'm not going to change anything. I think I'm utilizing this technique in an honest method that has also made my site look more professional.
