The Adsense Rules On Images Have Changed
12/18/2006 – Adsense Blog
The rules on image placement for websites using Adsense ads has changed. Several of the techniques that Adsense gurus have been touting are now explicitly off limits.
The policy basically boils down to this: if you are using images to try and trick users into thinking that the ad and image are in some way connected – you broke the rules.
Two specific examples are given in the Adsense blog entry.
The first example gives the impression that the images next to the ads illustrate the products that the advertiser is offering for sale (if users click the ad and don’t find what they thought would be there, the advertiser is cheated when they click away.)
The second example involves blending the ad into a menu list in such a way that it looks like a menu option. The image is an icon the resembles the icons used for the rest of the menu options. If the user thinks he is navigating through the site, but ends up on an advertiser’s site (only to click away immediately because he hadn’t intended to click an ad) the advertiser is again cheated.
I saw a few people using this technique last summer. At the time, the Adsense rules did not clearly ban the practice.
The technique seems to have worked as a way to increase ad clicks. Soon, a major Adsense guru incorporated the technique into the templates included in a product being promoted to people creating Adsense sites. Before long, thousands of sites were using the technique and Google pulled the plug.
This all boils down to one thing, if you try to set up your ads in a way that tricks users into thinking they are not ads, Google will eventually catch up with you and officially ban the practice. It is their responsibility to protect their advertisers. It is in the best interest of the whole community to help them. If advertisers find themselves battling fraud instead of finding customers, they will stop using pay per click ads (and this source of income for site owners will disappear.)
Adsense is a great tool for generating revenue from a website. There are plenty of ways to optimize the click through rates and earnings per click on your site. Google rewards sites with valuable content and allows a great deal of latitude for you to creatively incorporate Adsense ads into your site. Leave the trick tactics to spammers and ‘black-hat’ outlaws and go build quality sites that users want to visit.
The Go-To Guy!
P.S. Don’t let me have the last word. Leave a comment and let us know what you think.
